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It's for this reason (and many other lame excuses) that I don't' charge per lesson. You open yourself up to this sort of thing, even if you state in your policy it's not considered an excused absence. If you get them on a different pay schedule, at the very least, monthly, they will be less likely to back out and not consider your cancellation policy. I had one student cancel to go shopping. If they decide to do that, it's fine, because they just paid me for my time. I was there and ready to teach.

No make-ups!!

Exception: If someone else cancels the week of the absence, and it works for the student that missed the lesson, then I will fit that student into that spot.

If there is a conflict, I have a wipe-off board where parents can write down the date(s) their child will miss and ask if any other parents' child can swap. It is up to them to figure it out, make phone calls, etc... they then are required to let me know of any changes.

I teach piano. I do not have time nor do I want to spend time on the phone rescheduling for parents or take up my personal time to make-up lessons.

Sounds harsh, but I have experienced making up lessons. It takes so much time, money and seriousness from the lessons that it just is not worth it.

You will receive more respect from students and parents and their piano lessons will become more of a priority if you have a no make-up policy.

It boggles my mind when I read how some teachers have "no makeup lesson" policies.

So,, tell me, Oh teachers, what exactly do you do when you have to take time off, examples-- could be a death in the family, dentist visit, doctor visit, weather, or maybe you just didn't feel like teaching that day. After all, the students have already bought and paid for your "time." What exactly do you give the students if YOU cause the lesson to be canceled?

John v.d.Brook referenced an airline charging a 20% changing fee and asked if it would be ok to charge this for a student changing a lesson.

So to put the shoe on the other foot,
How about it teachers,, Would it be fair to require you to give a refund of 20% plus a rescheduled lesson if it was your fault for a missed lesson?

Or would that be too fair to the student and just not good for business?

My policy states the following:

"In case of teacher illness, a group make up lesson will be scheduled. Lessons
missed by the teacher for any other reason will be made up at a mutually convenient time."

I would not schedule an appointment during the times I'm scheduled to teach. And even if I don't "feel like it", I still honor my student's scheduled lesson time.

I'm in business for myself and I can state whatever works for me in my policy. If someone thinks it isn't fair, they don't have to take lessons from me. I have only cancelled lessons one time for 3 days in the past 7 years, because I had a severe allergic reaction to a medication. I don't take missing lessons lightly (and yes, I teach on my birthday!)

I state in my policy that if I miss a lesson, that it will be made up. I also have in my policy that since I do perform there may be times that I will have to reschedule lessons. This does not go against their 1 make-up lesson per semester limit. I can't remember the last time I missed a lesson, and I never schedule appointments during my lesson times.

Jerry2000, this policy is to protect everyone involved. It may seem harsh, but how many times do you need someone to take advantage of your generosity before you draw the line? Every experienced teacher I know has a rather strict policy to refer to in times where a student or parent crosses that line. In an ideal world, we wouldn't have to do this. And honestly, I don't have a problem rescheduling if something comes up. However, I do have other obligations like classes that I teach, and a husband. My time is not very flexible and so when someone misses a lesson, the only time I can give a make-up would be during the time I'm supposed to be with my husband, eating, sleeping, or any other part of my life that is necessary. Is that fair to my family or myself? And it's not just one person who reschedules, but they all do. Then that's a real mess! How does one plan their lessons then? It really benefits everyone to have a policy that limits the amount of rescheduling.

My policy states, "In case of teacher being unable to teach a lesson, the lesson will either be made up or refunded, at the teacher's discretion."

As others have stated, it's my business and I set the perimeters and policies. Every parent knows those policies when they sign up for lessons. I also know myself. I haven't had to cancel a lesson in the past 2 years. If those circumstances were to change (like a prolonged illness or something) I'd reconsider my policy and adjust it.

