Thank you for your patience, flexibility, and continued engagement with music. We are looking forward to slowly and safely reopening our business for private instruction. As we have discussed how best to do this, it was of the utmost importance to us that we be able to provide you and our faculty with options to ensure everyone is comfortable and safe. To that end, we will continue making remote lessons through ZOOM an option for you if you so choose. Here are our guidelines for the near future:

• From now until June 15^th, all private instruction will remain as it currently stands – ZOOM lessons in which family payment goes directly to faculty. 
• Beginning June 15^th, students (excluding voice students) have the option of continuing ZOOM lessons or scheduling in-person lessons at ACMS. Scheduling of your lesson day and time will continue to be arranged directly with your instructor, but payment for lessons will go through ACMS at the normal private instruction rate.
• Voice lessons will not resume through ACMS until July 1; voice lessons must be conducted via ZOOM for the remainder of the summer.
• For in-person lessons, ACMS will be implementing safety procedures including:
  • Spacing teacher schedules so that there is a 10-minute break between lessons to allow for classroom sanitization
  • Requiring students to wait for their lessons in their vehicle until their instructor comes out to meet them
  • Requiring all adults and children ages 10 and over to wear masks while on-site 
     
• Beginning June 15 (July 1 for voice students) if a student wishes to continue lessons via ZOOM, they must enroll in Direct Billing through ACMS. Please call 512-474-2331 or email registrar@acmsaustin.org starting on June 1 to inquire about this option.

Why no voice lessons in the building this summer? In short, because studies are showing that singing is one of the most effective ways to spread the virus and we want to keep you and our customers as safe as possible. In early May several of the nation’s leading singing and choral organizations put together an expert panel to discuss what singing will look like for the time being. You can read an article summarizing the conversation by visiting this link.

Please see the links below for more specific information related to our various programs:

• Music Together
• Music for Little Mozarts
• Private Instruction

Registration for our Summer 1 session of Early Childhood Music (Music Together® and Canta y Baila) begins on Monday, May 4th. Register by Sunday, May 10th and receive $40 off $65 off^† tuition! Our first summer session will run for 5 weeks from June 8th - July 12th.

We would also like to note that we have made a change to our pricing for our online programs. Tuition for online classes is no longer based upon the number of children in a household. You will only have to pay one fee per family. We hope that this modification will help alleviate some financial stress, while still allowing you to keep music a part of your child’s daily life.

^† ALERT - We initially priced our Summer 1 session too low according to Music Together guidelines. But you can gain a super summer savings before we adjust pricing! Register before midnight May 10 and you can save $65 off the new full tuition price. Register now for your spot in this fun online experience!

(In light of continued global health concerns and recommendations made by our city, our first summer session will still be completely online in the format you are now accustomed to. This also means that we will not be offering our Little Drummers, Big Voices curriculum for the first Summer session. Thank you for your continued support and grace during this time.)

We are celebrating 20 years of Excellence, Discovery, Community all year and we want to celebrate with you! Enjoy this special video celebration!

Appearances and Performances by:
Liz Cass
Phil Davidson
Bryan Sunderman
Finn Dickens
Evie Tjoeng
Rachel McInturff
Sarah Beth Gooding
Courtney Tellman
Sonja Larson and Nora Karakousoglou
Paul Matthews

Your generosity fuels creativity and empowers us to continue offering the highest music education opportunities for all Austinites. Unrestricted donations in any amount will go towards operations, support of ACMS teaching artists, and free community programming provided by ACMS.

The school now has a Google Voice number for this shelter-in-place mandate. If you need to reach the on-duty registrar, call (512) 920-ACMS. (That's 512-920-2267) The call will be routed to whomever is on duty for the day.

Our Spring 2020 semester of Early Childhood Music (including Music Together® and Canta y Baila) begins tomorrow, Monday, April 6th. Our Spring 2020 session of Music for Little Mozarts also resumes tomorrow! Families registered in those classes have received email instructions on how to access classes online using Facebook. Didn't get those instructions? Please email us!