Families + Music

Musical inspiration and education for families.
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Introducing, Live from the Living Room Stage…

The Graves Eight in Band Together’s first music video!

What is Band Together?

Band Together is inspiration and education, a way for families to learn about music together, and a tool that parents can use to encourage and enable their children to explore music and music-making in all of its aspects. Our mission: to encourage families to make music together. We want to help create a culture of multi-generational musicians who pass their passion for music down to their children and grandchildren. We envision fathers, mothers, kids, and grandkids forming family music groups and playing music together, whether folk, rock, country, bluegrass, jazz, gospel, or reggae.

Band Together resources come bundled in what we call albums, each with a theme based on a particular genre, era, or style of music. Everyone starts at the beginning with Vibrations—Surf Music. When you’re ready for the next step, we switch gears and centuries with Going for Baroque. The lessons build within each consecutive digital album, and we can’t wait to share our third album with you in the near future.

What could be next? Some ideas we’ve got cooking for future albums…

 Roots—Reggae

Go Cat Go—Rockabilly 

 Olé—Mariachi

 I Got Rhythm—Composers of the Great American Songbook

Happy Trails—Cowboy & Western

Peace in the Valley—Black Gospel

 Camptown—Stephen Foster and the 1800s

Medicine Show—Appalachian Folk & Mountain

Classical Gas—Overview of Classical Music

 Waves—Hawaiian & Polynesian

Each album includes these 11 tracks

A deeper look into each track

Genres
An in-depth look at the genre/era/style featured that month, including its history, artists, and music.
Backstage
A featured interview with a leading artist or composer associated with the album’s genre.
Tools of the Trade
An in-depth look at the particular musical instruments associated with the genre, including their history and how they are made, as well as interviews with a manufacturer or artisan maker.
That's What It's All About
Our original animated series, That’s What It’s All About, explains foundational music theory concepts in a fun, engaging way. Each animated lesson is taught by Major Keys with the help of his two assistants, Cadets Hokey and Pokey.
Family Circle
Family Circle puts the spotlight on a musical family.
Tune In
The Tune In track features a song arranged specifically for children and families to learn to play. The song is representative of the genre/era that is featured in the Album, and includes clear and in-depth individual video instruction for keyboard, lead guitar, rhythm guitar, bass guitar, Loog guitar, ukulele, percussion, and occasionally an instrument that might be specific to the genre. Lesson resources include charts, tabs, and playalong tracks arranged specifically for each instrument.
Soul Food Café
Our original take on a classic hymn or gospel song, plus accompanying devotional.
Music Workshop
The Music Workshop features a project, experiment, or activity the family can do together to create something musical.
Conversations
An inspirational video or audio podcast offering encouragement and insight to parents on creative approaches to teaching and fostering music in the home.
Grooves
Encouragement for families to help children discover their favorite music by starting a digital or vinyl music collection of their very own. Curated monthly album recommendations based on the current genre and tips for searching out and acquiring vinyl records.
Liner Notes
In Liner Notes we curate recommended listening, playlists, places to visit, museums, upcoming festivals or concerts for families to enjoy together.
Purchase

Newsfeed

Meet Heidi and Trenton

Meet Heidi and Trenton

May 1, 2018

Meet the Brulport family, Band Ambassadors from Columbus, Ohio. Heidi and Trenton are raising their two children to appreciate and play music, and it looks like they’re having a good time.

read more
Go to the News Page

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Band Together music lessons?
No, it’s much more. However, each album contains a detailed lesson for our featured song. The featured song is a song that we (1) have chosen specifically to be representative of the music genre we are featuring, and (2) have arranged with Band Together families in mind. Detailed charts and video instruction are provided for guitar, bass guitar, Loog guitar, ukulele, keyboard, and drums/percussion.
Does Band Together take the place of formal music lessons?
No. Here is our philosophy on learning to play music: We believe every child needs the music education, encouragement, and exhortation provided by Band Together and that not every child needs to be in formal music lessons. We believe it will be obvious to you if your child is a candidate for formal music lessons. You will see the innate talent and the desire.
Is Band Together only for families?
Although an individual may find the content of Band Together informative and inspiring, it is geared for use by a family unit.
Why should my family Band Together?
For fun? For something to rally around? To revive the oft-forgotten pastime of gathering, playing, and singing? To cultivate a love of music? For discovery? To unplug? To change a routine? There are almost as many reasons as there are styles of good music.
Will Band Together turn my family into a band?
Well, we can’t see the future but we can promise that by listening, learning, and playing as a family, you can’t help but band together.
Is Band Together only for homeschooling families?
No. It can be a great resource for any family that wants to nurture a musical environment in the home.
Who is Band Together for?
All families that are looking to connect through music.
How much time a week should we allot for Band Together?
It’s entirely up to you. Band Together can become a piece of your daily homeschool routine, an extracurricular activity, something to do as a family after dinner, or just a weekend thing. We want Band Together to be educational, sure, but more important is that it is fun, inspiring, and draws your family towards music.
Can I gift an album?
Sure thing…
Can Band Together be accessed on a mobile device?

We are always working to optimize our website, bandtogether.rocks, for use on any device. That being said, a computer will give the most comprehensive experience and is currently the only way to view every last detail of our content. We love our mobile devices and there are aspects of the site where they’re a great option, like using your tablet to display sheet music or tablature while you’re playing through a song in the Tune In track. There are other aspects of the Band Together experience where only a computer will do, like interacting with our lessons using the free apps we recommend, such as MuseScore, Audacity, Studio One Prime, and GarageBand—all of which are optimized for a computer. You’ll also find certain areas of the site that will look different on various devices. Should you ever come across something on the site that doesn’t seem to be behaving, drop us a line and we’ll get it sorted out.

You used to offer subscriptions, what's up with that?
Plain and simple, we couldn’t keep up with the rigors of building a new album each month. At our core, the Band Together team is a family. There are three of us, with help from a few very talented folks.
What age children can benefit from Band Together?
All ages, but it’s most likely that children from about 4 to 104 will get the most out of the experience.
Does Captain Steve offer private lessons?

If the circumstances are right, he’s glad to do either in person or virtual lessons. Drop us a line if you’d like to start that conversation.

Our family made a really cool video of us playing music together, would you like to see it?

You bet! Tag us on instagram or Facebook.

Why is Band Together a benefit corporation?
Spread the love…
Can I download content from the site?

Here and there you’ll come across resources that have been laid out for convenient downloading like sheet music or MP3 files, but, for the most part, we have created the website to be self-contained. You’ll always have access to each and every album that you’ve purchased.

Is Band Together a faith-based organization?

No, Band Together is a family-friendly organization. We do have a track that features a Christian devotional and hymn, although if that’s not your cup of tea, it’s not necessary to utilize this track to have a great experience.

Is all the music in Band Together appropriate for children?
Yes. We only include music on our site that is 100% family safe. Keep in mind, however, that in the music world, as in life, it is easy to start down a rabbit hole that leads to parts unknown. Use your best judgment when you’re exploring the world of music.

We’re a Benefit Corp.

Band Together is a benefit corporation, meaning that we donate a portion of all proceeds to foundations and nonprofits like these that encourage and support music education for children and families.

Ukulele Kids Club
Ryan's Guitars Project
Education through Music
Notes for Notes
VH1 Save the Music Foundation
The Les Paul Foundation

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