Tuition Fees:

Please expect a $5 yearly cost of living tuition increase in 2021-2022.

Your tuition is non-refundable and exclusively reserves a specific block of time. Unlike other professions, I cannot resell this time nor will I create extra teaching time in which to give lessons due to limited availability.

Tuition fees covers three things:

1. 1. 1. Time I spend with the student in their lesson.
      2. Time I spend outside of the lesson: preparing individual lesson plans, making reeds, bookkeeping, developing teaching materials, membership/participation in professional associations to enhance teaching skills. 
      3. Time I’ve spent over the years: earning degrees, experience teaching and performing.

Registration Fee: 

A yearly, non-refundable registration fee of $30 for new students and $20 for returning students. Students maybe be enrolled at any point during the year.

Late Fee: 

Any payments received after your lesson start time will have a $20 late fee will be applied.

Missed and Cancelled Lessons:

Missed lessons (no-shows) will forfeit tuition.

Cancellations/reschedules with less than 72 hours notice will forfeit tuition. 

No make up lessons will be offered for any reason. (Make-up lessons will only be given in the event of teacher cancellation.)

Rescheduling Lessons:

Be sure to choose a lesson time that is one in which you feel confident that you will have no other conflicts. 

Please let me know ASAP when you need to change your lesson time, a minimum of at least 72 hours notice is required. Please limit reschedules to no more than 3 times per semester.

Please notify me as soon as your child is ill, Doctor’s note required. Remember, no credits are given for missed lessons.

Inclement Weather offers two options: (for in-person students)

1. 1. LIVE Virtual Lesson: via Zoom during your scheduled lesson time. 
   2. Submission and Feedback Lesson: students will create a video of prepared material for Dr. Ayala to evaluate and respond to during your lesson time. 

Sickness and Emergencies: 

To prevent the spread of disease, sick students should not attend lessons. 

Submission and Feedback Lesson: students will create a video of prepared material for Dr. Ayala to evaluate and respond to before the next scheduled lesson time. 

Termination:

Teacher may terminate lessons due to negative behavior or failure to comply with studio expectations. 

Any termination initiated by a parent/student requires 1 month written notice (email or hard copy letter) AND 1 month of paid lessons, (4 lessons paid in full). Written notice AND complete payment of ALL 4 lessons needs to be made at the same time in order to indicate the 1 month countdown to your last lesson.

At the date and time of formal notification, any lessons you have already paid for will be counted towards these final 4 lessons. If you give notice before your lesson, that lesson counts toward your 4, if you give notice after your lesson that lesson does not count. 

Example 1: Notice is given on December 10th AFTER your lesson and you have already paid for December 17th, you still need to pay for THREE more lessons.

Example 2: Notice is given on December 10th BEFORE your lesson and you have already paid for December 17th, you still need to pay for TWO more lessons.

Oboe Reeds:

Not all oboe reeds are the same quality: store-bought reeds are generally made by machines, the quality is poor and inconsistent. I only recommend using high quality hand-made reeds.

Not all oboe reeds are priced the same: cheap hand-made reeds are sometimes unusable (you wasted your money) due to structural defects/poor scraping.

You may purchase reeds directly from me or from a reliable source you have found of high-quality handmade reeds.

Please be aware that I run a successful online reed business and have multiple orders at one time, my clients generally wait 3-5 weeks for their custom reeds to be carefully crafted.

I generally provide high-quality handmade reeds to my students, I only ask that you give me at least 7 days notice when you need a new reed. 

Caution about playing on 1 reed for too long, when a student plays on a reed for too many weeks the fibers breakdown causing; small opening, intonation problems, unhealthy sound, and overall bad playing habits. It will also make playing a new reed very difficult.

Students should have 3 working reeds at all times.