Lesson Lineup

Guide for independent music teachers

How to handle last-minute lesson cancellations.

At 7:40 on a Tuesday a parent texts: Leo has a fever and won't make his 4:00 lesson. She's waiting for a reply, and you're deciding for the eleventh time this term whether a same-day cancellation gets charged. Decide it once, before term starts, and on most mornings the answer is already written down.

Give every absence a pre-decided answer

A lesson falls through in only a few ways. A family emails on Sunday to say they'll be away next week. A parent texts the morning of. Nobody shows up. Or you're the one who's sick. Each case needs two answers, settled before term: is the lesson billable, and does it earn a make-up credit? In Lesson Lineup each attendance status carries both answers, so taking attendance is applying the policy. Pick the status that describes what happened and the charge or credit follows.

Trade refunds for make-up credits

A refund hands the money back, and that week's lesson is simply gone. A make-up credit keeps the fee and gives the family a lesson to book later, or to let lapse. The credit is issued when you mark the lesson with a status that earns one, and Lesson Lineup tracks each credit from issued to booked to used or expired. When a parent is sure there's one left over from February, you can open the student's record and check.

Here is one way to draw the lines. A family who tells you by the day before gets a credit. A cancellation that morning is charged, with no credit. A lesson you cancel yourself is made up, or taken off the bill if the family would rather. Your notice period may be different. Whatever you choose, put it in writing and make sure parents have seen it before the first early-morning text.

The morning-of script

Leo's mom texted at 7:40. Find his 4:00 lesson, give it the status you use for a late cancellation, and text her back with something close to what your policy already says:

"That's inside the 24-hour window, so today's lesson is charged and there's no make-up this time. Hope he feels better soon."

If it's a real emergency, give that one lesson a different status, and his attendance record will show what actually happened.

Questions

Should I charge for a lesson canceled the same morning?

If your written policy says a same-day cancellation is charged, charge it. You made that decision before term, when nobody was waiting on a reply. In Lesson Lineup you mark the lesson with the status that matches your policy. Every status says whether it's billable and whether it issues a make-up credit, so the charge (or the credit) follows from the one you pick.

What is a make-up credit and when should I offer one?

It's a promise of a future lesson in place of a refund. You keep the fee and the family still gets the lesson. Many teachers give one when there's enough notice and charge without one for late cancellations. Where you draw that line is up to you.

What about genuine emergencies?

You choose the status for each lesson as you mark it, so the policy is a default you can step away from. Mark a genuine emergency with a different status and the ledger records what actually happened.

The paperwork this needs

All of this depends on families having seen your policy before they cancel. The first two are free to copy and print: