SARA HORTON STUDIO POLICY 2015

I. Philosophy:

As a lifelong student of singing, I believe that above all, the study of music and singing should be joyous, diligent, and fun! Everyone is endowed with a unique, special voice, and everyone has something to say with their own instrument. Through the hard work and dedication of both myself and my students, I aim to reveal the healthiest and most expressive sound possible for their own voice. I do not believe there is a specific right sound, and I will never encourage a student to sing like someone else, even myself. I will never ask a student to do something that I myself have not done or would not do with my own instrument.

II. Lesson:

I am typically available to teach lessons on Monday and Thursday evenings and either Saturday or Sunday. Because everyone has busy lives, I do my best to accommodate schedules and can make myself available as necessary on alternate days. Due to my day job, I will sometimes require students and parents to be flexible about lesson days and times. I appreciate the willingness to work with me on scheduling!

Should you arrive early for your lesson, please either wait in your car, or you are welcome to sit at the table by my front door. I teach many lessons back to back, so I ask that you not interrupt another students lesson or my personal time unless it is an emergency or the weather is inclement.

As your teacher, I want your lesson to be more than just singing through a few songs. We are here together to work and achieve great things. While what specifically happens during a voice lesson can vary greatly from student to student and from week to week, the overall structure of the lessons remains similar and is outlined below.

Technique We will always start with some combination of warm-ups for your breath, body, and voice. Just as you wouldn't go running without first stretching and warming up your muscles, you don't want to start singing full songs without first getting your body and voice warmed up. Warm-ups will also introduce you to new techniques for properly using your voice in a healthy and beautiful way.

Repertoire After warmups we will work on songs. Typically, you will sing through the song once, and then we will go through it in small, manageable chunks, applying the techniques from the warm-ups to the songs.

Performance During the lesson we will also work on expression and acting. A song isn't just pretty notesit tells a story. It's your job as a singer to tell the story and to make it fun and exciting for the audience. I would rather that my students sound less than stellar but sell the song than sound beautiful and look utterly boring every day of the week.

Musicianship Skills A knowledge of music theory and sight-reading are essential to successful musical study. We will touch on these skills from time to time as skill levels necessitate.

III. Practice: Nothing can be achieved as a singer without regular practice. Personally, I practice for between 1 and 2 hours PER DAY, depending on my upcoming projects. Obviously, this was not what I was doing in high school or middle school, but I want to stress the importance of practice to you from my own experience. Proper practice is an investment in yourself and your talents. For high school and middle school students, I suggest 30 minutes of practice four times per week.

If you will not have much time to practice between lessons, please notify me so I can adjust expectation and assigned work for your next lesson.

IV. Missed Lessons:

Life happens sometimes. Be it illness, an emergency, or something else, I understand that occasionally lessons will be missed. This is completely understandable. However, voice study is a commitment, and my time is valuable, too. In the event that you must miss a lesson, I ask to be notified 24 hours before the lesson. THIS IS SUPREMELY IMPORTANT. My time is valuable, and with this notice, I may be able to shuffle lessons to condense my own schedule, or offer your time to another student. If I receive this notice, the lessons will be re-scheduled for a mutually agreed upon time. If not, the lesson must be paid in full before regular lessons can resume.

In the event of severe illness, please do not come to your lesson! You will get nothing out of our time together if you are ill, and I do not want your germs! Please let me know by 9am the day of your lesson if you are severely ill, and you will not have to forfeit the lesson.

V. Behavior: I have very few rules about who I am willing to teach, except this one: I only teach classy people. What does this mean? It means that to your studio mates (my other students), your music teachers, your colleagues, and classmates, you will behave in a kind and courteous manner. That means no gossiping, no complaining, and no whining. If you would like to discuss personal performance issues with me, or your frustrations or joys, that is perfectly appropriate. However, it is never appropriate to take to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or other social media to air your dirty laundry or complain about musical issues.

Additionally, what we discuss within the confines of my studio should be treated as private. Obviously, you may be experiencing issues with colleagues, teachers, directors, etc., and I want you to feel free to discuss those issues with me as you feel it is necessary. I will not repeat what is said to meunless I fear you might do harm to yourselfand I expect the same courtesy from you. Gossiping gets everyone nowhere, and very fast at that.

As for your studio mates, while I do not expect you all to love each other--some of you may not even know each other--you must be on one another's team. That means that if you know one of your studio mates outside of lessons, be polite to one another. I do not expect you all to hold hands and sing Kumbaya, but I do expect my students to comport themselves with class and respect.

Additionally, I hold my students to a high moral standard and reserve the right to terminate our working relationship at any time should there be issues with drugs, alcohol, or illegal activity in order to protect the integrity of the studio and the trust necessary to accomplish our goals.

VI. Payment: Lessons are $30/per hour, and payment is due at the time of the lesson. I accept payments via check or cash.

VII. Contact Information: Parents and students are welcome to contact me by email (lessons@sarahortonsoprano.com) any time, and should expect to receive a response within 48-hours. I am available by phone most days after 4pm. Sometimes I am unable to take calls, though I am largely able and happy to text at (386) 931-3525.Revised 6/9/15