General Information
To download our 2011-2012 Catalog, please click here. This site offers general information about lessons, classes, ensembles; the Music Institute's policies and procedures; and general information about location and parking. There is a lot of information here and, if your questions remain unanswered, please do not hesitate to contact the office either by phoning (443) 518-4297 or by emailing jbailey@howardcc.edu.
GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT The lessons, classes and ensembles offered by The Music Institute have been designed to meet the needs and interests of our students. Whether you are a very young beginner experiencing formal music training for the first time, a high school student preparing for conservatory studies, an adult wishing to return to the instrument you set aside after high school, someone wishing to play your instrument along with other musicians in an ensemble setting or a music lover wanting to know more about music and be a more informed listener, The Music Institute has many offerings just for you. If you don’t see what you want, please call the Institute office. PRIVATE LESSONS Recommended Beginning Age of Student:
LESSON LENGTHS INSTRUMENT/MATERIALS/PRACTICE FACILITIES PAIR LESSONS ENSEMBLES AND CLASSES The Music Institute reserves the right to cancel classes that do not meet minimum enrollment requirements. IMPORTANT: All Students must be registered and have made minimum payments before beginning lessons, classes and ensembles. New students must contact the TMI office for teacher assignments. Returning students may contact their teachers directly or they may ask TMI staff to have the teacher contact them. All students must have a current Student Information Sheet on file at TMI office and should notify TMI of any changes. New Student Information Sheets can be found in the Music Suite or by clicking here. All students must have a current Consent Form on file in TMI office. This may be filled out with the Student Information Sheet. It states that the registration has been approved; contains a Media Permission Statement; contains a Waiver of Responsibility; and must include a student/responsible party signature. Consent Forms are also available in the Music Suite or by clicking here. Students must be registered BY THEIR TEACHERS. This can take place at any time during the year, although there are specific registration dates that correspond to the sections that are being registered (see Music Institute Sections below). After parental/responsible party approval, the registration form is submitted to the TMI office for approval and forwarded to Records and Registration. Once TMI office has received notification of processing from the Registrar’s Office, an e-invoice with payment information is sent to the student/responsible party via e-mail. Student/parent replies to the TMI Invoice e-mail agreeing to the terms and conditions of the contract and arranges for payment using one of the methods discussed in the next section. Lessons may not begin until payment for the first section has been received. Ensembles must be paid for in full before a student may participate. Teachers will be notified by TMI staff when lessons may begin. Office hours will be posted on the office door and online. Available Private Lesson Options Trial Lessons for New Students We offer, to new students, the option of choosing a 4-week trial period before committing to an extended lesson plan (multiple sections). For questions, contact the Music Institute office. In addition to the new student 4-week trial period, all Music Institute students must register for lessons in groups (sections) of 4 lessons. For example (please refer to the MI Section chart below), a student may register for as many 4 week blocks or sections as they wish and have mutually agreed upon with their respective teacher. If you are accustomed to registering for 16 lessons under the old system and want to register for 16 lessons this year, you would (if starting at the beginning of the Academic Year) register for Term 2010A2, Section 009 through Section 012 with the ending date of 12/18/10. Likewise, for the “Spring Semester” you would register for Term 2011A1, Section 001 through Section 004. In other words, all registrations are flexible in terms of the length of the lessons, but are grouped in sections of 4 weeks. Remember that you are not required to pay for all of the lessons at once. You may use one of the payment methods described below. We encourage registration for as many sections as you think you will want as it greatly simplifies the process for all parties. The TMI staff will be happy to help you complete all the necessary paperwork. Please do not hesitate to ask for assistance! Music Institute Sections The following are our 4 (four) week session dates:
Private Instruction: Individualized Chamber Coaching: Ensembles and Classes Please Note: Teachers and MI Staff may only take payments to the cashiers office or to the drop safe in RCF 222 for student/parents who have issues with mobility! Payment CANNOT be made until an e-invoice or bill is received from either TMI or the Finance Department. Forms and payments may be submitted in the following ways:
For applied music lessons, there is only one type of fee assessed, a per-section fee. The amount of the fee is $10.00 per section regardless of the length of the lesson. The e-invoice clearly states both tuition and fee totals and outlines payment methods. Parents enrolling multiple children in concurrent TMI lessons may inquire about fee reduction near the end of the school year. There is no fee reduction for classes and ensembles. Most of our teachers depend on their respective teaching load as their primary source of income. Therefore it is the policy of the Music Institute that early withdrawal from contracted lessons will incur a four lesson penalty (the teacher may waive their right to payment for the penalty period). Please be aware, timely payments allow the administration to make sure the teachers are paid on a regular basis. If for some reason, one wishes to drop sections due to illness, financial constraints, or relocation, the request must be made in writing to TMI. This may be done through email or snail mail. The same penalty expressed above applies in these cases. If you elect to pay your bill monthly in person or by phone, it must also be done according to the schedule below. There are no additional fees for making payments in installments. The Finance Department processes bills for all unpaid balances and mails them two weeks prior to their due date. This bill will be for the entire amount owed PER TERM (2010A2 or 2011 A1), and not for the entire school year, so please refer to the e-invoice for information about monthly amounts due. If the minimum payment is unpaid by the due date, HCC may invoke its right to collect delinquent payments, possibly (in extreme cases) using a collection agency to do so. The Registrar may then elect to deregister the student from that set of private lessons and the teacher would be obligated to cease teaching that student for any unpaid lessons. Please note that Finance processes bills on the morning of the Billing Dates listed below. Late registrations will not receive a bill until the next Billing Date. The full unpaid amount will be listed on the bill for one complete Term (6 month period). Please pay your prearranged monthly payment as listed on your e-invoice. CashNet Payments For private lessons, patrons have the option of paying the full amount of tuition or paying in monthly installments through CashNet, if you are registering for more than one section. A link to the website is found on the e-invoice. Once the website is accessed, there are directions on how to use the system. If you elect to divide payments in this way, the e-invoice contains due dates, which are also found below. There are no additional fees for paying through CashNet.
