Quarters generally begin on the first Mondays of:

• September (Fall)
• December (Winter)
• March (Spring)
• June (Summer)

A reminder of the present quarter's dates can be found on the masthead of our quarterly newsletter, MA Update, which is sent with the quarterly bill... and on every bill sent to students.

Many Music Arts instructors plan on 11 lessons out of the 13 weeks of each quarter. This schedule allows for vacation plans and/or illness, giving student and instructor two weeks in each quarter for flexibility. Other instructors may build their schedules around 12 or 13 lessons in each quarter. The first item in your statement will show your instructor's quarterly rate and lesson basis.

If you start after the quarter has begun, or you and your instructor agree in advance that a number of lessons will be missed, your statement will show a prorated number of lessons, with the amount due adjusted appropriately.

If you and your instructor are unable to complete the lessons you've paid for in any one quarter, you'll be given credit on your next quarter's statement. If extra lessons are added, they'll be billed on the following quarterly statement. These adjustments are made at the end of the quarter and not on a monthly basis.

You can expect your statement to arrive about one week before the start of each quarter. Statements are mailed on the 24th of the month. If you start lessons after that date, you'll receive your statement the following month.

All payments must be sent to our bookkeeping office:

861 West Outer Drive
Oak Ridge, TN 37830-8315

Music Arts cannot be held responsible for cash sent through the mail or deposited in the drop box (see page 3). For your own protection, we suggest paying by check or money order. You may pay with cash at our office if you call prior to arrival and arrange to have someone available to give you a written receipt.

Payments should be postmarked by the 3rd of the following month, or deposited in the Music Arts drop box at 861 West Outer Drive by the following 5th.

Yes! Although your tuition is due in advance (at the beginning of each quarter), you may pay monthly if this is more convenient for you. Your statement is sent at the beginning of the quarter and gives you the option of paying in full or paying monthly, and lists the amounts due for both situations. To arrive at the monthly amount, your quarterly amount is divided into equal installments and a flat monthly charge of $2.00 is added to each. The amount shown as your monthly payment includes this charge.

If you pay the "monthly" amount, or any amount other than the total quarterly amount due, you will automatically receive montly statements, which are sent on the 24th of each month.

If your payment misses this deadline, you will no longer be eligible for the discount (see page 8 of the Student Guide print version), but you are allowed an additional two weeks' grace period. However, if your payment is postmarked after the 17th of the month, or deposited in the Music Arts drop box after the 19th of the month, you'll be rebilled and a late charge of $4.00 will be added to the next statement.

Your next monthly statement will then show the minimum due of two monthly payments, while the option for paying the full quarterly amount will have a late charge added to it.

Don't assume that your bill is no longer "good" if you miss a lesson or two. We know that schedules often do not go as planned, but we realize that your instructor may intend to give you makeup lessons. If it turns out that at the end of the quarter that you have overpaid, the extra will show up as a credit on the next quarter's statement.

No. It's your responsibility, not your instructor's, to make sure your payment gets to our bookkeeping office. Music Arts instructors appreciate not having to concern themselves with individual student payments. They prefer to keep a professional relationship with students and leave the nonmusical details to others.

If your payment goes to the wrong place, there may be a considerable delay in your being credited, including the possibility of your payment being misplaced or lost. No matter what the reason, if your payment is postmarked after the 17th or is hand-delivered after the 19th, you'll have a $4.00 late charge added to your next statement.

Ignoring a bill, no matter what the problem, and waiting to see if it will "work itself out" will cause late charges to be applied to your account. Don't assume that your instructor has made adjustments or has communicated with us.

We understand that there are sometimes circumstances which cause payments to be delayed. If you find your payment will be late, please contact our office.

If you have any questions or concerns about your statement, call our bookkeeping office at 865-482-5614. We would be happy to look into it and make adjustments if necessary.

We charge an additional $25.00 for any check which is returned to us, for any reason, by the bank.

Occasionally Music Arts finds it necessary to file suit to collect the full amount due. We will give approximately three weeks' warning of intent to sue. During this time, we will accept only cash or money orders (not personal checks) in payment of debt. If suit must be filed, additional charges will be added to the amount of the debt, including a county court filing fee, approximately $100.00, and a Music Arts filing fee of $40.00. Once suit is filed, these additional amounts will be due even if the debt is settled before the trial date.

Yes. A full prorated refund of tuition will be given if you find you must discontinue lessons. If preferred, credit may be applied toward lessons in a future quarter, or with another instructor.

This is up to individual instructors. Most instructors will insist on having enough warning to be able to schedule another student in your spot. To avoid misunderstandings, check with your instructor about missed lesson policy before the situation arises.

Yes. You'll need to contact your instructor rather than the Music Arts office, since your instructor will want to discuss makeup plans.

We frequently find that weather conditions in the afternoon are not as severe as when cancellations are announced around dawn by the public schools. If there is any doubt, call your instructor or the Music Arts number, 865-482-5614, after 12:00 noon for an update.

Yes! A big discount can be earned through:

Prompt Payment Reward Policy

Maintain a prompt payment record (a minimum of nine months or three Quarters) and you'll be awarded a discount of 10% on your continuing Summer Quarter lessons.

To qualify, all payments throughout the year must be postmarked no later than the 3rd or placed in our drop box by the 5th.

