Fees and other money questions

How much do you charge?

My current fee is £40 per hour pro rata. That is, if the lesson is half an hour, the cost is £20 or £30 for 45 minutes.

Most of my students have lessons once a week, some of them for most of the year (including school holiday periods), and some of them (mostly adults or older teenagers) once a fortnight.

The hourly fee is reviewed each September.

Do you bill by the term or by the lesson?

Neither!  Because I teach throughout the year, I do NOT work in school terms but rather a month at a time.

Before the start of each calendar month, you should tell me when you want lessons; then I will prepare an invoice which needs to be paid by the start of the first lesson of the month or the 7th day, whichever is earliest.

I won’t always be able to teach every week you would like a lesson, but I will give you as much warning, for example, when I am supervising local music exams or am due to be on holiday. 

If you discover later that you can’t make one of the dates on the statement, please give me as much notice as you can, and l will try to reschedule missed lessons, but cannot guarantee to do so. 

If a lesson can’t be made up within the month, then it will be carried forward or refunded at my discretion. 

But please note that you are still liable to pay for lessons arranged but not taken in the 4 weeks’ notice period, should you decide to stop taking tuition from me. 

I also need as much notice as possible if you want to change the regular day or time of the lesson as this may affect the number of lessons due in the month.

Whoever pays the bills needs to ensure I receive payment in advance of the first lesson of each month, as detailed in my ‘terms and conditions statement.

My preferred method to receive payment is direct into my bank account, i.e. by Internet banking, but, if necessary, you can pay by cash (exact money, please).

Do I need to buy books etc.?

Tutor books and sheet music will be added to your invoice in advance of my supplying them to the student. 

This is more cost-effective as I get an educator’s discount (normally 20%) from music suppliers and will know exactly what the student needs.

If there is an extra book that the student is likely to only need for a short period, I am happy to lend it.

I will ask for a deposit payment of the replacement value of the book in case it isn’t returned to me in reasonable condition to lend to another student.

What else might be on the invoice?

Please ask me for advice if you want to buy some music, accessories or even an instrument; I sometimes get to hear about second-hand instruments, too.

I enter candidates for exams so you need to pay me the exam entry fee (when relevant) by the closing date for entries.