BY STEPHANIE ESLAKE
At the start of the pandemic, Ambre Hammond had four students in her own music school. Now, the Sydney piano teacher has 42.
She credits the rapid growth of her business to a variety of “unorthodox” teaching approaches. Her main strategy is to give the students a dose of “serious fun”, which means teaching them music at the piano as well as getting them away from the keys, and outside into nature.
She accelerates her music students’ development from playing basic scales to classical compositions. She learns a new language to better communicate with her students and their families, and nurtures their creativity by encouraging them to play compositions of their own.
But it does come at a cost — minimal time off, and a workload that’s bordering on too much.
In the past, we’ve had a chat with this energised music educator and award-winning classical pianist to learn why she encourages her students to take on second instruments, and why she travelled with her own piano truck to bring music to communities facing barriers. Now, as Ambre continues to develop her music education business — and prepares to launch her new Elite Piano School in Circular Quay — we sit down to hear about her unique approaches to teaching.
Ambre, it’s great to catch up about your music school after we learnt all about your student orchestra last year. How have things been going since then?
Life has been a nonstop whirlwind time of student after student filing through my doors, but there’s a certain magic due to witnessing their weekly excitement and wanting to show me the latest technique or phrase or challenge they’ve figured out or learnt or conquered.
One would think that a seven-day rotation of teaching would bring excessive weariness, and a 12-hour day definitely does take its toll sometimes. But I find it remarkable how energised I feel when the contagious effect of an excited child who is so enamoured with music is felt.
Your studio has undergone extraordinary growth — just four students before Covid to 42 students now. What has been your secret when it comes to growing your student base, especially during what was perhaps the hardest time for Australia’s music industry?
I have been immensely lucky in that word of mouth travelled fast when I needed it most.
I was living in Hurstville at the start of the pandemic, and I had a number of Chinese students who had wonderful parents who spread the word for me on WeChat. I think it was a combination of word of mouth but also the enthusiasm of a lot of parents who saw the excitement of their children really enjoying lessons and starting to tackle practice with a different energy!
Thanks to this period of time, I commenced my study of the Chinese language and am utterly obsessed with my twice weekly lessons in Mandarin.
How have you shifted your music school to accommodate this rapid growth?
The only answer to this can be that I have no time for myself anymore as I teach every day from the first moment the kids leave school until evening, and all day weekends. But I’m far from complaining. I love it! And I have now got a collection of students — who I prefer to call my family — who are all dedicated and all committed students, who have been or are accelerating with their studies to a phenomenal level.
Sitting for three exams a year is now commonplace amongst my students when once it was a goal to achieve an exam a year!
My main social outing is the monthly student concert I hold whereby I have everyone come to me, and we share in an afternoon of musical joy followed by a feast — the famous Boston cream-filled doughnuts that a local cafe provides, as well as the compulsory game of tips to which I’m always roped into.
So how have you navigated such an enormous change in workload as a music educator and small business owner?
I don’t think my workload is healthy as there is no off switch, but that is a choice and it certainly gets the results with the kids. And so the thrill of that, and the constant joy that surrounds me with so many kids who are so eager, perpetuates the enthusiasm to continue with the excessive workload.
I have a concept of having a day off every week, but it never quite happens. So I do admit I am this year looking forward to a point where I can turn the technology off for a week or two and immerse in a good book!
Beyond being constantly on the go, what do you think are some of the drawcards or points of difference that might be inspiring so many students to join your school?
I think the reasons for the keenness of students to join my roster are twofold:
1. The speed at which my students progress and go from being absolute beginners in learning basic scales, to playing complete and highly technical and mature classical compositions;
2. The sheer delight the kids have in immersing themselves in their music studies. It has become apparent that music lessons can be fun! Hence my music school slogan — ‘serious fun!’.
The fact that I have had many, many students progress from Grade 3 to Grade 8 band — even beyond in just a matter of a couple of years — shows that something is definitely working!
More important than this, though, is I am blown away and full of pride when I see most of my students who have truly learnt to love the art of learning. Nothing is more valuable in a lesson than a child leaving to go home and want to learn. Their progress will be immeasurable and fast tracked beyond belief!
I was interested to learn that you like to involve your students in physical activities and fitness. How do you feel these experiences help them learn, or apply to their music practice? And how do you keep activities accessible and based on individual student needs?
Generally, music lessons involve a lengthy period of time where the child is sitting at the piano having to listen to and process a lot of information. This can be tedious for anyone, nevertheless an active and energetic child. So, over the course of my years as a teacher, I discovered the value of encouraging physicality activity during the lessons to keep things fresh, exciting, and interesting.
