Frequently Asked Questions

Yes. We want you to feel comfortable with your instructor and confident about your lessons. Please call or text our front office at (508) 533-7700, or email encoremusicacademy1@gmail.com to discuss another option.

If you’ve taken a private trial lesson and would like to try a different instructor before enrolling, you can also book another private trial through the Book Now link on our website.

If you’d like to explore a different instructor or instrument, please contact our front office team. We’ll work with you to explore available options and find a better fit. Our instructors work as a team, and we encourage you to share your needs openly. It is our shared goal for every student to feel happy, supported, and comfortable with an instructor and learning environment that are right for them.

Across our faculty, languages spoken include Spanish, Russian, Ukrainian, Mandarin, and French, in addition to English. If you or your student has a particular language need or preference, please contact our front office team. We’ll be happy to discuss available options and help you find a suitable instructor.

You’re welcome to enroll in private lessons or classes at any time during the academic year, subject to availability. There’s no need to wait for a new term to begin. Simply use the Book Now link on our website to explore available options and enroll or call or text our front office at (508) 533-7700. We’re happy to help you get started.

Yes. Tuition for private lessons and classes is prorated based on the lessons or class sessions remaining in the applicable month or term when you begin. You won’t be charged for sessions that took place before your start date.

Once you enroll, your regular lessons continue through the end of the academic year in June, unless you withdraw from lessons.

When you commit to regular lessons, you’ll also be charged the $65 Annual Registration and Student Services Fee. This supports the services that help your experience at Encore run smoothly, including student and parent portal access, scheduling and account management, administrative support, recital planning and coordination, communications and reminders, technology and payment processing, and year-round customer service.

We look forward to welcoming you and supporting your musical journey throughout the year.

Fall registration opens to all students at noon on July 15, on a first-come, first-served basis. If July 15 falls on a Sunday, registration opens at noon the following Monday instead.

Because summer is a separate session, academic-year lesson schedules do not automatically carry over. All students, including returning students, need to register again for the new academic year. We encourage you to register early to secure your preferred lesson day and time.

Encore offers monthly, trimester, and annual payment options so you can choose the approach that works best for you. Your first payment is collected at registration and covers your first month, first trimester, or full academic year, depending on the plan you choose. Payments are automatically charged to the payment method saved in your online account.

With the monthly plan, subsequent payments are withdrawn on the first day of each month. The amount depends on the number of lessons scheduled that month.

Trimester payments cover a 14-week term and include a 5% discount. After your initial payment at registration, payments for the upcoming winter and spring trimesters are collected on December 1 and March 1. If you’re currently paying monthly and would like to switch to trimester payments, please let our front office know as early as possible, by the end of November for the winter trimester or the end of February for the spring trimester.

Annual payments cover all three academic-year trimesters, a total of 42 weeks, and include a 10% discount. The full annual
payment is collected at registration. This option is available only from July 15 until the start of the new academic year.

Please review the payment and withdrawal terms for your chosen plan before enrolling. If you’re unsure which option is right
for you, our front office team is happy to answer your questions and help you choose with confidence.

We understand that circumstances can change. You may withdraw at any time by informing our front office team. If you withdraw during a month, you’re welcome to attend all of your remaining scheduled lessons for that month.

The current month’s tuition is nonrefundable, and no refund or credit is issued for lessons you choose not to attend. Please be sure to notify our front office team, as simply stopping attendance does not cancel your enrollment or tuition obligations.

We understand that circumstances can change. You may withdraw by informing our front office team. Once the trimester has begun, tuition for that trimester is nonrefundable, and withdrawing does not remove your financial commitment for the remainder of the 14-week term. You’re welcome to continue attending your scheduled lessons through the end of that trimester.

However, if the instrument or instructor doesn’t feel like the right match, you don’t need to feel that withdrawing is your only option. Please talk with our front office team so we can explore other available options together. We encourage you to share your concerns openly, knowing that our instructors support one another and welcome the opportunity to help each student find the right fit. Our shared goal is for every student to feel happy, supported, and comfortable with an instructor and learning environment that are right for them.

If you’re facing serious illness, relocation, a family emergency, or another extraordinary circumstance, please let us know.
Encore may consider an exception on an individual basis, but a refund or release from the remaining tuition commitment is not
guaranteed.

We understand that circumstances can change. You may withdraw by informing our front office team. Annual enrollment is a commitment to the full academic year. Withdrawing during the year does not automatically entitle you to a refund of tuition already paid or cancellation of any amounts still due under your annual enrollment agreement.

However, if the instrument or instructor doesn’t feel like the right match, you don’t need to feel that withdrawing is your only option. Please talk with our front office team so we can explore other available options together. We encourage you to share your concerns openly, knowing that our instructors support one another and welcome the opportunity to help each student find the right fit. Our shared goal is for every student to feel happy, supported, and comfortable with an instructor and learning environment that are right for them.

If you’re facing serious illness, relocation, a family emergency, or another extraordinary circumstance, please let us know.
Encore may consider an exception on an individual basis, but a refund or release from the remaining tuition commitment is not
guaranteed.

