POLICIES/PROCEDURES

PRIVATE LESSON POLICIES

Revision effective 9/1/23

Tuition Payment

Tuition is charged monthly based on the number of weeks in the month.

There is a 3.2% processing fee for credit card payments. 

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Instructor Rate

30 minute lesson= $33

45 minute lesson=$48       

60 minute lesson =$62    

15 minute lesson=$18  

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Apprentice Instructor Rate (Apprentice instructors are attending an accredited University and pursuing a music degree, specializing in their chosen instrument or voice. They receive teaching guidance and supervision from Advanced Instructors). 

30 minute lesson= $30

45 minute lesson=$45       

60 minute lesson =$60    

15 minute lesson=$15

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Travel Fee There is a $15 travel fee per week for student's who take lessons at their homes.

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Monthly prizes, materials and recital fee =  $8 per student or $12 per family. 

If paid in advance at the beginning of the school year $80/student or  $120/family. Please note, this is a non-refundable fee.

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DAMA accepts tuition payments by:  

• Credit card through the emailed invoice.

• Venmo (ID: Denver Academy of Musical Arts @DenverAma),  

• Zelle (ID: admin@denverama.org)

• Cash or Check

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Invoices are emailed the first week of the month and payments are due within 7 days of the invoice.  

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A $10 late fee will be added to invoices not paid by the end of the month.  

 

Unpaid invoices may result in the student forfeiting their lesson day/time.  

Please communicate any hardships that prevent timely payment in order continue participation in the program.  

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Cancellations/Missed Lessons

Once you have reserved a month’s lessons, the school commits to paying your teacher for all lessons. This includes lessons you are not able to attend for any reason including planned vacations and holidays when DAMA is open.  

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Lessons missed or cancelled by the student are not refunded, banked, credited, carried forward, or owed to the student in any manner regardless of reason or advance notice of the cancellation or withdrawal from the program.  

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There is no refund if a teacher is absent and a qualified substitute teacher is available.   However, there will be a credit on the following invoice for teacher cancellations if there is no substitute available and a video lesson is not an option.  If an Apprentice Instructor substitutes and there is a lesson rate discrepancy, the difference will be refunded on the following invoice. If a non-Apprentice Instructor substitutes for an Apprentice Instructor, student's will not be charged the higher rate. 

 

In the event of inclement weather, power outages, school closings,  or COVID quarantine, lessons may be offered through a video call system such as Zoom or FaceTime.  If a video lesson is offered by their Instructor, due to the above mentioned conditions, and the student wishes to cancel, there will be no refund for that lesson. If a teacher does not feel the student would benefit from a video lesson, and therefore, no video lesson is offered, then the lesson can be rescheduled or credited for that lesson. 

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Make Up Lesson Policy

We will let you know if there are any open days/times available during the same week as your cancellation but we can not guarantee we will be able to reschedule. 

 

We appreciate as much notice as possible when canceling so we can offer your lesson time to other students and vice versa.

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Once per month we offer a 45 minute group make up lesson with topics such as music theory, music history, modern music, performance techniques, rhythm drills, etc.  Please let your teacher know if you plan to attend so we can create a lesson plan  that is best suited for participants. 

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School Holidays

Tuition is not charged for days that DAMA is closed: ​

• Labor Day

• Halloween 

• Thursday and Friday of Thanksgiving

• December 24th through January 1st

•  One floating holiday during Spring Break

• Memorial Day

• July 4th

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Summer Schedule

DAMA continues lessons even after school is out for the summer.  

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Adjustments may be made to the schedule to accommodate students who wish to attend lessons during the morning/afternoon.

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Students have the option to cancel 2 lessons during the summer for no charge. For students who will miss more than 2 lessons in the summer and still want to retain their lesson time for the rest of the Summer and the Fall, there are 2 options:

 

1. For a reduced rate of $75 per month (4 consecutive missed lessons) we can hold a student's lesson day/time for missed lessons during the summer or

2. Pay regular monthly lesson tuition and then cancel lessons as needed.

 

If you don't need to reserve a spot for the whole summer or the Fall, we can schedule summer lessons as they fit into your/our schedule but we can not reserve a specific day/time. Therefore, lessons would be whenever we have an opening and there isn't a guarantee that there will be availability in the Fall.  But, we will add our returning students to  the top of the waiting list. 

