Hi Lawrence, how’s it going?
Things are going great at Aureus Academy! We have a particularly exciting next few months with three centres opening back to back, the launch of our e-learning platform KOKO, and the company-wide rollout of our Aureus Adventure programme.

These projects have kept us very busy and we’re excited for a really happening 2022.

So, for people I’m interviewing for the first time, I love asking them to pitch their brand or business in 10 words or less so if you could entertain me.
Aureus provides a truly vibrant and immersive music learning experience.

Would you say Aureus Academy perhaps, produces a certain kind of musician?
At Aureus Academy, we strive to not just educate our students with technical musical skills, but also cultivate a love for learning which will hopefully last a lifetime. Through this, our students also develop an understanding of discipline, commitment, and drive.

Above all, we aim to produce students that have a deep love and passion for music. We don’t aim to produce any certain type of musician and we believe that all types of learners will benefit from learning music, especially through our vibrant and immersive learning programme at Aureus.

Let’s talk about the Aureus Academy methodology then. What is it exactly and what makes it a leading school for musicians?
Firstly, we hire teachers who have been educated at some of the top conservatories and universities in the world. We pride ourselves on having the most number of teachers with tertiary qualifications than any other music school in Singapore.

Our teachers are highly qualified, passionate, and dedicated and we have over 300+ Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees in our teaching faculty, making us one of the most qualified schools in Singapore. This ensures that students of any age and skill level get truly expert instruction from the best in the industry and develop a strong musical foundation.

Another important factor about our hiring and teacher selection process at Aureus is that our instructors must also possess the passion, energy, and enthusiasm to provide high-quality and engaging teaching for learners of any age and ability. In addition to this, our teachers undergo comprehensive and regular training to ensure that they’re equipped to make their lessons enjoyable and engaging for their students.

Another key advantage is that our teachers are full-time, which means that they are fully dedicated to crafting music learning experiences that are truly special for each and every one of their students.

Last but not least, we specialise in one-to-one lessons as we believe that every learner is unique. These individual lessons allow our teachers to tailor the learning according to each student’s unique needs and interests and give them full and undivided attention.

This then naturally leads to a more engaging and fulfilling musical learning journey. We’re so confident in the quality of our teachers and the experience at Aureus that we offer all customers a free trial to find the right teacher for their child.

The conservatory system of music is particularly grueling, so how far exactly are students pushed at Aureus Academy considering that you graduated from one.
My belief is that becoming a successful learner stems from having a love of learning at a very young age. In my own experience, I was never pushed into anything and my teachers primarily focused on cultivating a love of learning which resulted in me practicing much more than being forced. At Aureus, we don’t push our students at all.

Instead, we focus on creating an immersive experience that sparks that love of learning that hopefully lasts a lifetime.

I had this debate the other day where there was a discussion if musicians needed to be trained from young. Would you say there is some kind of an age cap to becoming a professional musician?
It’s definitely not necessary to start music at a very young age in order to pursue it professionally, although there are some advantages. While many children begin learning a new instrument at the tender age of four, I myself only started at 11!

We even have students who decided to pick up learning the drums who are senior citizens. I think what truly matters here isn’t age, but it ultimately boils down to diligence and resilience.

That’s why at Aureus Academy, we welcome students of all ages and abilities because we believe that anyone can pick up music at any stage of their lives and still really enjoy it.

Why exactly do you think The Aureus Group has managed to expand that big? Not to be a downer, but most parents see classical music as some kind of “gold ticket” to a successful adult life.
I believe that the most crucial differentiating factor is the fact that our entire learning experience is designed around what we believe children want. Everything ranging from facilities, teacher training programmes, and new products are designed to make the whole experience truly immersive and exciting for our students.

At Aureus, we’re always thinking about how to really make musical learning an activity that children genuinely enjoy and look forward to attending regularly versus just another one of the enrichment lessons that their parents force them to do, thereby creating a win-win situation for both parents and students.

Specific examples of how we make the learning experience truly special include: having the largest studios in the industry featuring grand pianos in studios and lots of space for parents to sit in and observe their child’s music lessons, which we always welcome and encourage; and a one-year customised learning journey called the Aureus Adventure that integrates performing, recording, and creating their own music in a vibrant, animated, and interactive world that we’ve created.

The Aureus Adventure contains both elements of collectable prizes, fun musical activities and quests, and colourful and adorable animal characters that really make musical learning at Aureus a fun-filled and motivating journey.

In addition to what we’ve done, I’m excited to share that we’re just getting started – in fact, one of the most exciting happenings this year is the launch of our new e-learning platform KOKO which is launching this June. The KOKO platform is designed to complement our lessons, foster even more curiosity and excitement about learning music, and make music learning more accessible to a global audience.

What does it take to become a music teacher at Aureus Academy? I can’t help but feel like there needs to be a very high level of emotional quotient to be able to do it. After all, they’re mostly dealing with kids, right?
Yes, most of our student profiles are children, but we also have teenagers, adults, and even elderly learners!

While having the paper qualifications is a basic requirement, there is an even more important quality related to the ability to communicate and connect with students that we look for in an Aureus teacher. Teaching is naturally a challenging thing to do and requires quite a bit of stamina and patience, in addition to creativity and flexibility.

It sounds like we’re asking for a lot, but that’s why Aureus has one of the most exclusive acceptance rates for teaching applicants in the industry.

What is next for The Aureus Group then? Perhaps, a milestone to hit and a small goal, if you’d please.
My brother Julius and I are really excited about growing Aureus locally in Singapore. We are seeing that the interest in learning music is growing across people of all ages, as they see the benefits that music learning brings, and we foresee this demand would lead to doubling or even tripling our number of music centres over the next five years.

One of our main focuses is also to create a hybrid environment of lessons in-person, online, and on an e-learning platform. We see that the future format of music education while being enhanced with more technology, must definitely be ‘human-centric’ at its core. In fact, this is the main difference between KOKO and other e-learning music platforms. We find that other platforms rely on gamification through AI, which removes the human element of teaching in their programmes and videos.

KOKO, on the other hand, aims to provide the human element of instruction through engaging on-screen music teachers – one of whom is me, teaching the piano course — which allows students to see real demonstrations on the instrument and adopt proper posture and technique.

This is then complemented with bite-sized lessons and exercises with attractive and colourful motion graphics, which enables students to visualise complex musical concepts easily, thus ultimately cultivating them into independent learners, so they don’t have to rely on an app or technology to learn a musical piece on their own!

At the same time, as in our in-person lessons, KOKO provides variety to learners who have different musical tastes and interests by letting them learn pieces from their favourite music, ranging from pop to classical to Disney. Our music library and exercises also include high quality compositions, arrangements, and tracks conceptualised by our own KOKO team, who are all qualified and incredibly talented musicians and music teachers.

Lastly out of curiosity, do you know the #1 song on your Spotify last year?
My #1 track is the orchestral version of the Barcarolle (Belle nuit, o nuit d’amour) from “Les Contes D’Hoffmann”, which is an opera by Jacques Offenbach. This piece always puts me in a great mood for a glass of champagne!

Once you’re done with this story about the Aureus Academy, click here to catch up with our June/July 2022 issue!