Frequently asked questions.
Everything teachers ask before and after they start using Terza: how it works, how student privacy is handled, and what it costs.
What Terza is
What is Terza?
Terza is a lesson intelligence tool for private music teachers. Record a lesson, and Terza turns it into a summary, timestamped observations, and a draft practice note you can review and send. Every lesson also adds to a longer record of a student’s progress over time.
How does Terza get more useful the longer I use it?
Every lesson adds to that student’s own history: a searchable, year-over-year record of what was worked on, what improved, and what’s still sticking. The same record spans your whole studio, so patterns that don’t show up in any single lesson, like a technique most of your beginners struggle with, only become visible once you can see your whole studio at once. If you opt in to sharing anonymized lesson data, those patterns also draw on insight from every teacher using Terza, with nothing identifiable about you or your students ever shared. See how the record grows for more.
Does Terza work with my teaching approach?
Yes. Terza is method-agnostic: it captures what you say and do in a lesson and makes insights from your teaching available to you. It does not assume any particular teaching approach. Your pedagogy stays yours.
How is this different from recording lessons myself and using a general transcription or chat tool?
General-purpose tools weren’t built for a lesson room: two voices and an instrument, often at once, with a lot of room reverb. Terza is built around that, separating speakers, timestamping observations, and linking every note back to the exact moment in the recording it came from. It also surfaces patterns across a student’s history and across your whole studio, something a general-purpose tool has no way to see. And it’s built with the consent, retention, and review safeguards a tool recording children needs, rather than general-purpose defaults that weren’t designed for that.
Does Terza replace my studio management software?
No. If you already use something for scheduling, invoicing, or billing, keep using it. Terza is the lesson intelligence layer: the record and insights that come out of a lesson, not the admin side of running a studio.
Does Terza grade or evaluate my students' playing?
No. Terza grounds what it generates in what you said during the lesson, not an independent judgment of technique or musicality from the recording itself. You decide what a student is doing well or needs to work on. Terza surfaces insights that help you do that even better.
Does Terza host sheet music?
No. Terza is not a sheet music library or store.
How it works
What happens during and after a lesson?
You start recording at the top of the lesson and teach as normal. Terza runs in the background. When the lesson ends, stop the recording and it’s turned into a written summary with timestamped observations. You review the draft, edit anything you’d like, and decide whether to send a practice note. Nothing goes to a parent or student without your approval.
What is Ask Terza?
Ask Terza lets you ask a question, in plain language, about a student, about your studio, or for general pedagogical advice, and get an answer drawn from your own lesson history: for example, what you’ve been working on with a student’s bow hold over the last month, instead of searching back through old notes yourself.
What is Reflect?
Reflect looks at patterns in what you’ve already recorded, at two levels. For a single student, it flags recurring themes across lessons, so you can see when something has stalled and decide whether to change your approach. Across your whole studio, it surfaces patterns that show up in several students at once. Where the evidence supports it, Reflect points to what has actually worked: from your own studio’s history first, and, if you’ve opted in to the community program, from other teachers’ anonymized experience when your own studio doesn’t have an answer yet.
What is the opt-in community data program?
With your explicit, separate consent, Terza can include de-identified patterns from your lessons in a shared pool drawn from every teacher using Terza. It is entirely optional and off by default: Terza works fully without it. When you’re opted in, this pool can surface in two places: Ask Terza, when it points to an approach another teacher has tried, and Reflect, when your own studio doesn’t have an answer yet. Content is anonymized before it ever leaves your studio, and you can turn contribution off at any time from account settings, though content already shared can’t be traced back to you or removed. See the Privacy Policy for full detail.
Do I have to send every practice note Terza drafts?
No. Terza drafts; you decide. Edit or discard a draft, and send it or don’t, on a per-lesson, per-student basis.
What does a parent see, versus what I see?
You see the full picture: summaries, timestamped observations, any drafted practice note, and insights spanning that student’s history and your whole studio. A parent only ever sees a practice note after you’ve reviewed and chosen to send it. They don’t have access to raw recordings, transcripts, or anything else Terza generates and stores.
What devices does Terza run on?
Terza runs on iPhone and iPad. Check the App Store listing for the current minimum iOS version.
Does Terza work without an internet connection?
Recording and transcription happen on your device, so you can record a lesson without a connection. Generating the summary and draft practice note, and syncing across your devices, happens once the app can connect to the internet.
Account & devices
How many devices can I use Terza on?
As many as you like. Your plan is limited by the number of students on your roster, not the number of devices. Sign in on your iPhone, your iPad, or both, at no extra cost and with no device cap.
Can I switch between my iPad and iPhone?
Yes. Sign in with the same account and your students, lesson history, and drafts are there on whichever device you pick up. Terza works the same way on both.
Privacy & consent
Why does Terza need parental consent for students under 18?
Recording a child’s voice is treated as sensitive personal information under privacy law (COPPA in the US, PIPEDA in Canada), and a teacher can’t consent on a parent’s behalf. Terza requires a parent or guardian to directly complete a verifiable consent process before any lesson involving a minor student can be recorded. This is enforced by Terza’s systems, not just stated in a policy.
What does a parent actually agree to?
The consent notice explains, in plain language, what’s recorded, how it’s processed, which companies are involved and why, how long it’s kept, and the parent’s rights, including withdrawing at any time. A parent completes this step directly; it isn’t something a teacher can fill in on their behalf.
Can a parent withdraw consent? What happens then?
Yes, at any time, through a link included in every consent-related email. Withdrawing immediately stops future recording of that student and automatically deletes their stored audio, transcripts, and practice-note content.
Who else sees my students' data?
Only the small number of service providers necessary to run Terza, each under a signed data processing agreement, and none of them are permitted to use lesson content to train their own models. The full, named list is in Terza’s Privacy Policy.
How long is lesson audio kept?
Audio is deleted 30 days after the lesson, automatically, on a published schedule. See the Data Retention section of the Privacy Policy for every data category.
Is Terza COPPA and PIPEDA compliant?
Terza is built around COPPA’s 2025 Final Rule and Canada’s PIPEDA from the ground up: verifiable parental consent, named data partners, a published retention schedule, and a written information security program. See the Privacy Policy for full details.
What about adult students, or a student turning 18?
An adult student consents for themselves, the same way a parent would for a minor. No separate parental step is needed.
Pricing
Is there a free trial?
Yes: 14 days, full access to Lite-tier features, no cost.
What are the plans?
Lite ($14/month, up to 5 students), Solo ($24/month, up to 15 students), and Studio ($44/month, up to 40 students). See the pricing section for current details.
What happens if I go over my student limit?
You’ll need to move up to the next tier. Contact us if you’re not sure which plan fits your studio.
Do you offer annual billing?
Yes. Paying annually works out to two months free compared to paying monthly.
Is there a plan for a school or multi-teacher studio?
Not currently, but this is planned for the future. If you run a music school, contact us to discuss your needs and to help us shape this feature.
Getting started
What do I need to get started?
An iPhone or iPad, and a roster of students to add.
How do I add a student and get consent moving?
Add the student’s name and their parent’s contact information (or the student’s own, if they’re an adult). Terza sends the consent request directly to the parent. Once they complete it, the student moves from “Awaiting Consent” to ready-to-record.
Who do I contact with questions or issues?
hello@terza.app for general questions; privacy@terza.app for anything about student data specifically.