FAQs

The short answer is simple: the one you want to learn the most. Read our complete response here.

No. Our music classes and private lessons are open from the minimum age up, with no age limit. We want adult learners as well children. All who will respect our values are welcome.

This is an important question. Here are four practical reasons that everyone should study music. And here are four simple reasons your child should study music.

How about this reason?

Yes, we certainly do. And we could really use their help. We also think they would love to be a part of the academy, and we would love to see them flourish even more. Read more here.

All of our group classes are monthly tuition based. Our lab classes (our most popular classes) are just $65 monthly, $65 if you have multiple students enrolled for each additional child. This is essentially just over $15 per week of class! That’s ridiculously affordable quality music education, and that’s what we are all about. We are also always seeking partners in the community who seek to sponsor students with the gift of music education so we can provide quality and relational music education to those who otherwise would not be able to afford it.

Great question! Many students struggle with music in the beginning. Most students (adults and children) just don’t realize how complex the language/rhythm aspect of music is. I would definitely encourage him not to quit. Challenge them to stick out the semester, and hopefully they will continue after that. It takes time for students to gain some familiarity to the point where it is more fun and less of a struggle. Read a complete response here.

There are many things that we believe make us different.

Friendship and community are a priority among students and faculty.

Relationships! We are very serious not just about teaching, but getting to know and relating to our students! Our mentor model is designed to give students the best opportunity for not just learning, but engaging, encouraging, and fun. Read what one mom recently said about this: “My son takes guitar lessons at TIA and he absolutely loves this music academy! He said it’s just like having a friend teach him. Such a great environment for kids to learn in.”

Standards and accountability

All of our teachers focus on the fundamentals needed to make music fun and great. We want all of our students to have fun and make great music, and that means learning and having a working knowledge of the proper technical aspects of the instrument. This also means learning the essentials of theory and reading music notation, and learning all of your scales and chords.

At TIA, we are not just a studio with bunch of individual teachers with their own philosophies or ideas about teaching. We are a team, and a team that is always committed to growing as humans, as musicians, and as educators.

We also select new themes every semester, so in addition to working on repertoire chosen by student and teacher, we have fun opportunities to be exposed to and learn music of all kinds of different genres!

Yes!

Performing music before others is important! Are you looking for performance opportunities? You’ve come to the right place! We have between 8-10 opportunities a year (see below), and some very special opportunities that we keep hush hush as they are proprietary.

We don’t prefer the word performance, but making music for others and for the community is both an essential part of why we learn and create music and what drives us, and it is literally built into the foundation of everything we do at TIA.

One of our core values is that we value presentation over performance, because music is more than mere entertainment or amusement, but art, and a gift to be presented. To live this out, the academy will always be seeking to find ways and opportunities to serve the community through music, not just putting on concerts. But if you are a part of TIA, we can assure you that you will have opportunities to share your music live before others every semester if you choose. To find out more, or see some of what we do with that, read here.

We have presentations (that’s what we call our recitals) every semester, usually in October/November, December, June, and August. We also have many of our students present at Arts Walk (the last weekend in April), and we have other events like Festival (sort of a competition with yourself, an opportunity for adjudication), Celebration of Scales, and occasional opportunities for community music making at the local senior centers and retirement homes.

Obviously right now, presentations are different because of Covid-19, but we have still been having them every semester and will continue to, via both live stream and recorded video. Different? Sure, but we are all learning important realities about making music for others in the age of Covid. And Covid restrictions willing, we will have some kind of out door live presentation this spring or summer outside, picnic style. Stay tuned?

Looking to make music for others? Come and be a part of the community, we would love to have you!

Yes! We are always looking for more great, qualified, talented, passionate, and like-minded people. Because we have a specific set of values and a specific mission however, we cannot extend an offer to pursue working with us to everyone. If you or someone you know is interested in working with us, we would recommend first carefully reading over our mission and values, and if you understand them and think that you might be a fit, give a a call and let’s pursue deeper conversations. With rare exception, we seek faculty that hold college degrees in music and are experienced educators.

We are also looking for student teachers.

And even have a need for a volunteer in non-profit community relations that could eventually turn into a paid position.

This is an important question, please see our response here.

This is not a commonly asked question.

But the response is one that should affect some major ways in which we view music study in general.

Yes of course! Our musician-educators love to teach, and so if private instruction is what you want and need, we are here for you to meet that need. And we love teaching private lessons too! The one-on-one mentor model is a lot of fun, relational, and highly effective.

That is a great question! See our answer here.

The short answer is, of course! Music study is so much more than simply moving forward on material from the prior week. See here for a full response.

The short answer is no. For a more detailed response, see here. We take two one-week breaks at the end of the spring and the end of the summer.

Yes! We have many adult private students studying piano, voice, ukulele, flute, and guitar. Some take lessons with their children, some on their own. We also have an all adult group piano class and try to launch new ones at least once or twice a year.

We love our adult students and have probably about 50 currently! Some are in adult group classes, many are in private lessons and studying recorder, piano, guitar, drums, and voice. We have students that are university faculty and staff, high ranking officers in the US Army, military and postal retirees, state employees, retired engineers, forensic scientists, band directors, octogenarians, and missionaries, and they are all awesome people. You should join them on the journey! It is never too late to learn an instrument.

What’s with the name, The Tuned In Academy? What makes TIA an academy and how is that different from a music store that teaches lessons, a private lessons studio, or any other similar kind of place/business?

This is a great question. An academy is a specialty school in which unique skills are taught. For us, this includes repertoire, technique, and theory, advanced scales and improvisation techniques. We are serious about music, but don’t let the name fool you, we have a blast too! Long answer here.

We unfortunately do not have any traveling teachers. We reach so many families and so many students, which is a major part of why we exist, to serve the community! And sadly, traveling would take a lot of time that would cut our ability to teach and reach more students significantly. As is we are often on a waitlist. SD and Jenna (our founding teachers and director) come into the studio to teach their own daughters as well. There is a certain focus, formal space, and atmosphere that often helps students in the learning process, to get out of the home and have a place of study. Even if it is someone else’s living room, which it was for us when we began!

That said, if you just can’t get out of the house, we understand. We can’t necessarily recommend anyone who teaches to our standards that we know of, but we wish you the best if that is what you choose and need to do.

Music therapy is a unique, research proven, effective, and beautiful therapeutic treatment that meets real needs in people. For more details on music therapy and what it has done and can do, see here. Sarah would love to work with you to develop personalized plans to meet your emotional, mental health, and other goals.