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The innovative Eliette’s Music Academy (EMA) is coming to east Auckland with it set to open its newest location at the Botany Town Centre.
Led by founder and managing director Eliette Roslin and director Nick Douch, the academy has received numerous accolades over the years.
They include most recently winning Young Businessperson of the Year at the Business North Harbour Awards last year, being a finalist for Medium Sized Business and Young Businessperson of the Year in 2023, and a Westpac Auckland Business Awards Finalist – Community Contribution, in 2020-2023.
Roslin says the academy’s new site opens at the Botany Town Centre, above ASB and beside Daikoku restaurant, on April 14, with an open day planned for April 12.
It covers a 350 square metre space and has eight purpose-built studio rooms.
“Why we’re different to other music academies is we have a playing-based approach to our music lessons,” she says.
“We use world-class programmes to support that from the United States and Singapore, and we’re focused on learning our skillset on all of our instruments, and a performance environment as well.”
The academy’s students can perform up to 30 times a year, which is unique, Roslin says.
“The biggest thing for us is we promote mental health and well-being.
“That’s why we’re so practical and hands-on with our learning. It’s about bringing people together and giving them the confidence to be able to just sit down and play.
“We promote the importance of music in our daily lives helping to support our mental health and well-being, and a holistic approach to music education that nurtures and inspires confidence and creativity that affects all areas of life.”
Roslin founded the academy in 2016 and began teaching piano, vocals and preschool music, and in just nine months she had 100 students.
It now has more than 40 teachers and 1000 students and is “incredibly passionate about spreading the joy and power of music with our communities”.
“In 2017, EMA started the Green Room Charitable Trust, which helps support youth and mental health,” she says.
“We run workshops during the week at Ronald McDonald House, Northern Health School, Wilson Home, and would love to be able to provide these opportunities and workshops to young people of east Auckland.”
Douch says there’s no limit to how many instruments the academy’s students can learn.
“For students aged two to five or six years old we do a preschool programme called ‘Music Rhapsody’, where they learn a wide range of instruments.
“From seven years and older they can do singing and guitar. A big thing for us is our group-based activities.
“It’s a great way for them to connect with other kids they might not know.
“It’s building confidence across the board. We’ve had parents say their child doing performances with us helped them with their speech at school, or our students are going on to be prefects and it’s helped them with their public speaking.
“We have students who now MC some of our events.”
For more information, go online to www.eliettesmusicacademy.com.
