WELCOME TO TUNEBUGZ!

_____ First thing's first - Hooray! The process of getting you confirmed and placed in a class is underway!  Check your spam folders for communications from us and please whitelist us to make sure you get our emails.   Add tunebugz as a 'safe sender'.  If there were not enough kiddos enrolled in your 1st choice for it to make (6), we may need to placec you in your 2nd choice and/or reach out to you to find another day/time that works. If for any reason you are not happy with your day/time/location or teacher, just Email us!   

 

_____Next thing -  Go get the Music Together app and put it on your phones, tablets, and kid friendly devices so you can stream your music wherever you are!  There are 8 songs pre-loaded already but you will also need to unlock the current collection with the code we provided through email. Please load up the app,  access to download your songs and start listening at home to learn the songs right away.  Make sure you share your Music Together app login/pw with family members who will be supporting your child's music education journey. Everyone in your family will need to be able to play the songs for your child in the car, waiting in grocery line, at the park, at the doc office, on road trips or plane trips... Everyone can use YOUR same login/pw and everyone can be singing your child's fav songs! The more supported they are - the more they will grow musically!  You cannot get our session's songs from Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube Music you MUST use the Music Together app along with the music access code we provide.  All the streaming apps have some free Music Together intro songs and lullabys - but there are 9 different song collections with 75+ songs that we study over a 3 year period. Plus 3 summer collections - so it's important to get the FALL FLUTE 2025 COLLECTION songs! 

 

______Next, head over and check out each of the tabs on the parent communication hub we call the Parent Portal. The tuneBugz! account Parent Portal is the admin account you set up when you registered online. You can get to it from our website 24/7.  www.tunebugz.com/portal.aspx. The PARENT PORTAL is where you'll update contact info, mark absences, add class participants (like a nanny, additional parent or a grandparent), make payments, check your schedule on holidays/slides etc, schedule your make-ups, verify the location of your class and opt into receiving texts (super important!). Everything admin-wise is in the Parent Portal and it's so so so important especially if you are not on social media or if you tend to get bogged down with checking/reading emails.   

 

_____Start listening to your songs:  Your MUSIC ACCESS CODE will be loaded up in the Parent Portal about a week or so before classes begin.  Your child's songbook will be handed out on the first day of class and the songbook will also have your music access code printed on the inside front cover. PLEASE PLEASE listen to the songs ahead of time to get ready to SING with your child from the FIRST DAY! All of our teachers do expect you to come in LOVING to sing and dance along with your child. Please do this from day 1 and throughout the session as it's the main way that your child learns to how to make music and and dance, they learn this primarily from watching you both in class and at home. 

 

_____Family Music Zone (online/desktop/browser based access): If your phone is on the fritz or you just need an alternative way to access your music collections, you can get to all your music on the Family Music Zone online at www.musictogether.com/familymusiczone. (use your same login/pw as the Music Together app - not the Parent Portal login/pw)

 

_____GET SOCIAL WTH US! Please follow us on IG: @tunebugz for music education support, amazing and hilarious musical memes and to deepen the parent journey! We have great suggestions on fun musical things to do in Austin curated by our team. 

 

_____READ the Purple Book provided in your materials packet (or access it from the app). We provide his 'textbook for new parents' when you join but extra copies are always available! If you lost yours - just always ask for another one or access the PDF on the app. The book is called ‘Music and Your Child, a Guide for Parents and Caregivers’ and it's the REQUIRED READING to understand the why/what/how of social music making methodology that we use.  

 

_____COME TO CLASS - Coming to class and being consistent with attendance is important and it's your responsibility. Your classes are use or lose. Makeups may or may not be available or convenient but we do our best. (see next) 

 

____ABSENCES/MAKEUPS - If you know you are going to miss a class in advance, go ahead and mark yourself absent this opens up your spot so another family can do a makeup in your absence. Nice right? Courtesy and compassion are alive and well at tuneBugz! As soon as we begin the session we will open up the makeup scheduler and you can pre-mark any vacay/doc appt absences you know about in advance and also preschedule any makeups you might need.  If we get to the end of the term and you never did your makeup - it is lost. No carry overs are allowed due to space issues in the new term. 

 

_____MATERIALS/INSTRUMENTS:  We provide all the materials/instruments to use in class but, your child's voice and body are the most important instruments we use. Our primary focus is singing and moving our bodies (movement/choreo!) All our instruments are secondary to singing and moving our bodies to the beat - this is the best way for children to learn music at this age - through immersion and experiential learning with their own voice, their own body, however, we do also use accessible instruments that are developmentally appropriate to illustrate melody and rhythm to help your child embody the tonal contour and rhythm. and to keep it fun and engaging.

 

_____NO TOYS/FOOD: Please do not bring toys, stuffies or other personal items into the class. We ask this to avoid confusion and struggles when other children want to play with those toys too. We are here to make music! Come empty handed ready to sing, dance and get silly with us! If you bring toys - it may prevent them from participating and create a tussle over toys thus diminishing the value for everyone. . . It helps us so much if you encourage your child to leave toys and food at home or for sure outside the studio until class is over. Following these few rules may be a new learning step they will need to take to participate fully without distractions, we thank you for leading the charge on this so we don't have to in class.  Thank you!

 

_____APPRENTICES/TEACHER'S ASSISTANTS: We are always hiring amazing teachers - all the time and you will often have a main teacher and an apprentice/helper in your class. Main teacher and apprentice may take turns presenting as the apprentice will be a trained teacher doing practicums to get acclimated to teaching on their own - thank you for welcoming them with love, support and compassion and helping them have fun learning to TEACH! 

 

_____SHARE THE LOVE! We have a "Give $20 to get $20" referral program.   You will find your personal $20 off referral code in the Parent Portal on the main ACCOUNT tab at the bottom.  Every time your code or link is used by a new family who registers you will get a $20 tuition credit auto-magically placed on your account. There's no limit on how much money/credits you can rack up! Please use friend referrals by sharing the joy of tuneBugz! with everyone you meet and never pay full price again!  We also really appreciate you using your codes in your public reviews and social posts too. Please help us by posting about class on social media, on Nextdoor and please invite your friends from playgroups to join you at tuneBugz! and offer them your discount! We love when you post reviews on Facebook, Google and Yelp that contain your discount codes! Thanks in advance! 

 

_____ASK QUESTIONS  Our teachers and staff are always working to make sure you have a great time here. The key is to let us know your expectations and needs along the way. We want you to be highly communicative and the best way to reach out to us with questions is to text me : Amber Nichols at 512-632-6695 Or email me: [email protected].  You are always encouraged to ask your teacher anything as well. Please don't let anything you are unhappy with fester - please give us a chance to change things and make them right - your happiness here is our top priority! 

 

_____MAKE MUSIC AT HOME! Please, as a proud Austin, Texas family, make it a point to do something musical for 20 to 30 mins every . single . day! Have a kitchen dance party, sing in the bathtub, sing in line at the grocery store, sing on every road trip even if it's just across town. BURST INTO SONG anytime it crosses your mind. Your home life being musical matters so much to your child! Your life should be full of singing that's why we're teaching you all these awesome songs!! Another great thing to do is go out and support live music performing artists all over Austin and surrounding Hill Country. There are so many wonderful and amazing musicians here! Please get your child out in our commmunity to support them!