Established 2016 · Pune, India
Teaching music in Pune since 2016, in the belief that music is worth learning properly, and that almost anyone can.
01 · Our story
Shirley Manuel founded SSAMS in 2016, after thirteen years at her father’s school, Rebecca Music Academy, latterly as its Associate Director. Her father, the guitarist Samson Manuel, had her singing at four and at the piano by five.
That inheritance shapes the school: music is taught as a discipline with a tradition behind it, not as an extra-curricular activity.
02 · How we teach
Technique is never skipped. Alongside it we teach aural perception, sight-reading, singing, rhythm, composition and improvisation, and we would rather a student worked a problem out than was told the answer. It is slower in the moment, and much faster over the years.
No two students learn the same way, so we adapt to each one. Classes move at the pace the student learns best, are taught in the way that suits them, and are customised around them as they progress.
03 · The people
The faculty
Full faculty page →Piano, Guitar & Keyboard
Sharon Manuel is a musician and educator at SSAMS, specialising in piano, classical guitar, plectrum guitar, electronic keyboard and theory of music. She was introduced to music at five by her father and her older sister, and it has shaped her creative life since.
Business Development · Behind the lessons
Johann Skaria leads business development at SSAMS Music, shaping how the school grows and reaches new students and families. A serial entrepreneur, he brings experience of building businesses and helping them scale up and expand.
04 · Achievements
Pune Mirror · 7 September 2014 · by Divya Parikh
A full-page feature on Shirley’s Con Brio win at the NCPA in Mumbai. It also told the story that has followed her since: her family could not afford both lessons and an instrument, so her mother drew piano keys on the coffee table for her to practise on.
2014
First place at India’s piano festival-competition, at the NCPA in Mumbai.
2014
One of six chosen from across India for the mentorship programme.
Award
For Grade 5 Electronic Keyboard, city-wide.
Album
Christian hymns on the grand piano.
Con Brio is India’s leading piano festival-competition, hosted by Furtados. We prepare students for it, and we go.These photographs document the festival, not SSAMS events.
05 · Reviews
★★★★★
“I am so grateful to have found Shirley Manuel as a piano teacher for my child. Shirley is knowledgeable, patient, and encouraging.”
“She adapts her teaching to each of her students’ levels and likings, thus making things easy to understand without making it feel overwhelming.”
“I had my apprehensions of learning the instrument at 60 years of age, but the ease with which Shirley Ma’am teaches makes it easy to understand the lessons and concepts quickly.”
Trial lessons by appointment
Trial lessons are by appointment, with no obligation. Tell us who is learning and what they want from it, and we will tell you honestly whether we are the right school.