Referral Reward Program

Our Referral Reward Program is a very popular and substantial form of discount, giving you the opportunity to earn free lessons. Simply refer a new student for private lessons. (Ask the student to identify you as the personwho recommended Music Arts!) For every lesson the new student completes, you'll be awarded one point. When you've accumulated the number of points equalling your instructor's basic quarterly lesson plan (11, 12, or 13), you'll have an automatic deduction of one free lesson from your next quarterly bill. And your bonus lesson awards will continue to be applied for two full years, as long as both you and your referred student are studying!

Each private lesson is valued equally: a half-hour weekly lesson with our least expensive instructor will be recorded as one point, as will a one hour per week with our most expensive instructor. This means that if your referred student signs up for half-hour lessons, and you're taking one hour weekly at the time the new student joins, you'll get credit for one hour lessons. The reverse is also true, of course.

This referral offer is valid only with new students (whose families have not studied with Music Arts for the past 4 years), and is not valid for referrals within your immediate family.

No one is required to appear in a recital, but we hope you'll want to! Since Music Arts instruction covers such a wide variety of instruments, our recitals (usually lasting less than one hour) are interesting for everyone. And because we schedule frequent recitals, you can perform when you're at your peak.

Music Arts prints programs and supplies the punch for recitals. Whenever you're taking part in a recital, please help with refreshments. A typical contribution might be as simple as a bag of cookies or as elaborate as a tray of finger vegetables and dip (which, for some mysterious reason, is extremely popular with kids!).

Your instructor will give you a "Music Arts Recital Ticket" as a reminder of the date and time. Turn this ticket in during the recital's Intermission Quiz to be eligible for the door prize drawing!

A number of Music Arts instructors offer workshops, without additional charge, as an ongoing part of their instruction. Topics covered in workshops often include music theory and appreciation, solo and ensemble playing, performing hints and care of the instrument.

Depending on demand, classes in ensemble performance, such as string quartet, are offered, as are classes in music theory for all levels.

Yes! Music Arts offers a variety of enhancements to private lessons. Among the opportunities:

Music Theory Olympics

Offered during the Fall Quarter, this creative assortment of quiet games and exciting races offers a challenge to students, demonstrating their knowledge of music theory, appreciation, and history, and letting them have fun while learning more!

Composition Contest

Offered during the Winter Quarter , original compositions for solo instruments or ensembles are judged by a panel of Music Arts instructors. The winner of the Symphonic Composition category is offered the chance to hear his or her work rehearsed and possibly performed by the Oak Ridge Community Orchestra.

Performance Competition

Offered during the Spring Quarter, students may qualify to compete in the Junior Division (up through grade 7) or Senior Division (grades 8 - 11). The Senior Division Competition offers cash prizes. Students are judged in private audition with a recognized music authority, such as conductors of the Knoxville Symphony, the KSO Youth Orchestra, or the Oak Ridge Community Orchestra; the head of the UT Music Department; or the WUOT Music Program Manager.

To qualify, students:

• Must be nominated by their instructor
• May not have previously won first prize in their division
• Must be presently studying and have studied with their instructor for a minimum of the past two full quarters
• Must have all accounts currently paid

During the Summer Quarter, Music Arts sponsors an on-site music camp for beginning students, taught by carefully seleted student interns who are monitored by Music Arts instructors.

The purpose is twofold:

1. To train promising advanced Music Arts students in the skills of instruction
2. To offer lower cost private and group lessons to beginners who would like to become acquainted with an instrument in a casual, supervised setting.

Band, choral, and orchestral clinics are offered as personnel and demand allow during the summer.

Yes! The Music Arts Scholarship Fund gives assistance of between 25% to 75% to students who would not otherwise be able to study. To qualify, students:

• Must have a stated financial need
• Be identified as talented
• Make reasonable progress in their study

Scholarships are awarded on the recommendation of the Advisory Board, after a minimum evaluation period of three months. An initial temporary discount of 20% is awarded while approval is pending.

Scholarship grants are awarded just prior to the Winter Quarter, with additional scholarships awarded prior to Summer Quarter, and are not automatically renewed. If, at any time, it is felt that either the student's financial situation has sufficiently improved, or the student is no longer showing reasonable progress, the scholarship will be discontinued, although the student may elect to continue studying at the normal cost.

Under rare circumstances, some instructors may offer Instructors' Grants to deserving students who do not qualify for a Music Arts Scholarship, essentially creating a scholarship by lowering their rates.

The use of sheet music is available to students without charge thanks to the Milton Carey Music Library.

Milton Carey, a longtime Oak Ridger and former student, donated a substantial amount of music, forming the core of our music lending library. Thanks to numerous additional generous donations and gifts from others in the community since that time, as well as tireless work from our instructors in cataloguing, Music Arts if able to offer a high quality lending library with a large range of music for solo instruments as well as ensembles.

Students not associated with the music school may also have access to the library in exchange for a yearly donation designating them as a Patron of the Scholarship Fund.

A card catalog with grouping by instrument is kept in one of the places Music Arts leases for teaching space. Your instructor will direct you to it. Students may browse through the catalog, and may visit the library stacks when accompanied by a Music Arts instructor. Music may be borrowed over a period of three months, as well as renewed, and is signed out by the instructor.

If you have any further questions about activities, policies, or any other subject, please contact Music Arts at 865-482-5614. Thanks!