Hey everybody! There can sometimes be some confusion about Music 1st and The Tuned In Academy. Both currently operate out of the same buildings, at least two of the buildings that we use, and both are under my direction and the direction of my wife as we are co-directors and co-founders of both institutions. That said, they’re both two different organizations. And there’s a reason for it, and each one has their own unique feel and vibe and beauty and are both incredibly important.
We are very aware that we need more signage at the building specifically regarding Music 1st. It’s something we are working on. I actually have somebody coming over this week to take a look at the grass area out front where you may notice there’s actually posts in the ground from where a prior business here had hard signs in the yard. Our plan is to actually get two new signs one for TIA, and one for Music 1st. Probably the TIA sort of slightly larger and on top, and Music 1st just underneath it. That hopefully will make things more clear. The reason for that, Music 1st wouldn’t exist without TIA. TIA is where this whole thing began, but Music 1st is powerfully and beautifully its own thing, and growing and developing as an important and uniquely different school.
But if people ask, if people are confused, what’s the difference between the two organizations why is there two different organizations in the same building etc.? Those are important questions. And the basic easy response is that TIA is a nonprofit. As a nonprofit TIA has its own unique set of values and mission, and much of the mission of TIA centers around philanthropic uses of music education in the community reaching out to provide music education to people that otherwise couldn’t afford it, and really need it at various places in their lives. We have a lot of goals in that area, with things that we hope to accomplish as an academy a big part of which involves making music education accessible to people that otherwise can’t afford it, eventually, we hope even people struggling with addiction and pain and poverty.
Music 1st is an LLC, it’s not a nonprofit, however, it literally exists to help us fund the nonprofit in hopes to be able to do more of those things. Also, there’s kind of a different vibe in general to the organization. We intentionally tried to have the two organizations be a little bit different in a good way. We (Music 1st) have a unique set of values, which you should check out and get to know they are on the website. Here’s a few of them below.
- Community Based: At Music 1st we are all about community! That means that all of our instructors at the studio are local musicians, artists, and educators who live, work, and are actively engaged in their local northwest community. Community is what we live for and why we love music—because it brings people together.
- Relational: Music lessons are relational. Period. There’s no way around this and there shouldn’t be. The simple truth is, if you are going to be hanging out with someone on a weekly basis, learning music, which often can feel quite vulnerable, you’ve got to like the person you’re hanging with! They need to be good people! At Music 1st, we are deeply aware of this and it is a primary concern of ours to make sure that we hire, train, and develop a team of teachers that you will love and want to spend time with!
- Committed to the Essentials: The Fundamentals: Reading music notation, including the ability to read and interpret rhythms, intervals (melodic and harmonic) chord symbols, and theory are essential for learning to make great music. Ear training, chord-scale theory, scales, rudiments, and foundational technique are all important as well. If we don’t have these, we won’t be able to freely express ourselves and create the music that is already inside of us just waiting to come out.
- Tradition: Not everyone has to play Bach, or the Beatles for that matter! But, we appreciate and are committed to learning from the rich tradition that music has to offer. From Bach to the Beatles, from John Coltrane to John Mayer, from Dizzy Gillespie to Gaga, from Bird to Blanchard, or from The Rolling Stones to The Roots!
- Innovation: The greatest musical minds are always pushing the envelope harmonically, melodically, rhythmically, sonically, and thematically—and one of the reasons the fundamentals and tradition are so important, is so we have a foundation from which to springboard into the future with.
- Music as Therapy and Self-Care: We live in a challenging world. It can be hard to be a kid. Adulting is all kinds of hard. We get that! Music can be incredibly therapeutic, and there are so many ways music can be used as a coping skill and a self-care treatment. We are here for that and happy to explore that with you.
The team really is different, I think the people are different in a cool way, just to sort of different kind of a vibe whereas I think most of Tia are really serious classical/jazz type musicians, I think there’s a little bit more kind of a laid back kind of a feel yet definitely still overtly focused on the fundamentals. At Berkelee College of Music, when I was there, I think this is still the case, there were two schools that actually shared a lot of buildings including the cafeteria when I was there, Berklee and The Boston Conservatory. The conservatory was very musical theater, dance, and classical oriented. Berklee was obviously a little bit more jazz. pop and commercial oriented. Both great schools. In some cases, I believe students attended both, but they were still different.
Music 1st and TIA: two very good, committed, different schools serving important purposes.