Initially, I began by suddenly requesting the student walk out my front door and in the side door as quickly as they could. This resulted in mild confusion but a few giggles, and a renewed energy on their part. So when I would request they be seated and try the difficult passage again, it was with a smile and enthusiasm that resulted in quicker progress.
These ‘energy boosting’ moments of mine have gone from requesting 10 push-ups if a passage wasn’t improving, to asking the student to run up the 30 side stairs of my house and back, to putting on boxing gloves and boxing the bag to the rhythm of Flight of the Bumblebee! This guarantees a lot of excitement and laughter and the necessary energy to push on with lessons in a happy and positive way.
I haven’t had a student yet who hasn’t left their lesson beaming away with joy after a slightly unorthodox lesson involving piano playing and some kind of fitness!
How do you think getting out of the practice room, and thinking about fitness more broadly, can help build musicianship?
As an extension of my interest in promoting fitness alongside music studies to my students, I have taken small groups of students to the famous South Coogee Stairs to run. They absolutely love this as the younger lads always have a natural healthy competitive streak! And it encourages camaraderie between the students, and a combined love of piano, music studies, fitness, and appreciating our beautiful nature.
In my studio, I keep my weights and resistance bands so even if we are inside and it’s a rainy day, I’ll often encourage the kids to have a good stretch with the bands in between playing. Keeping things interesting, active, inspiring, and fresh is a huge part of my approach to teaching.
An inherent love of nature and animals has been a huge part of my own background, having been homeschooled and growing up in country New South Wales — Moss Vale — where I was forever looking after injured animals, or feeding and naming and talking to the birds. I feed the birds at my current studio where I teach, and it has become of great interest to the kids what species of bird visits as well as giving the ones that visit frequently intricate long and humourous names.
I have a beautiful white cat Noopy who is the mascot of my music school, and often likes to get up and play the upright piano when I’m teaching on the grand piano, seeking attention from the student or student’s parents.
This provides endless entertainment to the kids who have grown to love both the cat and the birds I feed. An appreciation and deep respect for nature is something I try and share within my teaching philosophy.
What are some of the success stories we can see emerging from this approach to music education?
I think two of my most extraordinary success stories would be my [student] Jayden (pictured below), who started off as a beginner with me two years ago and is about to sit for his Grade 8 classical piano exam, and is playing Associate Diploma repertoire now!
Then there’s young Aloysius (pictured above with Ambre) who also came to me not knowing where middle C was two-and-a-half years ago, and is about to sit for his Grade 5 and 6 classical exam, but playing Grade 7 and 8 pieces. More enthralling is his sincere obsession with Rachmaninov, and has started learning the Rach 3 — yes, the original.
Last week, I had two separate students, Aiden and Alan, who after their lesson asked their mum if they could have more than one lesson a week. One of them said he wanted a seven-hour lesson!
This level of enthusiasm is what’s needed to ensure love of music is ingrained for life, and I’m excited to move on to the next chapter of encouraging the highest levels of music education and performance at the new [Elite Piano School] premises in our beautiful city of Sydney!
What does this unusual style of music teaching tell us about your philosophies as an educator? Is it about fast-tracking technical skills or achievements, playing music for fun, or a combination?
My philosophies as a music educator stem from my background as a young child who knew at the age of 11, when I had finished my diploma exams, that I was to spend my life as a pianist sharing incredibly beautiful music with people worldwide, however and wherever possible. Now, I want to impart that desire to my students, irrespective of the standard they reach and where their music pursuits take them.
Encouraging composition is so important to me too, as so many students don’t dream for a moment that they could create something of their own. This shows on a larger picture the potential for creativity beyond anything they could have imagined. As long as their intent is to seek perfection by applying serious focus to their studies, whilst really loving and enjoying the beauty of what their fingers and minds can create whilst seated at the extraordinary instrument the piano can be.
Fast-tracking achievement is a fun way of encouraging confidence in a child even beyond their music studies. But I think the combination of serious study, and having a lot of fun learning about and appreciating music and the art of playing the piano, is priceless.
Having built up your music school so quickly in recent years, what are your big dreams for it in the next few years?
I am excited at the prospect of taking my music school from its humble beginnings — which started when I took on my first student when I was 11! — to sharing the extraordinary talents of many of my kids to the world via the exciting and vital platform of social media, concert hall stages, pop-up street concerts, and a documentary I have made and am about to release. We’re just getting warmed up! I just wish there were more hours in the day!
Keep up to date with Ambre Hammond’s music school on her website.
Ambre is preparing for the September launch of her new Elite Piano School in Circular Quay, which aims to present high-level masterclasses designed to accelerate students’ learning in advanced performance skills and repertoire.
Images supplied with parental consent.
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