Questions families ask

Most children start between six and eight, once they can sit with a teacher for a short lesson. Piano, violin and ukulele suit the youngest beginners; trumpet and trombone usually begin a little later. We talk it through at the placement visit.

Lessons are 30, 45 or 60 minutes. Beginners usually start with 30, and your teacher suggests a longer lesson when a student is ready for one.

Not to begin. Ask your teacher before you buy or rent anything: the right size and kind matters more than where it comes from. Every lesson room has an instrument to use.

At the placement visit we listen to what a student hopes to play and look at the week. Within a few days we offer a teacher and a weekly time, and a place on that teacher's waitlist if the first choice is full.

Yes. A parent may sit in on any lesson, and we ask the parents of the youngest students to stay for the first few. There is a bench in the hall for waiting.

A short visit to the school. A teacher listens to you play or sing, or to what you hope to play, and you talk about goals and times. No preparation is needed.

Six weeks of mornings in the hall, each with its own theme, ending in a showcase for families. Students sign up for the weeks that fit their summer, and no instrument is needed.

No. Every student chooses whether to play, and families and friends are always welcome to listen.

A lesson a student cancels with a day's notice is made up with the same teacher in the same term, and so is a lesson the teacher cancels. Group classes and summer weeks are not made up.

Yes. Adults take the same lessons in the same rooms, often on a weekday evening or a Saturday morning, and some start beside their children.