Our Policies
Parking
This information was last updated on May 28th, 2026.
Just a friendly notice for our community of musicians and clients that do visit our in-person location – if you can kindly park along the trees in the gravel in front of the studio, that would be much appreciated.
If you are able to park facing in or directly away from the trees on the side of the building opposite the fire station, there should be enough room for 4+ vehicles, and please feel free to come in and let someone know if you are having trouble due to conditions in the lot (soft gravel, ice, etc.) and we will do our best to assist.
It’s very important that we keep the parking lot and entry drive to the fire station clear, even when remaining in your vehicle.
Please click to enlarge the parking images.
Rental Policy
This policy was last updated on May 08th, 2026.
When you rent from us, all instrument rentals include the instrument, bow, case, rosin, and all the necessary accessories for playing that instrument (e.g., shoulder rest for violin and viola, endpin anchor for cello).
Your rental fee includes the instrument setup, regular maintenance, necessary repairs, bow rehairing, and all accessories needed for regular playing. If the player grows and needs a larger instrument size, we swap up the size seamlessly.
Rental fees can be found on our Rentals page. Please note, all rental fees listed are tax exclusive, and our Rental Agreement Form (pdf) must be read and signed. Further rental terms and conditions can be found within our form.
If you decide you love your rental instrument and want to purchase one, we offer up to six months of rental credit that can be applied to the purchase of the instrument. Rental credit accumulates uninterrupted as the student progresses through the different instrument sizes during their rental program.
During your rental period, if an instrument is dropped and cracked (as can happen with young students), you are not responsible for the cost of the repair (which could be hundreds of dollars depending on the type of repair required). The only thing that can’t be covered under the rental program fee is loss, theft, or irreparable damage. Anything that would cause the instrument to end up in pieces is not covered by your rental fee. For example, smashed instruments from being sat on or being run over by a car.
Personal Note: In my experience so far, I have found that children have a fair bit of reverence for their instrument. They know there is something special about it and that it needs to be handled with care. If an accident happens, it’s important to me that they know they haven’t done anything wrong. Even the most well-meaning and careful children are still children, and accidents happen! I emphasize trying to take more care going forward, but not to allow them to feel any kind of terrible guilt about it. The consequence is usually a natural one – they will have to return their instrument to me for a time and may be without it for a week or two while I fix it, and as far as I’m concerned, that’s enough for me.
Lessons & Cancellations Policy
Rescheduling & Cancellations
All communications about rescheduling / cancelling must be made by email to riverbendstrings@gmail.com or via Facebook messenger.
Private Lessons
Students may reschedule lessons with at least 1-day notice. Same-day cancellations or reschedule requests will not be eligible for makeup lessons.
If a lesson is canceled with proper notice, a makeup lesson will be offered, to be booked within 4 weeks.
Group Lessons / Orchestra
Missed group lessons are forfeited. No alternative times or makeup lessons are offered.
Teacher Cancellations (Private & Group Lessons)
If a teacher must cancel, a makeup lesson will be scheduled. If a lesson is cancelled due to inclement weather, a makeup lesson will be scheduled.
Lesson cancellations due to weather will be posted on our Facebook page.
Tardiness & No-Shows
Teachers will wait 10-minutes before considering a student as a no-show. No-shows are forfeited and are not eligible for a makeup lesson.
Payment & Refund Policy
Lessons must be prepaid. Invoices are sent at the beginning of the month and payment is required before the lesson(s) start.
No refunds are provided for missed lessons.
Holding Lesson Spots & Extended Absences
To maintain a regular lesson time (same day & time each week), students must book at least 3 lessons per month.
If a student pauses lessons for an extended period, their time slot will be made available to other students. Upon return, we will do our best to accommodate scheduling needs. We cannot guarantee the same time and day.
Practice & Materials
Regular practice is essential for progress. We encourage students to practice as much as they are able. As little as five minutes every day can be great and offer rewarding progress. Of course, more practice will yield better results.
Stringed instrument students will need a chromatic tuner (there are many free apps), a notebook, and a pencil. Other materials are specific to your instrument & will be reviewed in person during the first lesson. Additional materials like books, strings, rosin, etc., will be the responsibility of the student. Our teachers only have our students purchase things when truly necessary.
Studio Rules
Respect
The studio is a place of mutual respect, as well as respect for the instruments and space. Food, drink, and gum are not allowed in the studio.
Communication
We always want to know what is or is not working for you. These lessons are for your benefit and growth, and our aim is to make you comfortable enough you feel you can tell us what you want to learn, if you have particular musical interests, learning styles, what you like, don’t like, etc.
