About
A music school built inside a recording studio, run by brother and sister David and Jane Stanley.
Our Story
Stairway Music Academy grew out of a simple observation: traditional music education and the experience of actually making music are two different worlds. Students spend years learning technique in practice rooms, but rarely get to feel what it is like to play in a professional space with other musicians where the stakes feel higher than a bedroom rehearsal.
David and Jane Stanley started Stairway to close that gap. Operating inside South Creek Recording Studio in Cromer on Sydney's Northern Beaches, Stairway teaches students of all ages in the same live room, on the same gear, and with the same care as the records being made next door. The thinking is simple: if students learn in a professional environment from the start, better habits and better ears follow.
The school runs private lessons and a band program where mixed players rehearse and record a song together over a ten-week term. It is a music school first — not a studio that happens to teach — but the studio is what makes it different.
Teacher & Producer
David has been teaching music for over fifteen years. He is also a producer and multi-instrumentalist whose production work has received ARIA awards and national airplay. His arrangements with Matt Fell and Fanny Lumsden won an ARIA award in 2020.
David has worked with artists such as Keith Urban, Powderfinger, Delta Goodrem and many others. He brings that experience directly into the teaching room.
David leads the teaching at Stairway across guitar, bass, piano and production, and oversees the band program recordings in the South Creek control room.
String Player & Arranger
Jane is a string player and arranger whose career spans orchestral performance, studio recording and contemporary collaboration.
She has performed and recorded with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, the Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra, Bruce Springsteen, Andrea Bocelli, Michael Bublé, John Farnham, OneRepublic, Kate Miller-Heidke, Harry Connick Jr and Sarah Blasko, among many others.
At Stairway, Jane teaches piano, keyboard and voice, and brings a classical precision and a deep understanding of ensemble playing to every lesson. She is particularly focused on helping students develop their ear and their sense of how individual parts fit together in a group.
Philosophy
Students learn proper technique, but they learn it by playing songs they actually care about. That is the fastest way to build good habits and the only way to keep people coming back every week.
Students learn in a collaborative environment from the start — even private lesson students are encouraged to join the band program as their skills develop. There is a clear progression path from beginner through to advanced, and every step of the way the professional studio environment reinforces the idea that what students are doing matters.
We adapt to individual learning styles and goals. A twelve-year-old picking up their first guitar needs something different from a forty-five-year-old returning to drums after twenty years away. Both are welcome, both are taken seriously, and both get to play in the best room on the Northern Beaches.
More teachers joining soon.
Ready?
Book a lesson and come in for a single session. There is no commitment and no term to sign up to — just come in and check it out.
Book a Lesson →