Cultivate Music Studio Policies
We’re so thankful for the opportunity to serve you and be a part of your journey as a musician! Our passion is to help you grow and pursue your unique goals, to provide an encouraging and inspiring environment for lessons/classes, and to connect with you an amazing teacher with a passion to help you grow and have fun in the process! Please read through our studio policies below and let us know if you have any questions. Thank you!
~ The Cultivate Music Studio Team
Absences and Make-up Lessons
Tuition reserves a weekly lesson time for each student. If a student needs to miss a lesson they will need to submit a video of themselves playing the song or exercise they are working on that week to the teacher and receive feedback. The teacher will use the regularly scheduled lesson time to watch the video and send feedback and assignments for the coming week. Please contact the teacher directly to ask how they would like to receive the video. If you would like to reschedule a missed lesson, please contact your teacher and ask if they have an opening on another day they are already teaching. Teachers are not expected to accommodate makeup lessons outside of times they are already teaching in the studio. In most cases, the video submission will be the only option.
If a student has a last minute emergency or illness, a request for a lesson credit of $22 may be made prior to the lesson time via the online credit request form. Credits will not be given for scheduling conflicts. These are only reserved for emergency situations.
Since we understand that scheduling conflicts may occur and things may come up, we do allow one missed lesson per semester (fall and spring) and two in the summer that can be missed with a credit of $22. This credit will be applied to the next bill. In order to receive this credit, the studio and the teacher must be notified at least 24 hours in advance of the missed lesson.
Teacher Absences
If a teacher is absent for a lesson, the studio will find a replacement teacher for that week. If no replacement is available, students will be given a credit for the amount of one lesson’s fee on their next bill. No credit will be given if a student chooses not to attend a lesson with a substitute teacher.
Schedule & Holidays
Our studio operates on a semester basis, with a spring semester, summer session, and fall semester. Below are our studio holidays and breaks. All students are guaranteed 46 lessons/year.
• Spring Break (following the McKinney ISD Spring Break week)
• 1 Week Break Between Spring Semester and Summer Session
• Memorial Day (Monday students receive a lesson on the Monday of summer break week if needed)
• 1 Week Break Between Summer Session and Fall Semester
• July 4 (Tuesday students will receive a lesson in advance during the break week between Summer Session and Fall Semester)
• Labor Day (Monday students will receive a lesson the Monday of Thanksgiving week)
• Thanksgiving (Tuesday-Saturday the week of)
• Christmas/New Year’s Break (2 weeks)
See our full studio calendar here.
Locations/Parking
Downtown McKinney Location: Our downtown studio is located in the Cultural District in Historic Downtown McKinney at 209 E. Lamar St. Parking is available behind the studio or across Lamar St. in Lot 1. Please enter through the front door and wait in one of the two waiting areas. Your teacher will meet you in the waiting area when it’s time for your lesson to begin.
Our Brookhaven location is located at 6101 Stacy Road in McKinney. Please enter through one of the two lobby doors (on either side of the building) and wait in the lobby waiting area. Your teacher will meet you in the waiting area when it’s time for your lesson to begin.
Registration & Free Trial Lesson
All first lessons for new students are a free trial lesson to ensure that each student finds the right fit with our teacher team. During registration, students will sign up for a free trial lesson. After the free trial lesson, students will receive an email asking them to confirm if they would like to continue with weekly lessons. They will then need to log into their account and put in billing info. (Tuition is prorated for the first month if student begins after the 1st of the month. See below under Tuition for more detail.) Payment of first tuition must be made by the next week’s lesson to reserve the weekly lesson time. If payment is not made, the lesson spot will be made available to the public and the student will not be allowed to attend further lessons.
Trial lessons must be book at least 24 hours in advance but not more than 8 days in advance.
Materials Needed
Voice: Students need to bring a notepad and pen/pencil to take notes.
Piano: Books/materials will be recommended during the first lesson. A piano is provided in the studio for lessons but students need an instrument to practice on at home. This can be an acoustic piano or an electric piano with 88 weighted keys. Some students may need special software and a midi capable keyboard if they are learning advanced production and synthesizer techniques. A metronome will also be needed or practicing. This can be a phone/tablet app or a stand-alone unit.
