Private Music Lessons

EFFECTIVE AUGUST 31st 2023

Monthly Membership Services

•  Weekly Private Lessons
• Lesson Materials and Music
• 2 Recitals Per Year
• 2 Open Studio Group Lessons Per Year
• Access to Studio Resources, Including Practice Rooms
• Free Access to Studio Open Mics

Payments and Pricing

• Membership Pricing
• 30 Minute Lessons: $168 per month
• 45 Minute Lessons: $252 per month
• 60 Minute Lessons: $336 per month

     *NOTE: Some lessons qualify as premium lessons. Please inquire for pricing.

• Payments are deducted on the first of every month via auto-debit.
• If a payment processing problem is not resolved in 7 days of the due payment, a $15 charge will be added.
•  Yearly Membership Fee: A $90 yearly fee will be processed upon your initial registration and on September 1st of each following school year. This fee will help to cover the membership services listed above, including the registration ($35 value), lesson materials provided by the teacher ($50+ value), open studios ($50 value), and recitals ($50 value).

Lesson Termination

• One month’s notice is required via e-mail to [email protected] if a student wishes to pause or stop lessons. Payments for lessons will be canceled exactly one month from the date notice is given.

Attendance

• FLEXIBLE SCHEDULE: In order to ensure a flexible schedule, we calculate tuition based off of a 45-week lesson year and divide the cost evenly over 12 months of the year (see monthly rate above). Some months a student may have 5 lessons (for example, every couple months there are 5 Thursdays). There also may be months where a student has 3 lessons due to a student/teacher cancellation or a holiday. Our flexible model keeps the monthly payment even, allows students and teachers to take off without financial penalty to the student, and avoids the messy task of make-up lessons. That’s right, make-up lessons are not necessary. If more than 7 lessons are missed in a year (45 of 52 weeks), they may also attend one of our bi-annual open-studio group lessons as a make-up. That’s a flexibility of 9 lesson weeks throughout the year!
• ATTENDANCE: Students are expected to attend lessons regularly. Please give your teacher notice if you need to miss a lesson. Students who are unable to attend a lesson in-person may opt for a virtual lesson with given notice to your teacher.
• OPEN STUDIO: Twice a year, your teacher will offer an optional hour-long afternoon Open Studio group class. Open Studios can be used to hone students’ skills before the recital and/or make-up for any additional missed lessons. This year’s dates:
• Sunday, December 10th, 2023
  
• Sunday, June 9th, 2024
• Holidays: We are closed on the following major holidays: Labor Day, Thanksgiving Eve, Thanksgiving Day, The Day After Thanksgiving, December 24th – January 1st, Easter Sunday, Memorial Day, July 4th
• Inclement Weather: In the event of inclement weather, an e-mail will be sent two hours prior to the start of lessons. On inclement weather days, lessons will be virtual.

Recital Dates:

• Sunday, December 17th, 2023 
• Saturday, June 15th, 2024 rollover into Sunday, June 16th, 2024

Personal/Parent/Guardian Agreement and Consent

I hereby give permission for myself, or my child of whom I am the legal guardian, to be a participant in “Naptown Sings! Private Lessons”. I understand that neither Sophia Hardesty, the student’s instructor, Naptown Sings!, its representatives or members assume responsibility for any and all claims, injuries, damages, losses, or suits (including attorney fees), arising out of or resulting from the acts, errors or omissions by myself or my child. I understand that the student is expected to attend all lessons as described, and I understand and agree to the policies and fees associated with our
participation in this course.

Media Release

I hereby authorize Naptown Sings!, its representatives and members the right to take photographs and/or video footage of me, and to publish these photographs and/or video, along with the use of my first name, for use in any Naptown Sings! promotional material, in print or on any digital platform.

Vocal Health and Practice at Home

(for voice students only)

Vocal Health

• For Growing Children and Teens: Children’s bodies and voices are still growing. It is therefore important to make sure that their voices grow properly without damage to the voice. At this age, loud and high chest voice singing is discouraged. While we often see child prodigies sounding similar to artists like Christina Aguilera, it is much healthier to let kids sing like kids, rather than try to sound like adults.

Tips for Maintaining Vocal Health

• Always warm-up before singing.
• If you are a beginner, only practice 20-30 minutes at a time, or less. Intermediate and advanced students should practice at the discretion of their teacher.
• If it hurts, STOP and consult with your teacher.
• High notes should always be sung in head voice and/or forward belt, unless otherwise directed by your teacher (specific to young voices).
• Keep chest voice singing to lower notes. These notes should be sung no louder than your normal speaking voice unless otherwise directed (specific to young voices).
• Drink lots of water. We need to stay hydrated while singing just like we do for sports. Water lubricates our vocal cords.
• Please do not sing over sickness.

Warm-Ups and Exercises for Practice at Home:

1. Posture: Hands up to the sky, flop down and touch your toes, slowly roll up until you are standing straight and tall; shoulders back and down, knees slightly bent, one foot in front of the other.
2. Breathing: Try to suck all the air out of the room and fill up your stomachs (your diaphragm) with this air. Slowly hiss the air out. Try to do this for 15 seconds straight until you are out of air. Practice in front of a mirror to make sure you are making low breaths instead of high breaths.
3. Consonants: Say consonants in sets of 4 - S, K, T, Ch, Sh. You should feel your stomach pushing in to create these consonants.
4. Lip Trills: Brrrrrr all the way up and down.
5. Sirens: Ooooo all the way up and down.
6. Head Voice, Chest Voice, and Forward Belt: Sing notes or scales on an "oo" in your high pretty head voice, an "ah" in your lower speaking chest voice, and a "meow" in your higher forward belt.
7. Scared breaths: Breathe quickly, as if something scared you, to fill up your diaphragm (stomach breath). Remember the breaths need to be SILENT scared breaths!
8. Pick apart a song: Take one sentence of a song. Take a big low breath and sing it in one breath using your low breath air. Do the same for the rest of the sentences in the song, and then put the song together. You may use low and scared breaths for this, and head and chest voice.
9. Song Practice with CD or Online Recording: Practices group and solo, duet, and/or trio songs.