For Classes & Ensembles If any class or ensemble has insufficient enrollment, the Music Institute reserves the right to cancel the class and will refund all tuition. There are no refunds for classes, ensembles or individualized coachings that are in progress. For Private Lessons The Music Institute understands that serious situations may arise where the suspension of lessons becomes necessary. Should you experience such circumstances and desire to withdraw from lessons, please make your request in writing, stating the circumstances that make the withdrawal necessary. Verbal requests cannot be accepted. Fees and matieral costs are nonrefundable. Also, as many of our faculty depend on their respective teaching incomes as a large source of their total income, any granted withdrawal will still require that the teacher have a “four lesson cushion”, unless the instructor waives this stipulation, which also must be made in writing. No verbal waivers can be accepted. For private instruction, there are no refunds within a section that is currently running. Refund requests made one month prior to the Start Date (please see the Music Institute Sections listed above) of the next section, may be granted a full tuition refund Refund checks will be issued by the HCC business office within 21 business days after the written request is received by the Music Institute office. For new students, this policy will be effective after the four week trial period. Absences/Tardiness Regular attendance is very important for students to fully develop their musical abilities. Students are charged for all lessons or classes for which they register, including those missed through student absence. As a courtesy, students are expected to directly notify their teachers of any impending absence from lessons. Instructors are not required to make up lessons missed by students. Lessons canceled by the teacher will be rescheduled. Lessons canceled due to weather or other emergency will be rescheduled if possible. The Music Institute follows school closing policies of Howard Community College. HCC’s weather emergency closings will be aired on Baltimore and Washington television stations affiliated with the major networks and on area radio stations between 6 and 9 am. If HCC classes are canceled anytime after the college opens, announcements will be aired in the same manner. A recorded message will also be placed on the college’s main telephone number, 443-518-1000 (please take note that this is a new number) and a message posted on the college homepage, www.howardcc.edu. Tardy students cannot be guaranteed full lesson time. Teachers must stay on schedule for subsequent students. A weekly attendance report will be maintained by the teacher and student, detailing lesson times, lengths and any other pertinent details. It is imperative that the teacher and student maintain good records using the Lesson Chart provided by the Music Institute office. In the case of any disputes as to the number or length of lessons given and received, the Lesson Chart (which should have identical information) will be the accepted reference document rather than personal schedule books. Change of Instructor Our four week trial lesson period for beginning students allows both students and instructors ample opportunity to decide if they want to continue working together, or if the student wishes to continue lessons at all. We strive to pair students and teachers together to achieve the best results, but we view the process as a professional obligation on the part of both the teacher and the student. In other cases, if a change is desired, student/parents must first discuss this with the current teacher, and then the office must be notified, in writing. Students desiring to change teachers must give one month’s notice – no exceptions. Most teachers rely on their private teaching as their primary source of income and it is both unfair and unprofessional to end the teacher/student association abruptly without proper notice. Howard Community College is conveniently located just a couple of miles from the intersection of US Route 29 and MD Route 175. The Music Institute is in the Peter and Elizabeth Horowitz Visual and Performing Arts Center on the Howard Community College campus. Directions to Howard Community College can be found on the college website at http://www.howardcc.edu/index.html. A map of the campus is available here: http://www.howardcc.edu/about_hcc/getting_around/maps_and_directions/index.html Music Institute students may park in LOT I and LOT A. When parking on these or any other lots on campus, please be considerate of our handicapped students and refrain from parking in spaces reserved solely for their use. Please note that LOT G has been closed due to construction of a multi-level parking garage. |