MUSIC: TERMS OF AGREEMENT

Piano, Flute & Theory Tuition 
You Can Expect:
  • Professional and reliable service tailored to your level
  • A 45 minute or 1 hour one-to-one weekly lesson du ring term time
  • To learn a wide variety of music from classical to modern
  • Technical advice
  • Music reading, aural and theory teaching
  • Preparation for exams, festivals and concerts as required

Your appointments with me & Safeguarding
  • Please arrive punctually for the lesson. Your time is allocated for you each week during the term. I welcome the presence of parents who must be in the premises for the duration of the lesson for minors. The room where the lesson takes place should will have an open door. Please help yourself to drinks and clear up after yourself. I provide tea, coffee, milk with my labels on.
  • Please talk to your children about being respectful of Church property, facilities and premises, The church council is very supportive of my work and it is a privilege to be able to use the Chapel. There may be other people using the church while we are there so please be well mannered and considerate.
  • Please do not bring anything that would cause distractions to learning. Other siblings who may have to come with you need to be quiet and not intrude the lesson. A quiet activity should be brought to occupy children waiting. 
  • It is important that I can keep to good time for all my students so feedback and discussion with parents will be incorporated into the lesson; I will not be able to overrun and debrief you for 10 or 20 minutes after the lesson so please be around for at least part of the lesson if you have questions. 
  • If you wish to change your lesson time please give me as much notice as possible as it can take many hours and days for me to facilitate a change of day or/and time. 

Lessons Online & Safeguarding

Some of my teaching takes place on line and this can work very well, especially for music theory lessons. 
In order to ensure the safety of both the student and myself, I ask that:
  • A parent/guardian is in close proximity to the child during the lesson and that the door to the room is open
  • The designated parent/guardian must speak to me at the beginning and end of the lesson
  • Any administration/resources shared electronically must be exchanged only with the student's parent/guardian (if student is over 18 this is not an issue).

Online safety is very important, the NSPCC advises that parents and teachers need to talk to children about online safety.
Do remind your child:
  • not to share private information
  • not to respond to contact requests from people they don’t know
  • who they should tell if they see or hear anything upsetting or inappropriate
  • to use the privacy tools on the services they use, so that the content they post is only available to people they know and trust in real life

A Parent’s Role

The most accomplished musicians always have the support of a committed parent. A supportive parent helps the young musician to structure their routine and reminds them of what their tutor advises in the lessons. They need your support because beginner pupils think that simply playing through pieces is doing their practice. I will show pupils how to practice productively but the young musician will need reminders and encouragement from you between each lesson. Learning an instrument is rewarding and with effort, enjoyable. Many skills are nurtured through learning an instrument such as coordination, resilience, perseverance, cognitive development and creativity - nothing works the brain so well as music! 

Payment of Lessons and Cancellations

I will invoice you at the beginning of each half term. The invoice needs to be paid in full, by BACS transaction during the first week of the half term/month. If you need to cancel a lesson, please give me at least 72 hrs notice so that I can endeavour to reschedule your lesson for that week. I do not make up lessons missed in the following weeks. It is not always possible to reschedule lessons and missed lessons will be charged for. If I miss your lesson it will be made up or refunded.

Practice
“The origin of genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration.”  
This is a famous quote attributed to Thomas Edison and he was absolutely right! Being a good musician is little to do with natural talent and everything to do with effort. Learning an instrument is demanding and requires commitment. You will not improve if you only play once a week in your lesson – you must practise frequently. I understand that family life is busy but if there is not a regular practice schedule, it is simply a waste of time and money. Practice makes perfect and you need to practise until you can’t make a mistake! 

Technique

Technical exercises will be explained, demonstrated and set each week. These may take the form of studies, scales, arpeggios or tone exercises for flautists. Proceeding with a good technique enables you to attain physical mastery in order to play pieces well. Each practise session at home should begin with technique, rather like a sportsman works on skills and strength. 

Data Protection

We will need contact details for each student and information about their learning needs and any medical issues. This helps us to communicate with you and also to meet the needs of the student. In some cases the details will be used when entering students for exams (graded music exams). The format in which the records will be kept will be either manual record (personal file within filing system), computer record (database) or both. They will be kept securely in accordance with Tip Top Tutoring's data protection obligations. We will not pass your details on to any third parties. Personal data shall be adequate, relevant and limited to what is necessary in relation to the purpose(s) for which they are processed. Tip Top Tutoring take all reasonable steps to destroy or delete all personal data that is held in its systems when it is no longer required. We do not process personal data for any reason unrelated to our tutoring role.

Information which may be sought and recorded prior to commencing lessons and while a student is studying with Tip Top Tutoring:
  • Personal identifiers (name, age, address, date of birth, sex)
  • Details of parents/guardians (names, address, email address, Skype address, phone numbers)
  • Safeguarding information (such as court orders and professional involvement)
  • Special educational needs (including nature of needs)
  • Medical and administration (such as doctors’ pupil health, allergies, information on physical/mental disability, medication and dietary requirements)
  • Assessment and attainment (such as school work, marks and exam results, courses enrolled for or musical instruments played)
  • Behavioural information (such as attendance, exclusions and any relevant alternative provision put in place)
  • Information on previous academic record

Updated: 5th May 2025