How make-up lessons work

What a membership holds

A weekly membership reserves a standing time with your teacher, the same day and time every week. That reservation is what tuition pays for. The time is held for you whether or not you use it, the same as any standing appointment, and your teacher builds their week around it. When a lesson is missed on short notice, that time simply goes unused.

Where a make-up comes from

We ask for a week’s notice because that is what lets us do something useful with the time. With a week, the desk can offer your time to another member who has a make-up to book, and your own lesson is set aside to be taught later, in a time another member has freed the same way. Members trade open times with each other, and a week’s notice is what makes the trade possible. On shorter notice the time is too close to fill, so the lesson is missed.

Most reserved time works the other way: a booked court or appointment you miss is simply gone. Here, the lesson comes back to you.

Why a make-up is a lesson, and only a lesson

The request we sometimes get is to apply make-ups to tuition instead of booking them, usually from a family whose weeks are full. It is a fair question, so here is the plain answer.

A make-up is a lesson waiting to be taught. Tuition already did its job when you were away: it held your time with your teacher. Taking a make-up off a later month’s tuition would refund that held time, and held time is not refunded, here or anywhere. What we do instead is give you the opportunity to still take the lesson at a later date. If there is no room for it this month, it simply waits. If there is never room, it expires at 90 days, or it can be donated to the Community Fund before then.

Why make-ups expire

Make-ups are taught in open time, and there is only so much of it in a teacher’s week. Ninety days is long enough to find a time and short enough that what is on file stays bookable. Without a window, what is on file stops being lessons anyone will take and starts being a number.

The window is the only limit. There is no cap on how many make-ups you can hold, so if you are away for a stretch and give notice, every lesson you miss goes on file as a make-up, and each one has its own 90 days, counted from the lesson you missed. The 90 days is for the lesson itself to happen, not only for it to be booked.

Illness, late arrivals, and emergencies

A make-up exists because notice created an opening someone else could use. On the day itself, nothing opens up: the teacher is here, the room is ready, and the time was held for you. That is why illness on the day and arrivals ten or more minutes late count as absences without a make-up. Please stay home when you are unwell; we may ask a student who arrives with symptoms to head home too. A student who is well enough to play but should stay out of the building can ask the front desk about taking the lesson online.

Genuine emergencies are different. Reach the front desk as early as you can, and we will handle it case by case.

The rest of the rules, in one place

• A booked make-up works like a drop-in: it cannot be moved, and a missed make-up is not made up again. The one exception is a booked make-up the school cancels, which goes back on file.
• Make-ups are booked through the front desk, with your own teacher first. If their week is full, another teacher for your instrument can take it. Your teacher may offer an open time by message; the desk books it.
• Booking a make-up needs an active membership in good standing.
• A make-up is the length of the lesson it came from. Make-ups are not split, combined, or converted between lengths.
• A make-up belongs to the student whose lesson it was. It cannot move to a sibling, a friend, or another account.
• If your teacher cancels and no substitute teaches, you always get a make-up, and that one does not expire while you are a member. When a substitute teaches, the lesson happened.
• A booked make-up, a drop-in, and a group class never earn a make-up.
• There are no holds or pauses. Give notice and return later, which ends the membership and everything on file with it, or stay enrolled and use make-ups when you are back, which keeps your time, your teacher, and your rate.
• When a membership ends, make-ups on file can be used or donated through the final lesson day of the notice period, and studio hours can be used within the monthly limit. Whatever is left expires, and nothing carries over to a later return. A lesson missed with a week’s notice before your final day can be moved to another open time before then, if one is open.
• Some arrangements made at the desk before May 2026 sat outside these terms, and they ended with the May 2026 policy update. Make-ups on file before May 19, 2026 can be used through December 19, 2026, the last lesson day before the winter closure. Make-ups earned since then run on the 90-day window.

Questions that come up

I’m too busy to reschedule. Can my make-ups come off this month’s tuition?

No. Tuition holds your weekly time, and a make-up is a lesson, so it can only be used as one. When a week opens up, try to book it. If the weeks are not going to open up, you can donate the make-up to the Community Fund. And if your schedule has changed for good, the fix is a different weekly time, which the front desk is glad to look at with you.

I stopped lessons a while ago and still had make-ups on file. Can I use them now?

Make-ups belong to a membership. When a membership ends, they can be used or donated through the final lesson day of the 30-day notice period, and after that they expire. They do not carry over to a later return. If you come back, a new membership earns make-ups the same way from the first week.

Can I give my make-ups to my other child, or to a friend?

No. A make-up is the student’s own lesson and stays with them. The one way a make-up can go to someone else is through the Community Fund, where it covers a lesson for a student who needs one.

The desk used to let me put make-ups toward tuition. Why not now?

Those arrangements sat outside the policy, and they ended with the May 2026 policy update. Any make-ups on file before May 19, 2026 can be used through December 19, 2026, the last lesson day before the winter closure. Make-ups earned since then run on the same 90-day window for everyone.

Why does no one get a make-up for being sick?

Because a make-up comes from notice, and a same-day absence gives none. Your teacher’s time is already committed to you that day. The rule is the same for everyone. Stay home when you are unwell, and let the front desk know as early as you can. If you are well enough to play but should stay out of the building, ask about taking the lesson online.

Can I pause my membership over the summer, or while things are busy?

No, but there are two ways through it, and each has a cost. Give 30 days’ notice and come back when things settle, subject to what is open then. That ends the membership, and the make-ups, studio hours, and studio-hour clock end with it. Or stay enrolled, give a week’s notice for the lessons you will miss, and use the make-ups when you are back. That keeps your time, your teacher, and your rate. A few weeks away usually suits the second; a whole season usually suits the first.

What if no time works before the 90 days are up?

The make-up expires, and that does not change your billing. The 90 days is for the lesson to happen, so booking early gives you the most room to find a time. If your teacher’s week is full, another teacher can take the make-up. And if getting in is the hard part, an online make-up is sometimes an option, with your teacher’s agreement.

Can I move a make-up once it’s booked?

No. A booked make-up works like a drop-in: it holds its time, and if it is missed it is not made up again.

My teacher cancelled. What happens?

Where we can, a substitute teaches the lesson so nothing is missed. If no one teaches it, you get a make-up, and that one does not expire while you are a member.

What happens to my make-ups if I cancel my membership?

You can use them, or donate them to the Community Fund, through the final lesson day of the 30-day notice period. Studio hours can be used through that day too, within the monthly limit. Whatever is left on the final day expires. A lesson missed with a week’s notice before your final day can be moved to another open time before then, if one is open.

Where do I see how many make-ups I have on file?

In your member account, alongside your schedule and teacher messages. The front desk can pull it up for you any time, with the date each one is usable by.