It seems that missing lessons cannot be avoided. Overscheduling, sudden schedule conflicts, shopping, cold, forgetting, or unexpected events all contribute to missed lessons. Some students rarely miss a lesson, but unfortunately others do, quite often. Most students feel entitled to ask for make-ups for missed lessons and often get unhappy when teachers refuse or cannot fit make-ups into their schedule. Adding make-ups to the teachers’ schedule complicates things immensely. Here are the reasons why.
- You have paid for a particular day/time within the teacher’s schedule, not for a lesson at any time during the week. So once your time is gone, it is gone— from your life and from the teacher’s life too. Time is not reversible, we cannot double it, save it for another moment, or have it back. Time is precious.
- Asking for a make-up lesson means the teacher must schedule you into a second slot from their time (professional and life time), which you did not pay for. You are asking to get a second slot from your teacher’s time, for free. So for example, if your original lesson was for 30 minutes, you are now asking the teacher for 2 x 30 minutes, or 60 minutes, while paying only for 30.
- Most likely there will be no available time in the full schedule for a make-up lesson, so you are then asking the teacher to schedule you during their time off (they need time off as much as you do). To ask someone to work on their day off you often need to pay 1.5 times the price, but you wrongly think that your pay would stretch over the weekend.
- Teachers’ days off are for family and private time for rest and recharging, just the same as your own days off, so asking for make-ups during their private time is asking them in your behalf to not have a proper rest and to not take care of themselves and their families who need them too. Even worse, to reschedule or upset family plans in your behalf. Will you do it for your boss outside your established work schedule? If five customers ask for Saturday work outside your regular schedule will you agree? Will you agree the following Saturday as some other few customers ask for the same?
- What happens when a dozen of students sign up for school sports for two months season and need a different schedule time, but then after all is over they want to go back to their original schedule? What would you do? Will you disturb everyone in the studio to accommodate them, or do what is possible sometimes having these students to miss some lessons?
- You are sick but forgot to write to your teacher who was waiting for you, but you did not show. Is it fair to ask for make up? Let’s reverse… Your boss did not give you the work today but told you to make time for it for another day after work. Will you stay after work or go on your day off?
- Music teachers do not accommodate students on their days off because they accumulate tiredness and become less effective (which affects you as a student).
- Physical health (too much seating, too much noise) and mental health (need for quiet time and reflection) of music teachers requires two days off in a row (either weekend or Sunday/Monday)… but there are always students who can come for lesson only on Monday or others, who need make-ups on Saturday. So here come the business hours as much needed boundary, to keep teachers from overworking and stretching too thin.
Why can the teacher not return your money for a not-used lesson, or a no-show:
- Because of the time. You paid the day/time, you did not show, but the teacher was not able to schedule someone else for the same time slot. So, time was wasted used by no one. Your paid time is gone! Time is irreversible, can’t be saved for later too!
- The teacher’s work time is limited–they usually start teaching after school at 3 pm. The teaching schedule is then very tight, as no-one wants to come to a lesson after 9 pm. The teacher’s mornings are usually spent on office work, calls, emails, practicing and updating teaching skills.
- Please always remember that a teacher makes a living by having a full schedule of students, not by waiting around and doing multiple make-ups; so please do not expect that there will automatically be an available time for make-ups. Just try not to miss lessons! If you do, just practice and look forward to the next lesson! Your ballet teacher or ice-skating coach will also not give you make-up lessons, so please treat your piano teacher with the same respect.
- Occasionally the teacher will offer one make-up per semester (at their discretion). This may be possible, for example, when some other student announces in advance that they will miss a lesson, and the teacher is able to arrange to use their time slot for someone else. So, help each other– inform the teacher in advance about missing lessons if you can.
- At the end before asking for make-up ask yourself: Would you do a make-up work on your day off for no extra pay? Would you miss a scheduled family event? Well, the same applies to your piano teacher.
Please try to keep these points in mind before asking the teacher for a make-up lesson! Thank you.
Nelly Matova@ 2024 Matova Music
Matova Music School 