Studio Information

Welcome to my Website!

I am thrilled that you are looking into violin lessons for you or your child. Information about pricing, scholarships, required materials, private lessons, group classes, and scheduling can be found on this page. Please email me if you have any questions! michaelweirviolin@gmail.com 

FREE Online Consultations

Thinking about signing you or your child up for violin lessons? Schedule a FREE online consultation with me so we can meet and discuss any questions you might have! Please email me at michaelweirviolin@gmail.com so we can find a time that works for both of us!

Private lessons

Private lessons are held weekly. Throughout a lesson, a student will participate in various activities that will help them grow their skills and increase their confidence. These activities will cover; scales and arpeggios, etudes, games (for younger children), rhythmic and note reading exercises, ear training, help with school material, assistance with audition material, and personal repertoire. Your child will be given various pieces of music to enhance their skills and confidence in various musical areas which will ensure your child's success. Repertoire will be chosen that is not too difficult but will quickly lift your student to new levels of playing. We will also do a recital at the end of every semester to celebrate your student's progress.

Students who participate in private lessons agree to follow our studio policy. Many of the expectations outlined on that policy are also included on this webpage. Here is a copy of the studio policy: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1l6mf9lWSnJf0tTans5jdh-jzz-5WIbAA/view?usp=sharing 

Pricing Breakdown

The cost of private violin lessons might be a stumbling block for those looking to sign up. The purpose of this section is to help you know exactly what you are paying for and how it is going to help you or your student.

When you pay for lessons, you are paying for...

• Access to online recordings and videos that will help you or your child learn

• An opportunity for you or your child to perform in recitals at the end of each semester (excluding summer)

• The opportunity for you or your child to be part of a group class of violinists and play violin together with others (excluding summer)

• Instruction provided by a certified teacher with a Bachelors in Music Education and nine years of teaching experience

Pricing

Currently, the cost of lessons is $30 for a half-hour lesson and $60 for an hour lesson. 

Tuition is a one-time charge each semester. I do not charge monthly or weekly. Tuition for the entire semester will be charged at the end of your first week of lessons. That way, you can come to your first lesson and meet me before you have to pay anything! Each semester has a different amount of weeks in it. I try to schedule my semester dates to go with the Bentonville Public School's semester dates.

Our "summer session" is eight weeks long beginning on the week of June 8th and ending on August 1st. 

2026 Summer Session

• $240 for eight 30-minute lessons ($30 per lesson)

• $480 for eight 60-minute lessons ($60 per lesson)

Tuition due date:  Saturday, June 13th

How long should my lesson be?

Shorter, 30 minute lessons, are great for young students (ages 3-9), and beginners in their first year of playing. However, once a student is in Jr High, or in their second or third year of playing, it is recommended that their lesson be 60 minutes long. Orchestra classes at school are typically 60-90 minutes long, because of this, your student should be used to longer periods of instruction. Playing the violin is a complex and rewarding experience. A longer, hour long lesson is beneficial for your student because it maximizes the amount of instruction they receive, and gives them more to practice in between lessons.

Availability

Taking summer lessons is a great way to keep up your playing skills between school years and is a great way to get ahead on repertoire and audition materials. During the 2026 Summer Session, I will be teaching all day on Monday and Tuesday.

I try to only teach students who are at least 10-11 years old and up.

Where is the studio?

I teach right in the heart of Bentonville out of my home. For privacy reasons, my home address is not listed on my public website, however, I am about an 8 minute drive from Downtown Bentonville and an 8 minute drive from Bentonville High School.

I will send you my address before the semester starts after you have submitted the "Studio Registration" form and we have chosen a weekly time for our lessons.

Attendance

Any student who is under the age of 18 MUST attend their lesson WITH an adult present. If you have taken lessons for at least two years AND are at least 16 years old, you may attend your lesson with an older sibling, even if they are not 18 years old yet. Students who show up without a supervising adult present will be turned away that week with no refund.

You are expected to attend every lesson of the semester. If you are going to miss a week for any reason, this must be communicated at least two weeks prior to your scheduled lesson. Preferably, parents will communicate any lessons they need to miss before the semester even begins. This two-week buffer provides time for us to schedule a make-up lesson in advance and to ensure that each lesson from the semester will be provided.

If you are late for a lesson, the lesson will still conclude at the pre-determined time. I have many students, and cannot let someone being late for one lesson push back the start time for all my other lessons that day. Your lesson will always start on time. It will not start early.

In the event of an emergency such as a funeral or injury, the parent should communicate to me right away that they are going to miss a lesson. Lessons missed last minute (which means within the two weeks prior to the lesson) because of emergency will be rescheduled.

