Joe Snelgrove and the Story Behind UpBeat School of Music near Fremantle

Inspired by a teacher who changed his own life, Joe Snelgrove is building a music school where more students can experience that same encouragement.

By Build a Music School

Joe Snelgrove knows how much difference one music teacher can make. His own teacher helped shape the direction of his life, and the idea behind UpBeat School of Music grew from wanting to offer that same encouragement to other people.

Based in O’Connor, Western Australia, UpBeat School of Music offers drum and piano lessons for students in the Fremantle area. Joe combines his role as founder with teaching, helping develop the team and organising opportunities for students to perform.

In his interview, Joe described how UpBeat had grown from around 20 students to more than 100, alongside an expanding team. That growth has involved learning how to run a business as well as how to teach music, with some significant changes in his thinking along the way.

A music teacher who made a lasting difference

“I started my music school because I had a music teacher who really impacted my life,” Joe says. “And I wanted to pass that forward to all the students that we’re now teaching.”

On UpBeat’s website, Joe also credits Rick Eastman as a mentor and encourager who inspired him to study at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts. Joe went on to earn a Bachelor of Music and gain experience teaching and performing in Australia and the UK.

Those experiences gave him a foundation for starting a school of his own. The personal connection with his teacher also gave him a clear idea of the experience he wanted students to have: learning with someone who takes an interest in them and helps them see what they can do.

Starting with a website and around 20 students

One of Joe’s earliest steps was to build a website. He did not expect a great deal from it at first, but getting the school online became a memorable part of getting started.

“The first step I took was just making a website,” he says.

Joe used support from BAMSQUAD, the Build a Music School community, to put the site together. Looking back, he identifies that help as one of the most useful things he received in the early stages.

As the school developed, the work expanded beyond Joe’s own lessons. He began building a team, training teachers and thinking more carefully about how the school could accommodate growth. By the time of his interview, he reported that enrolment had passed 100 students.

The experience brought a question into sharper focus: how could he organise the school so that more students could learn, while giving proper attention to the quality of their lessons?

Rethinking what group music lessons can offer

One of the biggest changes Joe describes was in his attitude towards group teaching.

He had initially thought mainly in terms of one-to-one lessons. Moving towards a group model meant reconsidering his assumptions about the value of group lessons.

For Joe, the shift was recognising that students can receive valuable help in a group setting. He came to see group lessons as a different way to teach, with their own possibilities, and says that understanding changed his mindset.

UpBeat now offers both group and private lesson options. Its description of group piano lessons highlights the chance for children to listen to one another, share their progress and make music together. Families can discuss the available formats with the school when enquiring.

Teaching students and supporting the people who teach them

Running UpBeat means dividing time between several kinds of work. In the routine Joe describes, the daytime is spent working on the business, while afternoons involve teaching students and training teachers.

He also helps organise events such as end-of-year concerts. Those occasions give students an opportunity to bring their music out of the lesson room and share what they have been working on.

Teacher development matters to Joe because the school’s growth depends on other people delivering a good experience too. His advice to fellow owners is to recognise that they cannot do everything themselves and to find the right people to support them.

UpBeat’s team also includes co-founder Lisa van Empelen, whose work includes managing bookings and helping families with their questions. That support gives parents a point of contact as they arrange lessons and get ready to begin.

Joe values his time as a solo teacher and the people he helped during that time. Building a school has given him a different role, with responsibility for supporting the team as well as the students he teaches directly.

Learning to build a music school with support

Joe is open about still having things to learn. When asked about the challenges of running UpBeat, he points to mindset and getting the business model right, and describes both as work in progress.

An early move into commercial premises also taught him a practical lesson about getting a building properly inspected before opening. It is an experience he says he would handle differently now.

For Joe, access to people who have faced similar decisions has made a difference. He credits BAMSQUAD with giving him direction and helping him learn from the mistakes other music school owners have already made.

He still expects to make mistakes himself. His view is that advice from a community or mentor can help an owner avoid some of the bigger ones and make more informed decisions as the business develops.

“Really get the model right before you start doing lessons,” he advises. “If you can get the model right from the start, then you can grow it.”

That advice reflects the decisions he has been working through at UpBeat: how to structure lessons, how to build a capable team and how to create a business that can keep serving its students as it grows.

Drum and piano lessons near Fremantle

For families getting to know the school, Joe’s story provides some context for its approach to beginners. UpBeat describes lessons built around manageable steps, with time for students to try things and encouragement as they learn.

UpBeat’s drum lessons introduce children to the kit, holding drumsticks and playing a simple rhythm. The school offers a free trial so families can meet a teacher and see how the lessons feel.

Its piano lessons for children begin with exploring the keys, finding notes and trying a simple tune. Children do not need to read music or have a song prepared before attending. The advertised piano trials are suitable for children aged five and above.

Lessons take place at Pen Cap Chew Studios, 7/2 Pritchard Street, O’Connor, WA 6163, near Fremantle.

The school has grown considerably from the roughly 20 students Joe started with, and his responsibilities have grown with it. His reason for teaching remains easy to recognise in the way he tells the story: a teacher once made a lasting difference to him, and he wants to give other students that opportunity.

To ask about lesson options, availability or a free trial, contact UpBeat School of Music.