 

We feel this is the only fair way to handle the summer schedule since we have a waiting list of students who would be able to fill the spots that current students will miss this summer.  Therefore, even if you know ahead of time which weeks your child can attend a lesson but you decide not to reserve that day/time for the entire summer, then we can only schedule one week prior to the day/time you are requesting and we can't guarantee we will have the day/time that you need.   

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Recitals/Performance Opportunities

DAMA offers two formal recital opportunities each year and various informal occasions to perform throughout the year.

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The recitals in May and December are formal in nature, with songs selected to certain criteria that ensure the opportunity for development of technique.  

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Student Showcases are mini concerts performed by 3-4 students who have chosen 3-4 songs to play for their family and friends.  It is more informal and gives students the chance to work on building a repertoire.

 

Participation in recitals is not mandatory, however, part of learning to play music is also learning how to share it with others and so we highly recommend it. 

 

We offer recital rehearsals so that students can practice the art of performing in front of their peers.

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Select students will be offered the opportunity to participate in regional and/or state competitions. These students should take advantage of every opportunity to perform prior to the competition. 

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Student Incentives

We offer several incentives to reward students who put forth the effort to learn.  

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COINS: During lessons, if students do well focusing, follow directions and have a good attitude, they are given a coin. Once they have 5 coins they may shop in the treasure box (toys) or the treat box (candy or food items).

 

RAFFLE: Students 8 and older may earn a raffle ticket for every 30 minutes that they practice during the week. Students younger than 8 earn a raffle ticket for every 15 minutes that they practice during the week. Students also earn a ticket for their lesson time each week. We do not round up minutes and minutes can not be carried over from a previous week. (except if the student is absent the previous week.). Parents must verify the practice time either verbally with the teacher or they may sign the student’s assignment sheet.  Tickets will not be awarded without confirmation from a parent.  

 

On the last day of the month, 3 tickets are drawn for prizes: $25, $15, $5 All tickets are counted and the student who has the most tickets wins a medal.

Note: there are no raffles during June, July and August.

 

STUDENT OF THE MONTH:

• Students who have put in extra effort practicing and

• Have a good attitude about learning and

• Have attended at least 4 lessons during the month and who

• Have a song ready to perform may be awarded the title of “Student of the Month”.

 

The prize is $50 cash, a trophy and an interview featured in our monthly newsletter on our website.

Note: there is one "Student of the Month" awarded at the end of August for the summer.

 

Exclusion from any incentive should be requested by emailing: admin@denverama.org

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Lesson Plans and Practicing

The only way to become proficient at any skill is by practicing.  Instructors will plan lessons each week in order for students to gain new skills and reinforce previously learned skills. Lessons will be written on an Assignment Sheet to help guide students  during practice sessions at home.  Young students need a parent to sit with them during practice sessions. Relying on a child to WANT to practice usually causes the child a lot of stress.  If the child has a structured time to practice and is expected to  adhere to the schedule then it will eventually become a habit.   Young children simply do not have the ability to develop this type of structure on their own. 

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Students are expected to practice. Students who continually come to lessons unprepared  may be asked to change teachers, try another instrument or withdraw from the program in order to make room for students who want to learn. 

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Terminating Lessons

We do not require contracts to secure lesson days/times because once a student decides to quit taking lessons, any lessons they are forced to take because of a contract are usually ineffectual.  Therefore, we ask that you please give as much notice as possible when students no longer wish to continue taking music lessons. Since lessons are billed at the first of the month,  students can continue to take lessons until the end of the month or cancel the rest of the lessons for the month without a refund.   If we are not informed of the cancellation before the first of the month,  students and/or parent/guardians will be invoiced and they are responsible for paying the invoice that month regardless if the student takes any lessons that month.   

