Lesson and payment policies

Payments

Every stage program starts with a free placement session. Labs and camps (First Chords Lab, Kids Keys Club, Worship Keys Lab and Stage Week Camp) skip placement: you sign up on the sign-up page, we confirm the seat, and you pay the invoice in your Ovation Portal; the seat is yours once it’s paid. At placement you choose your program and Full Score or Monthly, and we set up your Ovation Portal account. After that, classes, lessons, makeups, check-ins and extra lessons are booked and paid in your portal. Programs are paid in full or monthly through Stripe. Paying through Affirm or Klarna at enrollment counts as paying in full. Monthly plans for fixed programs (Debut, Junior Debut, Encore, Junior Encore, Artist and Specialist) are billed for the program's length at your locked rate. After that, you continue month to month and can cancel with 30 days' notice. Card details are handled by Stripe and never stored by Ovation.

Full Score families

Families who pay any stage program in full (Debut, Junior Debut, Encore, Junior Encore, Artist or Specialist) are Full Score families. Paying through Affirm or Klarna at enrollment counts as paying in full. Full Score families get: the mastery guarantee (below); first choice of group and class times (Stages 1–2) and private lesson times (from Stage 3) every term; the right to pay in full for the next stage at today's price, even after a price increase; a stage-up credit of $100 toward the next stage ($50 after Debut or Junior Debut); two makeups per 12 classes or lessons and a 60-day pause; one free group-lab seat a year for a parent or sibling (First Chords Lab or Kids Keys Club, when space allows); and the full recital film and a photo set from every showcase.

Missed classes and lessons

Stages 1–2: join another group's class that week, or follow the class video and send your practice video (one makeup per 12 classes; two for Full Score families). Private lessons: one makeup per 12 lessons with at least 24 hours' notice (two for Full Score families). Missed without notice isn't made up. If Ovation cancels, we always reschedule.

Group classes

Stage 1–2 classes run with 4–6 students (Junior classes 4 at most), formed by book and age. Each group has a home teacher; about one class in four is taught by another Ovation teacher. If a group falls below 3 students, it merges with another group or continues at the same price. New Debut groups start on fixed dates about every six weeks.

Weekly practice video

Stage 1–2 students send a 60–90 second practice video by Sunday 8 pm through the student portal; the home teacher replies within 48 hours. Videos are private to Ovation teachers and staff and are never posted without written permission.

Cancellations and refunds

Cancel before your first lesson for a full refund. After lessons begin, program fees are non-refundable, but you may pause once for up to 30 days (60 days for Full Score families) for illness or a family emergency.

The performance guarantee

Debut has two promises, one per 12-week term. The 90-Day Promise: attend 11 of 12 classes and send at least 10 of 12 weekly practice videos in Term 1. If you can't perform a full song at the Term 1 showcase, we add free lessons until you can. The Debut Promise: do the same in Term 2. If you can't perform your Debut program at the week-24 showcase, we add free lessons until you can.

Junior Debut (the Junior Performance Track): attend 11 of 12 classes and send at least 10 of 12 weekly practice videos. If the student can't perform a full song at the showcase, classes continue at no charge until they can.

Mastery policy

Students move up by mastery, not the calendar; time frames are targets, not deadlines. Finish the book, never start over. Every book ends with a check. If it shows a few skills aren't secure yet, nobody repeats the book: you get a catch-up block of up to 4 classes or lessons on just those skills, then retake the check and move up with the next group. In Stages 1–2 the catch-up happens in a group that is at the right point in the book when one is running, or in 30-minute private lessons when one isn't. It is free for Full Score families (attend 11 of 12 classes and send at least 10 of 12 weekly practice videos) and at the normal monthly rate otherwise. A student who needs most of a book again joins a new group with harder tasks in every lesson, never as a beginner. If you're ahead, you move on early after the end-of-book check, including to the next stage.

Siblings, referrals and founding rates

A second sibling gets 10% off tuition, applied at placement. When a family you referred enrolls, you get a $50 lesson credit. Founding 25 students keep their founding rate as long as they stay continuously enrolled.

Photos and video

Showcases are filmed. We post a student's video publicly only with a parent's or adult student's written permission.

Privacy

We use your contact details only to schedule lessons and share student progress. We never sell them. Forms are delivered through a form service that stores them securely for us. To learn which ads and posts bring families to us, the site may use Google Analytics and the Meta and TikTok pixels, which set cookies; you can block them in your browser settings without losing anything on the site. We text you only if you ask us to, and you can reply STOP at any time. The full privacy policy has the details.

Safeguarding

Apprentices and assistants never teach a minor alone; a qualified teacher is always present. Staff and assistants 18 and older are background-checked.

Sponsorships

Keyboard and studio sponsorships go to Ovation Music Co., a for-profit school, and are not tax-deductible. Named Fellowships and scholarship gifts go to The Randle Institute of Music, a nonprofit, and become tax-deductible once its 501(c)(3) status or a fiscal sponsor is in place.

Credentials

The Ovation Diploma and Artist Certificate are Ovation credentials. They are not academic degrees and do not carry college credit. College benchmarks are teaching targets and do not guarantee admission, placement or credit.