Price-for-Life Guarantee
One of the distinctive benefits of membership in the Dennis Frayne Association for Music Education is our Price-for-Life Guarantee.
We believe long-term members should be rewarded for their commitment, not asked to pay higher recurring membership rates simply because they have remained with the Association. As the Association grows, rates may increase from time to time to reflect inflation, expanding benefits, and the continuing development of programs and services. Those increases apply to people beginning a new membership or subscription at that time, not to members who have continuously maintained protected rates.
The Price-for-Life Guarantee applies to recurring Teacher Membership and eligible advanced membership subscriptions. Teacher Membership establishes protected annual and five-year rates. Advanced membership establishes protected annual and monthly rates. As long as the applicable membership or subscription remains continuously active, those protected rates remain available according to the terms described below.
The result is simple: members who maintain an ongoing relationship with the Association can continue using the recurring rates established for them even as published prices change for new participants.
How the Price-for-Life Guarantee Works
Teacher Membership
When you first become a Teacher Member, the annual and five-year Teacher Membership rates in effect at that time become your protected Teacher Membership rates.
As long as your Teacher Membership remains continuously active, those rates remain available to you even if published Teacher Membership prices later increase.
You may move between annual and five-year Teacher Membership at the beginning of a new membership term while retaining the corresponding protected rates established when you first joined. Choosing one term does not cause you to lose the protected rate for the other.
Advanced Membership
Advanced membership begins when an eligible Teacher Member first enters an advanced membership level.
When you first begin advanced membership, the annual and monthly advanced membership rates in effect at that time establish your protected advanced pricing. These protected rates are separate from the Teacher Membership rates established when you originally joined the Association.
For example, a teacher might establish protected Teacher Membership rates in 2026 and first enter advanced membership in 2030. The Teacher Membership rates remain based on 2026 pricing, while the protected advanced pricing is based on the rates available in 2030.
Advancing to Teacher of Teachers
A member who begins as an Endorsed Teacher and later qualifies for Teacher of Teachers may advance without losing the pricing date established when the member first entered advanced membership.
If you first enter advanced membership in 2030 and later qualify for Teacher of Teachers in 2033, you may begin Teacher of Teachers using the Teacher of Teachers annual or monthly rates that were in effect in 2030, provided your advanced membership has remained continuously active.
In this way, advancement within the Association does not cause a continuously participating member to lose the pricing protection established when advanced membership began.
Downgrading to Endorsed Teacher
A downgrade works differently.
If a Teacher of Teachers later chooses to return to Endorsed Teacher, a former protected Endorsed Teacher rate is not restored. The Endorsed Teacher rate in effect when the downgrade takes effect becomes the member’s new protected Endorsed Teacher rate.
This means that Price-for-Life protection rewards continuous participation and advancement, but it does not preserve an earlier lower-level rate after a member has left that level and later returns to it.
Changing Between Annual and Monthly Advanced Membership
Advanced membership is available in annual and monthly terms.
Members may change between annual and monthly terms at the beginning of a new subscription term without losing Price-for-Life protection, provided the advanced membership remains continuously active.
A member who begins advanced membership when the rates are, for example, $1,129 annually or $99 monthly for Endorsed Teacher establishes protection for both corresponding terms. The member may begin monthly and later move to annual, or begin annual and later move to monthly, using the protected rates associated with the date advanced membership originally began.
Examples
Example 1 — Your Teacher Membership Rates Remain Protected
You become a Teacher Member when the published rates are $199 annually and $695 for five years.
Several years later, the published Teacher Membership rates have increased.
Because your Teacher Membership has remained continuously active, you may continue renewing using the annual or five-year rates that were in effect when you originally joined.
Example 2 — You Change Teacher Membership Terms
You initially choose annual Teacher Membership.
Several years later, you decide that the five-year membership term better fits your plans. Because both Teacher Membership rates were established when you originally joined, you may move to the five-year option at the beginning of a new term using your protected five-year rate.
If you later return to annual membership, your protected annual rate remains available as long as your Teacher Membership has remained continuously active.
Example 3 — You Enter Advanced Membership Later
You become a Teacher Member in 2026 and establish your protected annual and five-year Teacher Membership rates.
In 2030, you qualify for and begin Endorsed Teacher membership. The annual and monthly advanced rates in effect in 2030 establish your protected advanced pricing.
Your Teacher Membership continues at its protected 2026 rates, while your advanced membership follows the protected pricing established in 2030.
Example 4 — You Advance to Teacher of Teachers
You first enter advanced membership as an Endorsed Teacher in 2030.
In 2033, you meet the requirements for Teacher of Teachers. Published advanced membership rates have increased since 2030.
Because your advanced membership has remained continuously active, you may advance to Teacher of Teachers using the Teacher of Teachers annual or monthly rate that was in effect when you first entered advanced membership in 2030.
Advancing does not reset your protected advanced-pricing date.
Example 5 — You Downgrade to Endorsed Teacher
You have been participating as a Teacher of Teachers and decide to return to the Endorsed Teacher level.
The Endorsed Teacher rate that applied when you originally entered advanced membership is not restored. Instead, the current Endorsed Teacher rate in effect when the downgrade begins becomes your new protected Endorsed Teacher rate.
