Getting Started With Anita

If you want to start private lessons with Anita Tiemeyer for your child, here’s how to begin:

Please call, text, email, or use the form below to request Miss Tiemeyer’s contract. She will send it to you through regular mail or email it to you in an attachment. This two-page document will explain the parameters of the lessons, such as cost, when to pay, how to pay, and what is expected from the student. Her contact information is at the top of the first page. Please call or write if you have any questions or concerns. If you are ready to start, please call to set up the first lesson. The lessons will be given in Miss Tiemeyer’s music office. She will give you by text or email directions to her house. At the first lesson, please bring the signed contract. Miss Tiemeyer will make a copy and give it to you for your records.

Miss Tiemeyer welcomes you to sit in on the first lesson. A great deal of information is given at this time, and the student probably won’t remember everything. You can watch Miss Tiemeyer in action and you can decide if this will be a good fit for your child. In future lessons, you may wait in her living room or leave and come back at the end of the lesson. Miss Tiemeyer is to be paid for at least the first lesson at the time of the lesson. She prefers to be paid for the full month’s worth of lessons.

Also, please read the list of required equipment. Miss Tiemeyer will be happy to buy the equipment on your behalf. However, she must be reimbursed at the first lesson. For beginning students, much of the equipment and the band method book are provided in starter kit that you can buy when you rent the instrument. These are fine with the exception of a few items. Miss Tiemeyer will explain more about that when you call.

Click Here For Required Materials

A special note for oboe students: Oboe students are required to buy their reeds from Miss Tiemeyer–$15 each. Miss Tiemeyer has been making and selling her own reeds since her college days. Her reeds are tailor-made and adjusted for the student. If you buy a cheaper one from a music store, there is no guarantee the student will be able to use it, and it would ultimately be a waste of your money since you cannot return it. Store-bought reeds are massed-produced off machines, with no regard to the individual needs of the oboe student. “Handmade” reeds bought online are far more costly that hers, and there is no return policy since the student has to put the reed in his/her mouth to try it. Students can develop bad habits playing on these reeds as the student cannot hold his/her mouth around the reed (embouchure) correctly and makes it difficult to produce a sound on the oboe. Miss Tiemeyer has an absolute guarantee. If in a week’s time the reed doesn’t play well, she will replace it free of charge. However, if the student cracks or chips the reed, he/she will have to buy a new one. She spends a lot of time in the first few lessons teaching the student how to handle the reeds, how to store them, and how to play on them correctly. Unfortunately, oboe reeds wear out, sometimes in a week, sometimes in five months. The winter months are particularly hard on reeds. Miss Tiemeyer monitors the student’s reeds in the lessons, and she will make sure he/she has three good working reeds all the time. She is very aware that oboe reeds are expensive, and she is always keeping you in mind regarding the outlay of money you will have to spend in this new musical endeavor for your child. She constantly looks for ways to save you money.

Lessons are scheduled one month at a time. At the end of the last lesson of the month, Miss Tiemeyer will work with you to schedule the next month’s lessons. Her schedule is flexible, and it is no problem rescheduling when necessary. The contract explains in detail what to do to reschedule. Many of Miss Tiemeyer’s students take their lessons during the band period at their school. Again, the contract covers that. She also communicates with the band directors so everyone knows who is taking the lessons and when.

Payment may be made by cash, check, money order, or credit/debit card. Miss Tiemeyer has set up payment by credit card on her website for your convenience. She strongly prefers you to pay this way if your child is taking lessons at school. She does not want to burden the student with bringing the payment to her at school, or involving the band director if she is not there to receive it. Sending cash or a check with the student to school is risky. Many times he/she either will lose it or forget it, and Miss Tiemeyer ends up not being paid when the money is due.

The contract covers if and when you want to end the lessons. Ideally, it would be when the student is ready to go off to college. But Miss Tiemeyer is aware that circumstances come up that warrant ending the lessons before that time. However, as one band director has said many times: “Students who stay in the lessons with Miss Tiemeyer play well.”
Miss Tiemeyer appreciates your consideration for hiring her to teach music to your child. It is money well-spent, and you will be giving the opportunity for your child to have a fuller, more meaningful life through music. And it’s fun to play a horn, too!

Contract Will Be Sent Via Email Upon Request

Questions? Interested in signing up for Music Lessons? Want more information? Use this form!