FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

WHY IS THE TUITION SO EXPENSIVE?

We know that when you are considering music lessons, price is an issue. Many people get confused with our pricing because we charge monthly tuition. So let's do the math quick. Our Solo Bronze membership (30 min. lesson each week) is $99 each month. With 32 teaching weeks in our school year, that comes down to $27 per lesson. Your tuition includes your lesson with an experienced teacher, access to our unique performance opportunities, our staff who is here to help you with all of your questions and scheduling needs, a beautiful state-of-the-art facility, and of course, taxes. Add that all up and you are getting a lot of value for the money. As you move up in membership levels you also gain our level-up discounts. Check out our pricing page for more information on membership levels.

ARE THERE OTHER EXPENSES IN ADDITION TO MONTHLY TUITION?

The only other fees that DMA charges are an annual registration fee of $20 which helps us cover some administrative costs and allows us to provide our complimentary family lounge for your convenience. If you are a Solo Silver or Gold member and want to perform in one of our concerts, there is a $15 concert registration fee, which helps cover the venue rentals, audio gear, and set-up and tear-down (this fee is built into our Headliner memberships). Other than that there are general expenses that go along with owning an instrument: purchasing music books and sheet music, strings or sticks, and other upkeep costs.

HOW IS DMA DIFFERENT THAN OUR LOCAL SCHOOL MUSIC PROGRAMS?

We love our local school music programs. Many of our staff work closely with these programs and provide support to our local public and private schools. Local school music programs teach brass, woodwind, and string lessons in a traditional setting while studying mostly classical music. Since DMA is a specialized music school we can teach you music above and beyond what you can learn in your local school music program. We can also augment your school studies by giving you more material to work on, helping you learn your music for school performances, and helping you prepare for state auditions.

DO WE HAVE TO SIGN A CONTRACT?

We do not require you to sign a contract. We do require all of our students to have read and agree to our Academy Policies prior to enrolling in the Academy. For more information on specific DMA policies please check out our policies page.

WHERE DO YOUR TEACHERS COME FROM?

Our teachers come from all over. The one thing they all have in common? Years of experience. All of our teachers have been performing on their instruments in professional settings for many years. All of our teachers have teaching experience, with many of them earning degrees in music education. Most importantly, they practice what they teach, our teachers are still performing and heavily involved in our local music culture.

WHAT IF WE HAVE TO MISS A LESSON?

We do encourage our students to sign up for a lesson time that they can regularly attend and our teachers work hard to not cancel or reschedule lessons often. But, sometimes a lessons is missed. We use a flexible scheduling system called MyMusicStaff. We offer make-up credits to students who miss lessons due to illness, or if a teacher has to cancel his/her lesson for whatever reason. If a student misses a lesson due to illness, it is their responsibility to schedule a make-up lesson within 30 days of the missed date. When a teacher has to cancel, they will get in contact with you to reschedule. All of this can be accessed through your personal MyMusicStaff account or you can call our concierge.

DO YOU RENT OR SELL INSTRUMENTS OR ACCESSORIES?

At this time we do not rent or sell any instruments or accessories. However, we partner with Haggerty's, a local music store that sells a wide variety of instruments and accessories, and we are happy to help you when you are looking to make a musical instrument or accessory purchase and can help give you valuable advice as you are making these decisions.