WELCOME TO TUNEBUGZ! SUMMER 2025

_____ First thing's first - Hooray! The process of getting you confirmed and placed in a class is underway!  Check spam folders for communications from us and please whitelist us to make sure you get our emails!  You will likely need to add us as a 'safe sender'.  If there were not enough kiddos enrolled in your 1st choice for it to make, we may have placed you in your 2nd choice and/or reached out to you to find another spot. If for any reason you are not happy with your day/time/location or teacher, just Email us!  For planning attendance for the term - your class schedule is also available anytime day/night in the Parent Portal.  

 

_____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 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!  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 and 75+ songs that we study over a 3 year period. Plus 3 summer collections - so it's important to get the SUMMER BANJO 2025 COLLECTION specifically! (and you must have that code we emailed you in order to get them!) 

 

______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 this 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 behind 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 be listening to the songs ahead of time to get ready to SING with your child and your new friends and teacher 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 love making music and dancing. They learn this from watching YOU! :) 

 

_____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)

 

_____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 Purple Book provided in your materials (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 your - just always ask for another one or access the PDF on the Music Together app or Family Music Zone. The book is called ‘Music and Your Child, a Guide for Parents and Caregivers’ and it's essentially the REQUIRED READING for what we're trying to accomplish with music learning together.  

 

_____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, and sometimes with props and instruments to keep it fun and engaging.

 

_____NO TOYS/FOOD: Please do not bring toys, stuffies or other distractions into the class to avoid confusion and struggles when other children want to play with them too. We are here to make music! Come empty handed ready to do that with us! It helps us so much if you teach your child to leave toys and food at home or for sure outside the studio until class is over. 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 who is learning the ropes and they will even present a few songs over the course of the term to help them get acclimated to teaching. Thanks for treating 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 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 too! 

 

_____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. 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 amazing songs!! Another great thing to do is go out and support live music artists all over Austin and surrounding Hill Country. There are so many wonderful and amazing musicians here! Please support them!