Part of my studio policy includes a list of holiday weeks when I'm not teaching. I do this because I charge a flat monthly rate, even when students only receive 2 lessons in December. I generally take off the weeks of Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter. I decided to include an additional week that I can choose to take off at any time. This covers me if I'm sick or have an emergency where I have to cancel lessons. I've also used my 'extra' week to extend my Spring Break vacation to Europe.

Another thought to consider is that when a teacher has a lax makeup policy he/she could potentially be making up lessons every week, as students cancel. If I cancel a lesson due to illness, I can usually reschedule all the lessons on one additional morning or afternoon (I'm thinking Saturdays here) and not have a perpetual makeup day every week.

And it boggles my mind that you would expect it as a right.
Did you read the article linked above by allthumbs? I suggest you do - it makes some good points.

There must be plenty of situations in life which also boggle your mind: the fact that you can't take one piece of steak back to the butcher because you realised you only wanted three, not four; the fact that if little daughter misses a ballet lesson you actually don't get one lesson's fee refunded; and the fact that teachers also need to eat and sleep, not to mention interact with their families.

I was rehearsing instrumentalists for a competition a while ago and one mother didn't want to pay my half-hour accompanying fee in full because she pointed out that I wasn't actually playing for the full 30 minutes. I was actually talking for a few of those minutes! That's the sort of thinking we sometimes have to deal with, Jerry.

From an outsiders perspective these policies do not benefit everybody. In fact they all seem skewed rather heavily to the teachers benefit.


Morodiene says Do you give them any choice in the rescheduled lesson time? Is your time so much more valuable than theirs that they only get 1 "makeup" per semester while you get to reschedule whenever you perform?

Then we come to obligations and family and fairness.

Are your obligations more important than your students? Is your "family time" more important than their "family time?" Do you tell your students these facts?

As to fairness I think it is quite obvious that the "piano teaching business" is not fair to the students but is rather heavily skewed toward the bottom line of the "teaching professional." Policies to maximize compensation while minimizing effort/work appears to be the norm.

God forbid someone would actually teach with a goal of producing pianists instead of a paycheck.

Well, I suppose when you are looking for a teacher you could take these policies into consideration. If you want a teacher who will do unlimited make-ups and run themselves ragged trying to accommodate the various little irregularities of all their students, then you probably could find one, if you look hard enough. You would then have what you want according to your criteria - emphasis on your financial position instead of the teacher's dedication to actually teaching students.

But wait a minute, weren't you just criticising teachers for focussing on the bottom line instead of teaching the students?...

Well,,,, at least there was no argument about the true goal of a "PIANO TEACHING BUSINESS." Which I repeat again: to maximize compensation while minimizing effort/work/teaching.

Just a side note, do any of you see your students as more than just a paycheck or an advertisement for your "studio" when they perform?

When I teach my undergraduate social psych class, I assign a weekly 3-page paper. However, I have absolutely NO desire to micromanage the inevitable pleas for late or makeup papers due to illness etc. So what I do is to tell them that I base their grade on the best 10 papers they turn in out of the 14 weeks of the semester. This means they can skip 4 weeks for any reasons (excused or unexcused). If somebody comes to me and says they missed class because they were sick, I just say "okay, that's one of your four skipped weeks." No argument, and no hassle of accepting and/or grading a late paper.

I think several of you have similar policies where you charge a semester fee assuming that there will be a cancellation or two, so that if the student actually goes to every single weekly lesson, he or she is in essence getting a couple extra lessons "free." This makes a great deal of sense to me and seems the easiest solution all around. If a family has to miss a lesson, for ANY reason, and nags you for a makeup, you just say "remember, your tuition was assuming that you'd miss xx number of lessons, so that's just one of your skipped lessons." I suspect you'd get fewer requests for makeups with this policy as well, because the parents wouldn't be thinking that somehow they were "owed" that time slot.

I do agree (from bitter experience with creative undergraduates) that trying to sort out valid and invalid reasons for missing a lesson is a quagmire you REALLY want to avoid. :p

This is starting to border on the offensive, I think, Jerry. On the basis of a no-makeups policy which is pretty common over a wide range of teaching situations (like the one Monica details) you are accusing teachers of attitudes such as the above. Even a cursory look at the contents of the posts on this forum will show you this is not the case with those who post here.