We understand that schedules sometimes change. You can cancel your lesson directly through your online portal, without needing to contact our front office. Simply cancel at least six hours before your lesson to receive a makeup credit, provided you haven’t reached your limit of two outstanding student-cancellation credits.

Lessons cancelled with less than six hours’ notice are forfeited and cannot be credited or rescheduled.

To help keep our students, families, and instructors healthy, please keep your child home if they have had a fever within the past 24 hours or have been diagnosed with a contagious illness, such as COVID-19, the flu, or strep throat.

As a helpful guide, if your child is too ill to attend school that morning, they are probably too ill to attend their lesson in person that afternoon. If you’re notifying your child’s school that they will be absent due to illness, please cancel their Encore lesson at the same time, either through your online portal or by calling our front office. Canceling early helps ensure you meet the six- hour notice requirement for a makeup credit.

If your child feels well enough to participate, you may request a lesson conversion to Zoom through our front office at least three hours before the lesson begins, subject to instructor availability.

Eligible private lessons canceled at least six hours before the lesson begins receive a makeup credit under our usual policy: a maximum of two outstanding student-cancellation credits, to be used within 60 days. Lessons canceled with less than six hours’ notice are forfeited and do not receive a makeup credit.

Thank you for helping us care for our Encore community.

When you cancel a lesson, your makeup credit is valid for 60 days from the date it is issued. You can choose an available time and book your makeup directly through your online portal. Please schedule and attend the lesson within those 60 days; booking it before the deadline for a later date does not extend the credit. Any unused credit expires after 60 days.

If your instructor cancels a regular private lesson, you’ll receive a makeup credit that never expires. This is part of Encore’s goodwill approach: when the cancellation comes from us, we want you to have the opportunity to make up your lesson without a deadline. You can book your makeup directly through your online portal. When booking, you can choose an available time with your regular instructor or select a different instructor who teaches your instrument.

You may hold up to two credits from student-cancelled lessons at a time. If you already have two credits from lessons you’ve cancelled, please book your makeup lessons through your online portal before cancelling another lesson for credit. Remember that these makeup lessons must take place within 60 days of the credits being issued.

Credits issued because your instructor cancelled do not count toward this two-credit limit and never expire.

Please choose a makeup time that works well for your schedule, as makeup lessons cannot be rescheduled. If you cancel or miss your scheduled makeup, the lesson is forfeited and cannot be credited or rescheduled. This applies whether the request is made online or through our front office.

However, if your instructor cancels a makeup lesson, you will receive a replacement credit that never expires. You can use that credit to book another makeup through your online portal, choosing an available time with your regular instructor or another instructor who teaches your instrument.

Makeup lessons are an opportunity to catch up on a missed lesson and are scheduled in addition to your regular lessons. A makeup credit cannot replace a regularly scheduled lesson. You can choose a separate available time through your online portal, keeping your usual lesson schedule in place.

When you’re ready to book, your online portal lets you choose from available makeup appointments within the next 35 days. Simply select a time that works for you and use your makeup credit to reserve it.

Please book your makeup at least 24 hours before it begins. For example, to book a lesson for Thursday at 4 p.m., you would
need to complete the booking by Wednesday at 4 p.m.

If you’d like a date more than 35 days away, check back closer to that date to see the available appointments.

If you don’t see a time that works for you, check your online portal again periodically. Additional makeup times may become available as instructors’ schedules change or other students cancel. Please remember that any appointment you choose must still be booked at least 24 hours in advance.

Yes. All Adult Lesson Packs give you one year from the date of purchase to complete your lessons, whether you choose 5, 10, or 20 lessons in a 30- or 60-minute duration. This gives you the flexibility to schedule around work, travel, and other commitments.

If you cancel an already scheduled lesson with the required notice, the cancellation credit has a separate deadline: you have 60
days from the date that credit is issued to book and attend your replacement lesson through your online portal.

In other words, unused lessons in your pack have a one-year window, while a credit from a lesson you cancel must be used
within 60 days.

Encore makes its own weather-related closure decisions and does not follow the public-school closure schedule. If local schools are closed, please check for an announcement from Encore rather than assume your lesson or class is cancelled.

We publish closure announcements in our Facebook group, on our Facebook page, Instagram, and website, and in our outgoing
phone message. Please check one of these sources before heading to Encore when the weather is uncertain.

Any private lesson cancelled because of a weather-related or emergency closure will receive a makeup credit that never
expires. Group classes affected by the closure will be rescheduled.

We also invite you to follow our Facebook page and Instagram account and join our Facebook group to stay connected with
Encore and keep up with important announcements.

Our business manager will be happy to help you understand your bill or review a charge. Please call (508) 533-7700, extension 105, or email encoremusicacademy1@gmail.com and let us know that your question is for the business manager.

You can update your saved payment information directly through your Opus1 online portal. If you’re on the monthly plan, please make sure a valid, current payment method is on file before the first of the month so your tuition payment can be processed on time, and you can avoid a late charge.