About our lesson program
The teaching of small group and private music lessons is an essential part of a music curriculum.

Every class students take in school focus on individual learning and individual achievement except for music ensembles, which are geared toward group learning and group success. Lessons are where students receive the individual instruction they need on their specific instrument or voice, and are extremely valuable to young musicians. They are also a mandatory part of their coursework.

When do lessons meet?
Please see additional information on the lesson schedule

Lessons are grouped by instrument and/or section, and may change through the course of the year based on the material being covered. Lessons are normally scheduled once per week, and group size depends on the type of instrument and the number of periods available. We have experimented with going to a longer lesson rotation to keep groups smaller, but discovered that this is not a viable option due to the number of conflicts difficulty in scheduling.

Both instrumental and vocal music lessons are scheduled as “pull-outs” on a weekly five-day cycle (as opposed to the school’s four-day cycle) and rotate throughout the periods of the day. Within this system of scheduling, a student should miss a particular class approximately once per month. Students are expected to immediately make up all missed work.

Grading

Lessons are part of a student's grade for the music course. Some consideration will be given to students who miss lessons due to tests or for other valid reasons, but this is only when:

1. the student attempts to make up the missed lesson

2. is working at an appropriate level

3. completes the missed lesson form

This consideration cannot be given when absences from lessons become commonplace.