Are you a teacher? If so, I suppose you offer your services for free, then, do you? If not, then I guess you work at something else. Does getting paid for it mean you are not dedicated?

On reflection, I should alter my earlier advice to you in searching for a teacher. Rather than looking for one who offers unlimited make-ups, perhaps the best one for you would be someone who just doesn't charge at all. That seems to be the only way to ensure you don't see the teacher as "maximising compensation while minimising work".

Attitudes like the one expressed above is the reason why piano teachers need a strict policy regarding all aspects of running a studio.

Would you say the same thing about another profession? Your dentist? Your hairdresser? Your mechanic? Your college professor?

Why is it that PIANO TEACHERS must teach solely for the 'love of sharing the gift of music with others' and nothing more? Why can we not be sufficiently compensated for the years of study and hard work (which by the way, DOESN'T start when we enter college but rather YEARS before when our parents paid for our lessons)? The prevailing attitude is that we teach for 'just a little extra money' on the side. Well, it's time to WAKE UP and realize that piano teaching is a profession for many. There's nothing wrong with that.

Just so you know,,,

My attitude isn't the one that is in question, but rather the attitudes and policies that have been expressed by teachers.

Piano teaching as a business seems to be a worthy profession. It just seemed odd to me how skewed toward the teachers benefit the policies appear.

I happen to like Monica K's idea of planning for absences with a reward of "free lessons" if you attend all of them. This looks like a well balanced approach a plus for teachers if the absences occur and a plus for the student if they show up, but alas it doesn't make good business sense does it.

Why is it a plus for teachers if the student doesn't show up? You keep assuming we don't want to teach.
And why doesn't it make good business sense? If you actually read more than one or two posts in one or two threads you'd know that quite a few teachers do this anyway, and more than quite a few spend much time outside the lesson time preparing materials for students. Their students are hardly short-changed, no matter what their make-up policy happens to be.

You can say it's not your attitude which is in question, but that doesn't stop me questioning it. I suppose you've shown us what one very cynical person thinks of the studio policy - maybe that's worth knowing...

Paycheck? Yes--I do have bills to pay.

Advertisement for "studio"? Yes--recitals and competitions reveal the quality of teaching. Would you send your kids to a studio in which every kid is playing "Mary Had a Little Lamb"??

I don't want to take credit for it... I know I've seen that policy described here by at least a couple of the teachers (John? Betty?). But I do think it makes excellent business sense. The teacher sets a tuition that all are happy with, and there is a strong incentive for perfect attendance as well as a system in place for preventing hassles involved in rescheduling or vetting excuses. Sounds like a win-win scenario all around.

Jerry wrote:

Just for the record (and if you'd back checked previous posts on this topic, you'd already know) that when I have to miss a lesson, or am late to a lesson, my students get the lesson made up, plus an absolutely free lesson, at my expense.

In other words, I bend over backwards to be fair. Things happen in life, and since I cannot hire a sub at all times to fill in for me, offering parents a twofer seems more than fair.

John, it dawned on me that you have come up with something that seems to solve a bunch of problems at once. Some teachers cite a problem with makeup lessons because they infringe on their private non-teaching time. Others try to keep them to teaching time but must then juggle other students around by freeing one time slot for another - use someone's cancellation to give room to someone else's makeup for a previous cancellation: sounds like a real head-ache.

You have defined your working hours differently - they are not your teaching times, but the time you allot to all of your teacher-related activities, including lesson planning, bookkeeping etc. So you have this 11:00 - 9:00 area of time, and you don't teach constantly during that time - there are "empty" spots where you are doing other activities. Those empty spots are available for makeup lessons and similar requests. They are like safety margins. You are not giving up your private time, and you are not forced to juggle students. It is brilliant in its simplicity.

KS