Music is not just an extra-curricular activity or something that only certain pockets of people should study. Music is a need for all people. Ethnomusicologists have described music as one of the most essential forms of human expression and something that all people need on at least some level.

Music is art. Music is a discipline. Music is story. Music is human expression. I think we can all agree that we need each of these things, and we can benefit from a healthy dose of each, and they are pretty significant in human development, both as individuals, and as a people as a whole, like on a community level. I’d like to sort of unpack why we are here in addressing the needs of at least three different people groups (homeschool families, adults, and public and private school students). In this first post, I will focus on the why in regard to homeschool families.

Homeschool Families

 This picture below shows a class of homeschool students taught by a homeschooled 18 year old student teacher at TIA.

It all began with the realization of a need in this community. When I did my initial research (in 2013), there were about 1000 registered homeschool students in the Olympia/Lacey/Tumwater area. And that was a while ago, surely there are more now as home schooling continues to rise among people from all demographics for a host of different reasons. Statistically, less than 20% of homeschool students have the opportunity to study music formally outside the home. That’s a pretty tragic number.

We started this academy with just a dream about four years ago, and we are doing quite well now in reaching our way towards 10% of that number from 2013. But we could do so much better. And while we try to keep our rates as low as possible, we also believe that great teachers should be paid well, and we still have to pay the bills. Surely there are many homeschool families out there that simply can’t afford tuition. Just last month (May 2017)  we had to say goodbye to a sweet family because of a change in their financial season. They were sad to leave and I so wish we could have offered them scholarships. But unfortunately, we don’t have a scholarship fund to give from today. For that, we need partners and supporters that want to help us on this mission.

Today (July of 2019) we are honored to serve so many homeschool families! In fact, we serve more homeschool students between the hours of 12PM and 4PM than any other time of day. During these hours the studio is filled with music as private piano students, piano group classes, ukulele and guitar private students and group classes, drum labs and private drum students, clarinet, saxophone, trombone, euphonium players, flautists, and vocalists all take part in the journey of music. The waiting room is filled with families and children playing! It is beautiful in sight and sound.

*Updated August 2020, now, thanks to our mission partner tuition program, we do have limited scholarship funds available to those who qualify for reduced rate tuition. 

Standards are one of the reasons TIA is needed. Sadly, many students that do study music do so with teachers that are just unable or unsure how to take students where they need to go. Here is what one parent had to say about their experience coming to TIA:

“Everyone at Tuned-in Academy is extremely friendly and welcoming. My son had six years of one-on-one piano lessons before attending TIA, and after just a few months learning from Sean-David, he has learned more than in the previous six years combined. Instructors here have the education, leadership and care to maximize the potential of young music students. We are very happy with this school and would recommend it to anyone.” –Chris A, Parent of a Piano Student