February 26, 2017

Meet Lisa Mueller of Toddle Tunes® in West Los Angeles

Local Stories

Today we’d like to introduce you to Lisa Mueller.

Lisa, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
My partner, Matthew Mueller and myself started Toddle Tunes® in Feb of 2008 with a dream to share our love and passion of music to children of all ages. We were both experienced musicians from different backgrounds which seemed to complement each other well. Matthew has a degree from Oberlin Conservatory and is an accomplished jazz musician who plays over 15 instruments fluently. He’s been teaching for 20 years to kids and adults of all ages. My background is from working in the music industry for 20 years in Los Angeles. First as an artist and later as an agent and manager. Toddle Tunes® won “Best Kids’ Music Class” from LA Magazine our first year in business. We’ve also won awards each year from the city of Los Angeles Business Society for the best instruments and teachers in the city.

Has it been a smooth road?
I don’t think any business has a smooth road all of the time but one of our biggest struggles was implementing a vaccine policy. It was a bit controversial at the time (2015). Requiring vaccines was laborious and tedious at first but well worth it as those who could not be vaccinated for various reasons (medical complications or age), could attend also. The procedure to get them on file has smoothed out.

Presently (and since 2015), we have mostly positive responses from parents regarding our vaccine & strict illness policies. I get emails almost daily thanking us for both. Health and safety for the kids and parents are our first consideration and number one priority.

We’d love to hear more about your business.
Real instruments, live music and the hands-on interaction the kids get with the instruments is what sets us apart from other programs. Knowing how live music enhances a child’s motor functions, math skills, cognition & social skills, we dug into the science of the mind and implemented this into our classes.

The curriculum and instruments are different each week so as to expose children to every genre.

The joy, love, and laughter of every class – seeing first steps and blossoming personalities are the most rewarding thing for the teachers at Toddle Tunes®. My personal reward is mostly behind the scenes on the business side but just as special. Speaking to mothers and hearing stories of tremendous breakthroughs for all of the children including those on the spectrum or with other challenges make it more than a job or a business. It’s a movement we strongly believe in to try and bring kids back to basics in a time when music is largely ignored in public schools even as science cries out the importance of it in regular curriculum. We hope to fill that void and make a difference.

Is our city a good place to do what you do?
Los Angeles is one of the most challenging cities to start a business as it can be costly for rent and expenses but if you learn to play a little jazz (pun intended), the possibilities are endless so I do recommend and encourage others to live their dreams.

The people here are wonderful, warm and creative. Many of them entrepreneurs or artists themselves, your clients will likely be a very diverse and always encouraging. It is indeed the City of Angels.

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