We made it! Summer break is here!
First off, congratulations to my many students in their various contests over the last few months. So many great performances and First Division Ratings! I'm proud of all of you!
As we discussed last month, we have switched to a "bill-after" system for our invoices. We expect this to be a permanent change for the foreseeable future. We have big plans for an "enhanced online presence" which would include, among other things, a portal for parents to keep track of lessons and make payments. But we are realistic, and very busy, so progress in that direction will be very slow, probably years, before we are ready to roll it out to my students. So, unless we run into a major obstacle, we will keep the bill-after system in place, though the actual invoices may get tweaked every now and then.
Since we are billing for lessons after the fact, we now expect payment in full of the total now due at the time of the invoice. I know that this is different, as I have always allowed parents to make payment arrangements that suited their schedule. I want to reassure you that I am still very flexible, and if you need a little more time to pay, just let me know, and we will work it out. You can still pay before the invoice comes out if you need to pay after your payday from your employer, or whatever your situation is, so that it works out for you just as it did before.
One thing that we did change since last month's post is that we will not include information on the invoice for the coming month, at least through the summer. Instead, I will discuss upcoming lessons and schedule with each of you as I contact you to set up lessons. Summer is always very fluid, with travel, varying school and band schedules, and holidays of course, so it always seems to be very unpredictable. So, once I have your child's schedule figured out with you, you can use that information to pay-as-you-go or pay in advance if you choose to do so. Once we get to September, and school is back in session, we may add the coming month lesson information back to the invoice if it seems like it won't cause too much confusion.
I am currently setting up lessons for the summer. I have had a much stronger than usual response, so I am pleased that so many of you are signed up. I do still have plenty of spots left each week, so please contact me if you would like to have a lesson or lessons this summer. You can just schedule with me each week as you are available, or we can have a plan for weeks in advance. Whatever works best for you.
Unless there is something unexpected that affects everyone come up, I probably will not have a June or July blog post, but will put something up in August as we approach the start of school.
I look forward to see all those who are having summer lessons! Either way, have a great summer, and safe travels!
