About Us

About Us

Supporting music learning in the classroom and at home

Music Ecademy is an online learning resource designed to support educators, parents and students in the teaching and learning of music theory. Our music theory and aural training courses are taught through a variety of interactive lessons, quizzes and activities. Our courses include gamification with levels, badges, games, quizzes, class and global leaderboards.

Music Ecademy is part of Ecademy Ltd. an E-Learning company based in New Zealand.

Our Mission

Our mission here at Music Ecademy is to make learning music theory fun for students so that they can get the most out of their education. We want to support music educators and spread our passion for music education.

Our Story

Music Ecademy was established by our Director Jaroslav Tane Novak, a pianist, composer and music teacher from Dunedin, New Zealand.

Jaroslav found it hard to engage his own students with music theory as they found it boring compared to practical music. Students would often come to class with their homework incomplete, not being able to find the time or motivation to do it. He often didn’t have time to teach theory and practical music within class time, and on top of this there was the problem of finding, organising, and marking all of the written material.

These problems have been echoed by many other teachers, so from that Music Ecademy was born! Music Ecademy offers a new way to engage students with music theory, making it more interactive and fun with badges, leaderboards and levels.

Initially started as a resource for private music teachers, we quickly saw the value for schools and expanded to introduce a school specific curriculum. Self marked, self-directed and with free teachers accounts to track progress and manage classrooms, Music Ecademy makes teachers lives easier, and students happier!

Music theory and aural training is often neglected, but it is so important in order to advance as musicians and it is necessary to pass exams. We also happen to think it is super interesting!

We are a company passionate about music education. We live music every day, and want to inspire more children (and adults!) to appreciate and practice music.

Our Founders

Jaroslav Tāne Novak

Co-founder, Director

Jaroslav Tāne Novak (MEntr, BMus, FDipSCSM) is a pianist, composer and music teacher from Dunedin, New Zealand.

Jaroslav started learning piano at age 13 and within three years had passed all of the grades in music theory and piano. He was then accepted to the University of Otago Music Performance Programme on a scholarship. During his time at Otago he won prizes in both piano and conducting.

Jaroslav continued his education with a Masters degree in Business specialising in Entrepreneurship. He developed a keen interest in innovative technology and its application and his master’s thesis was on the application of E-Learning and online software.

He holds a Fellowship Diploma in piano performance from the St. Cecilia School of Music and also studied orchestral conducting at the Prague Academy of Performing Arts.

Jaroslav has performed as a pianist in New Zealand, Australia and Europe, has had a recording broadcast on New Zealand National Radio, released a CD, and also represented Otago at the New Zealand Young Performers of The Year Competition.

For more information about Jaroslav visit his website at http://jaroslavnovak.co/

Questions for Jaroslav?

Please email jaroslav@musicecademy.com

Helen Jones

Co-founder, Director of Education

Helen is a teacher and clarinetist from the UK. She began to study music from a young age and quickly found a love for it.

After graduating from University she went on to become a teacher and has taught in multiple countries around the world.

While teaching in South Korea she began to use technology extensively in the classroom to great effect. This lead to her interest in the use of technology in education and how it can enhance student’s learning.

In order to explore this area more Helen then went on to study web design and development in order to delve further into the world of e-learning and online education.

Helen is now combining her passion for teaching with her love of music. She enjoys finding innovative ways to teach and make learning fun for students.

 

Questions for Helen?

Please email helen@musicecademy.com