I'm not a teacher, but my kids took private lessons for years, as does my spouse. Literally all of the teachers have an "agreement" that the student and their parent signs, with the rules. I don't think any of them have ever treated it as a contract in a legal sense, but more like: "Hey, you agreed to this."
When the student cancels, they pay anyway. When the teacher cancels, the student gets a make up lesson. I think a minor penalty for not practicing is that the student doesn't get to move on to the next piece, and after a couple years of playing the same thing over and over again, gets the hint.
You're competing for their time and attention. If your lesson time is a slush fund that the student can dip into in order to manage some other activity, it'll get used for that purpose. This is also part of the reason why teachers give grades.
A friend of mine took bass lessons from the great Richard Davis. He asked Prof. Davis why he charged so much for lessons, and the reply was: "So you'll practice."
When the student cancels, they pay anyway. When the teacher cancels, the student gets a make up lesson. I think a minor penalty for not practicing is that the student doesn't get to move on to the next piece, and after a couple years of playing the same thing over and over again, gets the hint.
You're competing for their time and attention. If your lesson time is a slush fund that the student can dip into in order to manage some other activity, it'll get used for that purpose. This is also part of the reason why teachers give grades.
A friend of mine took bass lessons from the great Richard Davis. He asked Prof. Davis why he charged so much for lessons, and the reply was: "So you'll practice."