Recitals & Performances
If there is interest, we like to plan studio-wide recitals. Please let me know at any point if you are interested in performance opportunities and if a recital is something you’d be willing to participate in. Depending on skill and interest, we can also pursue other performance opportunities.
Privacy Policy
This policy was last updated on June 15th, 2026.
Your Privacy is Important to Us
It is Riverbend Strings’ policy to respect your privacy regarding any information we may collect while operating our website. This Privacy Policy applies to https://riverbendstrings.ca (hereinafter, “us”, “we”, “our”, or “the website”). We respect your privacy and are committed to protecting personally identifiable information you may provide us through the Website. We have adopted this privacy policy (“Privacy Policy”) to explain what information may be collected on our Website, how we use this information, and under what circumstances we may disclose the information to third parties. This Privacy Policy applies only to information we collect through the Website and does not apply to our collection of information from other sources.
Gathering of Personally-Identifying Information
Certain visitors to our website choose to interact with the website in ways that require us to gather personally-identifying information. The amount and type of information that we gather depends on the nature of the interaction. For example, should we have a blog with comments enabled, we ask visitors who comment on that blog at the website to provide a username and email address.
Website Visitors
Like most website operators, we collect non-personally-identifying information of the sort that web browsers and servers typically make available, such as the browser type, language preference, referring site, and the date and time of each visitor request. Our purpose in collecting non-personally identifying information is to better understand how visitors use our website. From time to time, we may release non-personally-identifying information in the aggregate, e.g., by publishing a report on trends in the usage of its website.
We also collect potentially personally-identifying information like Internet Protocol (IP) addresses for logged in users and for users leaving comments on our blog posts or pages, where enabled. We only disclose logged in user and commenter IP addresses under the same circumstances that it uses and discloses personally-identifying information as described below.
Aggregated Statistics
We may collect statistics about the behavior of visitors to the website. We may display this information publicly or provide it to others. However, we do not disclose your personally-identifying information.
Tracking Data
Our website uses Google Analytics to analyze traffic patterns. This process involves the use of Cookies (see below) saved to your browser. You can find out more information about Google Analytics cookies here:
If you would like to opt-out of any tracking related to Google Analytics in regards to our website you can download and install the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on which is available for all major browsers here:
How Long We Retain Your Data
If you leave a comment, the comment and its metadata are retained indefinitely. This is so we can recognize and approve any follow-up comments automatically instead of holding them in a moderation queue.
For users that register on our website (if any), we also store the personal information they provide in their user profile. All users can see, edit, or delete their personal information at any time (except they cannot change their username). Website administrators can also see and edit that information.
What Rights You Have Over Your Data
If you have an account on this site, or have left comments, you can request to receive an exported file of the personal data we hold about you, including any data you have provided to us. You can also request that we erase any personal data we hold about you. This does not include any data we are obliged to keep for administrative, legal, or security purposes.
Embedded Content From Other Websites
Articles on this site may include embedded content (e.g. videos, images, articles, etc.). Embedded content from other websites behaves in the exact same way as if the visitor has visited the other website.
These websites may collect data about you, use cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with that embedded content, including tracking your interaction with the embedded content if you have an account and are logged in to that website.
Links To External Sites
Our Service may contain links to external sites that are not operated by us. If you click on a third party link, you will be directed to that third party’s site. We strongly advise you to review the Privacy Policy and terms and conditions of every site you visit.
We have no control over, and assume no responsibility for the content, privacy policies or practices of any third party sites, products or services.
Security
The security of your Personal Information is important to us, but remember that no method of transmission over the Internet, or method of electronic storage is 100% secure. While we strive to use commercially acceptable means to protect your Personal Information, we cannot guarantee its absolute security.
Privacy Policy Changes
Although most changes are likely to be minor, we may change our Privacy Policy from time to time, and at our sole discretion. We encourage visitors to frequently check this page for any changes to our Privacy Policy. Your continued use of this site after any change in this Privacy Policy will constitute your acceptance of such change.
Further Information
If you would you like more information regarding privacy policies please contact us by email or phone.
Comments
When visitors leave comments on our website we collect the data shown in the comments form, and also the visitor’s IP address and browser user agent string to help spam detection.
An anonymized string created from your email address (also called a hash) may be provided to the Gravatar service to see if you are using it. The Gravatar service privacy policy is available here: https://automattic.com/privacy. After approval of your comment, your profile picture is visible to the public in the context of your comment.