In the event of sickness, please do NOT come to your lesson. I do not want your sickness. Please inform me as soon as you can of the sickness and we will reschedule your missed lessons.

Tuition and refunds

Tuition is charged at the beginning of the semester and is due at the end of the first week of lessons. Tuition can be paid in person with cash or a check, by mail via cash or check, through Zelle, or through Venmo. Additional details, such as my Venmo username, will be provided on your semester’s invoice, which will be emailed to you a few weeks prior to the start of the semester. (I am working on becoming an EFA vendor so homeschooled students can use their public funds under the Arkansas LEARNS act).

THERE ARE NO REFUNDS. When lessons are missed for the reasons listed above under the heading "attendance" in paragraphs 2, 4, and 5, those lessons are RESCHEDULED. Lessons missed for ANY other reason than those listed above under the heading "attendance" in paragraphs 2, 4, and 5 will NOT be rescheduled or refunded. “We got busy and forgot” is not an excuse to reschedule a lesson or receive a refund. My goal is that every student gets the exact number of lessons they pay for that semester, however, I cannot rearrange my entire schedule because you forgot or got busy. The only exceptions I will make to my no-refund policy will occur if your student gets injured and can no longer physically play their instrument, or if you are moving too far away to continue lessons short notice, or if there is some other type of emergency

Tuition is subject to change semester by semester. Currently, tuition comes to between. Tuition varies each semester depending on the number of sessions. In any semester, we will have between 8-20 sessions depending on the school calendar.

Scholarships

I believe that being kind and charitable is an essential element of the human experience. For this reason, I hold two weekly 30 minute spots in my studio for FREE lessons to students of low-income families. These spots are for students who are passionate about the violin and hungry to learn more, but whose families can't afford weekly lessons.

Students who wish to apply for one of these scholarship positions must write a 300-500 word essay to answer the following prompt: "Please answer the following questions in 500-600 words. Why do you love playing the violin? How can you use music to make a positive impact in your community? How are you going to use the musical skills you gain in our lessons in your future?"

The student MUST write the essay themselves. If the student has learning difficulties that make it hard for them to transfer their thoughts to paper, someone (such as a trusted parent, guardian, or teacher) may act as a scribe for them, but the response must be the student's own! While it is helpful for me if your essay contains proper grammar and literary elements, my assessment of your essay is not determined by the eloquence and accuracy of the essay, but rather by the passion that you have for playing the violin.

Along with the essay, one letter of recommendation is required. This letter can be from a teacher, ecclesiastical leader, school administrator, workplace boss, or other trusted adult. The recommendation letter has no required length, but MUST contain the contact information (email or phone number) of the person who wrote it.

The essay and the letter of recommendation must be emailed to michaelweirviolin@gmail.com to be considered for the scholarship.

Behavior Expectations

BOTH parents/guardians and students are expected to behave cordially towards their teacher, the teacher’s helpers, and the other students in the studio. Inappropriate behavior such as bullying, hazing, harassment of any kind, foul language, or discrimination of any kind will NOT be tolerated. Parents/guardians or students who exhibit inappropriate behavior will be given a warning and a behavior management worksheet to complete. BOTH parents/guardians and students are expected to treat the studio facilities and materials respectfully and honorably. 

Practice Expectations

It is expected and required that your student will practice at least as long as their lesson at least five days a week. If your student has a 30-minute lesson, they should practice for 30 minutes at least five times per week. This is a minimum requirement.

Your student will be given a large amount of material to practice during the week and should easily be able to fill up 30 minutes or an hour with practice. Not only will your student be given material to practice, but they will be shown how to practice it and given suggestions for what they can do at home during their practice.

While this is not a requirement for the studio policy, practice should be efficient, satisfying, fun, and effective. Your student should enjoy playing their instrument and look forward to practicing! Students, parents, and teachers should all work together to help your student know how to practice in a way that they can enjoy and be successful at.

Required Materials

You will be required to occasionally purchase materials for your student to use during lessons. These materials should be cheap and readily available (such as music and books). Before your student comes to their first lesson, it is expected that they have the following materials:

• A violin that is the correct size for their body

• A bow that is the correct size for their instrument

• A case to safely transport their instrument and accessories

• Rosin for their bow

• A shoulder rest that fits their violin

• Access to a tuner (can be a free app on a phone)

• Access to a metronome (can be a free app on a phone)

• Access to recordings of their music (via a CD player, phone, computer, or other form of technology)

  • Some places still sell books that contain CDs with recording tracks of the songs in the book

  • I have a playlist of all our songs on YouTube and Spotify if you do not have the CDs

In addition to these materials, your violin and bow require occasional maintenance. A bow must be re-haired, and you must get new strings for your violin every so often. Below is a chart with the recommended times you should take your instrument in to have this maintenance completed.