Guitar/Bass/Mandolin/Ukulele: Students will need to furnish their own guitar, tuner, metronome, picks (not required for ukulele), and textbook. Only a guitar and picks are needed for the first lesson. The teacher will assess the student’s level and decide which textbook, if any, is needed. The metronome and tuner can be a stand-alone unit or a phone/tablet app.
During the first lesson, the teacher will assess the student’s instrument and determine if it is in adequate condition for playing and learning. New strings or minor repairs may be necessary to get started.
Online students need to have the ability to receive documents via email or text message during the lesson and view the documents without interrupting the video. Students also need to have a separate device from the one being used for the video chat that can play audio and video files for the student to play along with. If the video lesson is being done on a phone or tablet, it may also be helpful to have a tripod so that the angle of the device can be adjusted to ensure the teacher can see the student’s face and both hands.
Student App/Portal
You can log into your account by going to cultivatemusiclessons.com and clicking “student login” from the main menu. Please create and save your own password. Once the student/parent has created a password and logged in, he/she can view the lesson schedule, account balance, and notes from their teacher. You can download the Enrollsy app from the app store.
Lesson Notes
Your teacher will record lesson notes each week in the student/teacher app. These notes can be viewed by logging into the app. It is recommended that students and parents regularly review notes from the teacher.
Communication with your Teacher & the Studio:
If you have questions about your lesson material, please contact your teacher via email. You will receive an email before the first lesson with the teacher copied in. Please save your teachers’s contact info for future communications. For billing questions and all other questions, please contact the studio at contact@cultivatemusic.org or 903-521-8834.
Practicing
Practice is a necessary part of growing as a musician and applying what is learned during lessons. The amount of time that we recommend for practice varies depending on the student’s age and level.
For younger kids, we recommend at least 15 minutes of practice per day 4-6 days a week. We understand that practice can be a challenge for kids (and even for adults!), so parental oversight is highly encouraged!
Tuition
Tuition is based on a yearly calendar, divided by 12 months. We guarantee 46 scheduled lessons/year. Monthly tuition remains the same for months with 5 weeks, as well as for months with 4 weeks or holiday closures/scheduled studio breaks. Payments will not be reduced or increased based on the number of lessons in a month. After the initial free trial lesson, students will confirm registration by entering billing info on their account. Tuition will be prorated for the first month only if the student signs up after the 1st of the month. After the first month, monthly tuition will be automatically withdrawn from the credit card account on file on the 1st of each month. All students are required to be enrolled in auto-pay. Cash, checks or manual payments are not accepted; however students may add money to their account at any time during the month before the payment date. Tuition payments are not refundable after the month has begun. If your card information changes, please update your card information in the student/parent app.
Tuition is $155.25/month. We offer a discounted rate of $143.75/month for additional lesson times for the same student or other students from the same household. This discount also applies to homeschool students.
Withdrawal from Lessons
Students wishing to withdraw from lessons need to send an email request to nathan@cultivatemusic.org. Verbal communication is not sufficient to request withdrawal. This email request must be sent by the 20th of the month. No refunds will be given for missed from a student who intends to withdraw but does not communicate with the studio in advance.
Recitals and Performances
Students may be invited to perform in recitals throughout the semester. These performances will happen at the end of the spring and fall semesters. Students who start lessons as beginners will not need to perform at the end of their very first semester. Their first performance would come at the end of their second semester.
There will be an extra fee of $35/student for recitals to cover facility rental and compensating teachers for additional time and preparation. This will be sent in an invoice separate from the regular month invoice.
Referral Credit
Students will receive a $50 credit on their account for each referral that registers as a student. The referral student registering must include current student/family’s name on the registration form. We appreciate your referrals so much and want to show you our appreciation!
Photo/Video Release
Cultivate Music Studio is hereby granted permission to take pictures and videos of the student during recitals and/or lessons for use in advertisement or for display or security purposes. Cultivate Music Studio is hereby granted permission to post pictures and videos of students on the Cultivate Music Studio website and social media platforms. If you prefer that we not use your (or your student’s) likeness, please email us at contact@cultivatemusic.org and we will be happy to honor your request.
Safety Policies
Parents are always welcome to stay during lessons. Each lesson room has a window into the studio. We also have cameras in each of the lesson rooms and waiting area. If you ever have any questions or concerns at all, please contact us.