Our experience with Music Together at Tunebugz

We just signed up for our third semester with the Music Together program at Tunebugz in Austin and I wanted to pop in and share our experience.

If you’re not familiar with Music Together, it is a music program for young children, birth through 8 years old.

Music together is offered all over the world. There are multiple companies that offer the program in Austin where we live, and we’ve had a wonderful experience with the Tunebugz company for anyone local.

What does class look like?

I don’t have any actual photos of class because they discourage cameras/use of phones during class – which I love! I will try to describe what class is like though, for anyone considering signing up.

There is a designated set of songs for each semester. When the semester begins, you receive an illustrated songbook, a cd with the songs, and access to the songs through an App.

Most semesters have ten classes, with the summer session being shorter.

At each class, there is a Hello song and Goodbye song that are always the same, which provides a nice sense of continuity.

After the hello song, the teacher leads the group through some of the other songs for about 45 minutes.

The teacher introduces rhythm games, harmonies, singing in rounds, singing in parts, and other musical activities.

There is also a “free dance” song and a song where the children are invited to experiment with musical instruments in each class.

They offer a baby class (up to 8 months), a mixed-age class (infant through 5 years), and a couple of classes just for older kids (4-8 years).

We’re in the mixed-age, which is great because I can bring both Lilah and James together.

Is it compatible with Montessori?

Unlike some group activities, I have found Music Together to be really compatible with Montessori for a few reasons.

Respect for the child

The children are always spoken to with respect. There are very few rules in class, mostly walking inside and being gentle with the materials, and the teachers always reinforce the rules positively and respectfully.

Freedom of Movement

The children are not expected to sit the whole time, or to participate in any of the activities they don’t want to.

You will frequently see a baby crawling around the room or a toddler checking themselves out in a mirror along the wall rather than sitting with the group.

The children’s need for movement and the way in which they choose to experience the class are always respected. The adults model how to participate in the group and the children join in when they’re ready.

Cues from the child

The teacher often takes cues from the children and their musical expression when leading the songs.

If one child is singing along using a particular sound or interesting way of clapping, the teacher will incorporate that into the song.

What do we love about it?

I suspected we would enjoy the weekly class together, but I did not realize it would become something we do together almost daily, in one form or another.

I was also surprised by how interested Lilah has been in the class and the music, from the very beginning. She was only about 3 months old when we started Music Together, but even then she was always super alert when we went to the class. Now she has clear favorite songs and loves watching the other babies and children and soaking it all in.

Confidence

I’ve watched James’s confidence in class grow in the class so much over the past few months.

The first semester we attended, he always enjoyed going, but largely just sat and watched and listened.

This past semester, he was all-in, belting out solos and asking (so many) questions.

Audiation

James will often sing along to a song, without the words (ex “La la la ” to the tune). I’ve now learned that this is often part of the process of audiation, hearing a song in your head when it’s not playing and anticipating what will come next.

He will actually stop and correct himself, muttering, “that’s not right,” and trying again until he gets it on tune.

The teacher weaves little lessons like this in for the parents throughout the class, giving ideas for how to playfully encourage the skills the children are working on (for example, singing a song using repetition of the child’s name or a favorite food instead of the actual words).

Exposure

We listen to music all of the time in our house, but it’s generally limited to what my husband and I like.

Music Together incorporates songs of many different genres and cultures, including rhythm patterns that are uncommon in our culture.

I love that the songs are fun to listen to, but also expose my children to types of music they would not otherwise be hearing. (You can check out some of the songs here.)

Music at home

James frequently asks to listen to “music class songs” at home.

I’ve recently set up a little music corner for him and we’ve been loving it. It currently has the two Music Together books from our past semesters, another singing book (Baby Beluga), and a small selection of musical instruments, which I will rotate.

This allows him to more easily choose to work on music independently. I would like to set up a little cd player for him so that he doesn’t have to rely on me and my phone for the music, I just need to find a simple one he can operate by himself.

 

I really believe that young children should not have too many extracurriculars. They need to play and have free time to explore in nature and just be.

However, we’ve really fallen in love with this program and are finding it super worthwhile and fun for our family.

If you’re local to Austin, we’ve had a great experience with Tunebugz and they’re offering free demos next week so it’s a great time to check it out!

Do you like to sing?

Do you do any extracurriculars with your child that you love? I’d love to hear about them!

 

 

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