That new rate remains protected as long as your Endorsed Teacher subscription thereafter remains continuously active.
Example 6 — You Change Between Monthly and Annual Advanced Membership
You begin Endorsed Teacher membership when the published rates are $1,129 annually and $99 monthly.
You initially choose monthly membership. Later, you decide to move to annual membership.
Because your advanced membership has remained continuously active, you may change to the protected annual rate established when you first entered advanced membership. A later return to monthly membership would likewise use the corresponding protected monthly rate, provided the advanced membership has remained continuously active.
Example 7 — A Membership or Subscription Lapses
You allow your Teacher Membership to lapse and decide to rejoin several years later.
Your former protected Teacher Membership rates no longer apply. You rejoin at the Teacher Membership rates in effect at that time, and those annual and five-year rates become your new protected Teacher Membership rates as long as the membership thereafter remains continuously active.
The same principle applies to advanced membership. If an advanced membership subscription lapses and is later resumed, its previous protected pricing is no longer available. The rates in effect when advanced membership resumes establish the new protected advanced pricing.
A lapse in one protected membership or subscription does not automatically change another protected rate that remains continuously active, provided the member continues to meet the eligibility requirements for that membership or subscription.
What Is Protected?
The Price-for-Life Guarantee applies only to the following recurring Teacher Membership and advanced membership rates:
Teacher Annual Membership
Teacher Five-Year Membership
Endorsed Teacher Annual Membership
Endorsed Teacher Monthly Membership
Teacher of Teachers Annual Membership
Teacher of Teachers Monthly Membership
Teacher Membership rates are established when a teacher first joins the Association. Advanced membership rates are established when the member first enters an advanced membership level, subject to the upgrade, downgrade, billing-term, and continuity provisions described on this page.
Association Sponsor Membership, one-time contributions, and other forms of financial support for the Association are not covered by the Price-for-Life Guarantee.
What Is Not Included?
The Price-for-Life Guarantee does not apply to separately purchased programs, services, materials, fees, or other nonmembership charges, including:
certification tuition
courses and other professional learning programs
private coaching
conferences, workshops, and special events
curriculum and teaching materials
publications and products
shipping and handling
Dennis Frayne Ascent submission and review fees
other optional purchases or services
These items are purchased at the prices in effect when they are ordered, scheduled, submitted, or enrolled in.
What Happens if I Cancel or Allow a Membership or Subscription to Lapse?
Requesting cancellation of automatic renewal does not immediately end Price-for-Life protection. The applicable membership or subscription remains active through the end of the current paid term, and its protected pricing remains in effect during that time.
For a monthly advanced membership, cancellation prevents the next monthly renewal. The membership remains active through the end of the month already paid.
For an annual advanced membership, cancellation prevents the next annual renewal. The membership remains active through the end of the annual term already paid.
Teacher Annual and Teacher Five-Year Membership follow their respective membership terms. Cancellation prevents renewal at the end of the applicable paid term.
If a membership or subscription is not renewed when its paid term ends, it lapses and its previous protected pricing ends. If the member later rejoins or resumes that membership or subscription, the rates then in effect become the new protected rates.
Because protected Teacher Membership and advanced membership pricing are maintained separately, allowing one to lapse does not automatically change the protected pricing of another that remains continuously active, provided the member continues to meet the applicable eligibility requirements.
Changing Membership Levels and Terms
Changes take effect at the beginning of a new applicable membership or subscription term.
Teacher Members may change between annual and five-year Teacher Membership at the beginning of a new Teacher Membership term.
Advanced members may change between monthly and annual billing terms at the beginning of a new advanced membership term. They may also move to another advanced membership level for which they meet the applicable requirements.
Advancement from Endorsed Teacher to Teacher of Teachers preserves the advanced-pricing date established when advanced membership first began. A downgrade from Teacher of Teachers to Endorsed Teacher does not restore a former Endorsed Teacher protected rate; the current Endorsed Teacher rate becomes the member’s new protected rate.
Why We Offer the Price-for-Life Guarantee
The Dennis Frayne Association for Music Education was created to build a professional community that can serve music teachers throughout their careers. We hope members will continue learning, contributing, strengthening their teaching, and participating in the Association for many years.
The Price-for-Life Guarantee reflects that long-term relationship. When a teacher remains continuously involved in Teacher Membership or advanced membership, we do not want that teacher to receive a notice years later announcing that an established recurring rate is increasing simply because published prices have changed.
The guarantee also allows members to make choices as their professional lives develop. A Teacher Member may change between annual and five-year terms. An advanced member may choose annual or monthly participation, and a teacher who qualifies for Teacher of Teachers may advance without surrendering the advanced-pricing date already established through continuous participation.
New certification courses, coaching, events, curriculum, products, Ascent submissions, and other separately purchased opportunities may be offered at the prices in effect when they become available. The Price-for-Life Guarantee is reserved for the recurring membership and advanced membership rates described on this page.
The Association can therefore continue developing programs and adjusting future published prices while honoring the rates of members who maintain their ongoing relationship with the organization.
Establish your rates. Keep them while you remain continuously active.