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There may be circumstances when a student and their Instructor are just not a good fit. Not all personalities mesh. Before quitting lessons altogether,  we hope that students will try lessons with a different teacher.  Instructors also have the option to request that a student try another teacher.  In these cases, it is based on the student's behavior that would suggest that he/she would better suited to a different teacher in order to reach their full potential. 

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GENERAL SCHOOL POLICIES

Conduct

Respectful and courteous conduct is required at all times of all DAMA instructors, students parents, and their guests.  Any use of profanity, verbally abusive communication, inappropriate physical contact, aggressive or threatening behavior, damage to DAMA’s facility or equipment, or conduct which could be upsetting to others may result in dismissal from the school without refund of tuition.

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Photography, video, and audio recordings of students

Denver Academy of Musical Arts’ school staff routinely photographs and makes audio and video recordings of student performances and group activities which we may publish in brochures, posters, in-school displays, DAMA‘s website, and on DAMA’s social networking websites such as Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.  

 

As a condition of enrollment at DAMA, you grant DAMA the right to utilize photos, video, and audio of student performances and group activities such as classes and camps.  

 

Student’s last names will not be identified in photo, video, and audio use of public websites unless permission is granted by the student (or by the parent if the student is a minor).  Last names may be added to our Newsletter because circulation is limited to our group. 

 

Exclusion of a student’s photos or recordings may be requested by emailing admin@denverama.org. 

 

DAMA will make best efforts to comply with exclusion requests when possible, however exclusion requests will not be granted with regard to group photos or video that include other students or staff.

 

Privacy Policy

Denver Academy of Musical Arts  does not disclose the identity or contact information of our students to outside parties. Denver Academy of Musical Arts  is hosted on the Wix.com platform.  Your data may be stored through Wix.com’s data storage, databases and the general Wix.com applications. They store your data on secure servers behind a firewall. All direct payment gateways offered by Wix.com and used by our company adhere to the standards set by PCI-DSS as managed by the PCI Security Standards Council, which is a joint effort of brands like Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discover. PCI-DSS requirements help ensure the secure handling of credit card information by our store and its service providers. Our host uses cookies to monitor and analyze the performance, operation and effectiveness of Wix's platform and to ensure our platform is secure and safe to use. 

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Liability Policy

Denver Academy of Musical Arts is not responsible for damages that may be caused by any act, or failure to act, by Denver Academy of Musical Arts, or that may otherwise arise in any way in connection with any services received from Denver Academy of Musical Arts with respect to any bodily injury, illness, death, medical treatment, or property damage that may arise from, or in connection to, any services received from Denver Academy of Musical Arts. This Liability policy extends to Denver Academy of Musical Arts,  with all owners, partners, and employees.

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Pandemic/Illness Protocol Policy

• DAMA follows mask mandates regulated by the state.

• Do not enter the facility if you have had a fever within 24 hours or have been exposed to someone with COVID.

• If you have an illness that is contagious such as a cold or flu or a contagious rash, please do not enter the facility.

• We appreciate you wearing a mask if you are no longer contagious but still have symptoms of an illness, such as coughing.

• Please consider video lessons in order to prevent spreading germs. 

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DIVERSITY and Inclusion Policy

Denver Academy of Musical Arts,  with all owners, partners, and employees does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, marital status, or political affiliation. 

 

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ACCEPTANCE OF THIS DOCUMENT

Students and/or their parents/guardians will be notified via email of any revisions made to this document between annual updates.  Students and/or their parents/guardians who do not agree to abide by the revisions of this document must contact the staff in writing within 7 days of registering a student to decline acceptance, in which case participation in DAMA  programs may be declined  or the Policy/ Procedure in question may be amended by the owner to suit both parties. It is at the owner's discretion to accept or deny any students based on non-acceptance of this document. 

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Please direct any questions or concerns to: admin@denverama.org

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To return the registration page, see the tab at the top of your web browser.  This page opened in a separate window. 

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