Hello Everybody!

We’ll jump right in and let you know that we will not be holding in-person classes this fall. While we are technically allowed to have gatherings of up to 50 people, we would have also needed to have impermeable barriers between people which is logistically not possible. We regret that this is the case.

We are proceeding with online classes this fall.

We will update you on winter classes as we get closer and there is further information about what is and is not allowed from a public health perspective. For now, please read this note in detail so you can have all the information handy.

What’s Included?

This fall you will get access to:

Bongos Music Together Book Cover
  • Bongos Family music book and digital download code, with the book mailed right to your house!
  • 3 Live Music Together, and 1 Live Rhythm Kids class every week for 10 weeks, for a total of 40 Live classes, with a stretch goal of 60 live classes (see below)
  • 40 pre-recorded French and English stories read to you by parents, just like you
  • On-demand, pre-recorded Campfire songs classes for Guitar/Ukulele, suitable for kids over 5 or for the grown-ups in your house as a bonus program with no experience necessary! As a special bonus, we will be including live versions of weeks 1 & 2 in October.

As we have been doing up to now, we’ll be trying to find ways to engage with you and your family during the class, and after the class, as well. We’ve seen a number of lovely chats with families after classes, and we hope that this has helped make you feel more connected. If you have any feedback on this, we’d love to hear from you.

Schedule & Dates

We will delay our start date by a few days, which will still allow us to get our full 10 weeks in.

The tentative schedule is listed below, and highly subject to change. You’ll notice one class is a ‘Stretch Goal’, a term taken from crowdfunding campaigns, only to indicate that we will offer this class if we reach a minimum of *30 and *40 registrations.

This schedule is subject to change at any time.

PLEASE NOTE: You will be registered in a placeholder class just to track your billing. This created some confusion over the summer. All this means is that you will receive a notification for the placeholder class (Monday at 12 noon, for example). You can still attend all of the scheduled live classes, and watch all of the on-demand classes. If this is confusing, please call us at 416-651-7529.

Billing & Policies Update

The online fees for billing will continue to be a per-family fee. If a family is taking both Rhythm Kids and Music Together, there is an additional $50 fee, as before.

The cost for Fall 2020 will be $70.18/month ($210.54 for the season), reverting to our monthly model to help make it manageable if you are struggling. This is a 20% reduction on our regular in-person pricing. Since we are returning to the monthly billing, our Policies and Procedures are updated include a new requirement for a full season commitment when participating in Music Together Online. This means that you will be required to pay for the entire season if you register for Music Together Online.

Your registration is also going to continue for the school year, as normal, with your spot reserved in online classes through June 2021. Digital classes are likely to continue to the end of this school year, even alongside in-person classes – if they can resume – in support of our Re-Start Plan.

What’s Next? Let’s Register by October 1st!

We’ll be calling everyone who indicated they were interested in taking part this fall first.

If you would like to register, please call the office at 416-651-7529 as soon as possible; If you leave a message saying you want to go ahead with registration, we will process you and call you to confirm your registration.

We’d like to make a push to get registered by October 1st, so we can firm up how many classes we can run for you.

This is Hard – Director’s Note

I’ve spoken to a lot of you over the course of our public health ‘situation’, and I’ve learned a lot about doing classes online.

Where you as parents are concerned, I’ve learned that this hard. And now, Winter is Coming…

Speaking to our families, whether Music Together or for Private lessons, we have consistently heard how appreciated the structure and routine of our classes has been for them. As the seasons change, getting a good class routine down will help give you a winter activity

The beauty of what we do is the community support, being in it together, and knowing that the other parents – like you – may not know all the songs or lyrics all the time, and are doing their best.

Without that support at home, we feel exposed, and uncertain. Believe me, I know because I did classes online with my niece and nephew, and I’m the one with 10 years of teaching experience! If it was a challenge for me with all that experience, I can only imagine how hard it has been for you. So how can I help you give this another try, or to make this more comfortable at home?

REMEMBER our ‘prime directive’ for classes? If YOU’RE not doing it, THEY’RE not doing it. This becomes especially important in our current situation.

Here are some things I learned that will make a meaningful difference when you give this another go this fall:

  1. Since you are alone at home, you have to make the music a little more present each week. You don’t have to go over the top here, but if you can mindfully play the music on shuffle during bath times, pre-bed time, during unstructured play time, just in the background, this will really help. Try to make some time for you to do this for yourself, as well, because you have to drive the engagement.
  2. YOU have to drive the engagement. The video, whether live or recorded is not for parking your kids and having them ‘eat’ the class like something out of a box. The teacher – as in live classes – is there to guide you, and you are there to guide your kids by modelling. If you throw yourself into the activity, they’ll follow. Like a normal class, you can expect them to come and go. This varies week-to-week, and activity to activity. This is the hardest part for us adults, but we have to keep jumping around and engaging with the activity presented. If we don’t do that, you’ll lose the kids. Like starting our classes for the first time, bear in mind that it may take a number of weeks before your children ‘get it’. You have to be devoted to your effort for this to work.
  3. Be independent. Even in live classes we are OK with you adapting things for your kids in the moment – much like a Yoga practice – you should do what feels right in the moment. Your kids may feel like self-directing the activity. This is not only OK, it is great! Because you are at home, your children may actually be more expressive and musical, which means this is an great opportunity for growth.

Ultimately, this is a lot more work for you. We get that, but it is also a really special and important opportunity to move growth forward.

Bonus: Don’t Forget Referrals Get You 20% Off

We’d really appreciate any referrals you can send us during this fall registration period and beyond. We’ve been affected like everyone else, and can use the help!

You’ll get 20% off to the end of the school year, and so will your friend. Heck, they don’t even have to be your friend! As long as they mention your name, we’ll give you both the deal. Feel free to post this widely to your social media.

Pro Tip: if you share your story about how our classes have been a great experience and the changes you’ve seen as a result in your kids, people will be more likely to take you up on your referral.

Thanks!