MMMA: School Policies

MERRY MELODY
MUSIC ACADEMY

“Merry Melody is a top-notch musical instruction program. Their passion for teaching really shows.”

- Joe, Norwood

School Policies

School Calendar
The 2023-2024 school year will be divided into three semesters:

Fall Semester

Sep 11, 2023 | Mon | Start of Fall Semester
Sep 25 | Mon | Yom Kippur – No Lessons
Oct 9 | Mon | Columbus Day – No Lessons
Oct 31 | Tue | Halloween – Cancellations Refundable
Nov 10 | Fri | Veterans Day – No Lessons
Nov 23 – Nov 26 | Thu - Sun | Thanksgiving – No Lessons
Dec 23 – Jan 1, 2024 | Sat - Mon | Winter Break – No Lessons
Jan 15 | Mon | Martin Luther King Day – No Lessons
Jan 28 | Sun | End of Fall Semester

Spring Semester

Summer Semester

Jun 24 | Mon | Start of Summer Semester
Aug 30 | Fri | End of Summer Semester

FEES & PAYMENTS

Lesson Fees - Fall & Spring Semesters

There are 40 lessons in the Fall & Spring Semesters with 20 lessons in each. Students will be making 5 monthly payments for 20 lessons per semester.

Payments will be automatically deducted from your ACH or Credit Card on file on the FIFTEENTH of each month. Every family must have a valid credit card or ACH bank account information on file. There is a 2.9% convenience fee to pay with a credit card. There is no fee to pay using ACH.

At the end of the Fall semester in February and the Spring semester in July, you will receive a statement with a summary of lessons students had during the semester. Any holidays, teacher cancellations, school cancellations or refundable cancellations will be refunded to you in the form of a credit on your account, applicable to the following month’s balance. If the credit on your account cannot be applied to remaining balance, you will receive a refund.

There is a $25.00 fee for returned checks.

Lesson Fees - Summer Semester

Summer lessons will be billed monthly after the lessons have been completed. Only the lessons completed will be charged.

Registration Fee

There is a $35.00 registration fee per family to register for each school year. This will be added to your first payment.

Books

We will provide all the music books for your child. The fees for the books will be billed separately monthly and will be debited from your form of payment on file.

End of Year Recital Fee

The recital fee will be $30 flat fee per family with one performer, and $45 flat fee per family with two or more performers. This will be added to your last invoice of the semester.

Referrals

Our business is run mainly through word of mouth. If you are satisfied with your experience, please refer us to your friends! You will receive $50 off for every family you refer who successfully signs up with us. You will receive the credit at the end of each semester.

Lessons Discontinuation

You must give 4-week notice to Merry Melody to discontinue lessons during the school year. You will be refunded any remaining credits at the end of the 4-weeks.

CANCELLATION/MAKE-UP POLICY

There will be no refunds offered for student cancellations during the Fall and Spring Semesters, except for Halloween, February Vacation and April Vacation.

Each student will have 2 make-up credits per semester to use.

Students are only given make-up credits if lessons are cancelled 24 hours in advance, except for cancellations due to illness or extreme emergencies. In the case of illness or extreme emergencies, our office must be notified before the teacher arrives at your house or no make-up credits will be offered.

We will do our best to schedule make-up lessons for your make-up credits during the semester. However, make-up availability is based on the availability of the teacher and the student thus we cannot guarantee make-up availability. We will try our best to reschedule make-up lessons by:

1. Find a near term make-up day that is mutually agreed upon between the student and the teacher.

2. Lengthen the lessons for the next couple of weeks until the lesson times are made up. For example, if a 30 minute lesson was missed, a student might have two 45 minute lessons for the next two weeks to make up for that one lesson.

3. We will have designated make-up days at the end of each semester chosen by the teacher as a last chance for students to make-up lessons. This is at the discretion and availability of the individual teacher. In the event that having a lesson on the designated make-up day will mean a student having a lesson two days in a row, the teacher will design a special course for the second lesson.

Make-up credits will expire after each semester.

Cancellations during Halloween, February Vacation, April Vacation and Summer Semester, are refundable with no make-ups.

Teacher Cancellations

If a teacher cancels due to illness, inclement weather or any other personal reason, make-ups will be offered based on the availability of the teacher. However, if the lessons cannot be made up, a refund will be issued at the end of the semester.

Inclement Weather

In the case of inclement weather, Merry Melody Music Academy will notify each family individually whether lessons will take place in-person or remotely. If you request not to do the lesson remotely, make-ups will be offered based on the availability of the teacher. However, if the lessons cannot be made up, a refund will be issued at the end of the semester.

Tardiness

Students are expected to be ready for their lessons on time. Under normal circumstances, teachers will wait for 10 minutes if the student is not available. Any tardiness beyond the 10 minutes window will result in forfeit of the lesson. Teachers are not expected to make up the time loss if a student is late.