About Us
We are a centre for excellence in Performing Arts Education. Based in Abergavenny, our team of professional teachers have dedicated studios, from which we provide one-to-one instrument and vocal lessons, dance classes and GCSEs and A-levels in Music and Dance.
We offer private one-to-one tuition in Guitar, Bass Guitar, Banjo, Ukulele, Piano, Keyboard, Drums, Percussion, Saxophone, Flute and Vocals. We also offer GCSE and A-level Music which is taught in one-to-one sessions.
The dance styles we teach are Ballet, Tap, Hip-Hop, Contemporary-Lyrical and Street-Jazz. We also teach GCSE Dance. All dance styles are taught in group sessions, but one-to-one sessions are available on request.
We currently have a team of tutors who share our music and dance studios. The music teaching studios are very modern and are equipped with the latest in music books, sound equipment and instruments. Our purpose built dance studio is furnished with barres, mirrors, and sound equipment with a separate dressing-room for our students to change with privacy, in comfort.
Our Team
Lisa-Marie Harris
ALCM CBDAF - Principal
Lisa-Marie joined the team at MPAA in 2001 as a woodwind teacher and was promoted to Vice Principal in 2009, then Principal in 2019.
By far our most multi-talented tutor at the academy, she now teaches woodwind, guitar, bass, GCSE & A-Level Music, ballet, tap and GCSE & A-Level Dance. We really don't know when she sleeps!
The brains behind our annual Summer Showcase, Lisa-Marie has often been a driving force in the expansion of the academy, heading up the creation of our dance department 11 years ago. She came on board with our musical theatre department "VIG Theatre Company" in 2001 and has since achieved the tremendous accolade of directing the group's "Best Production" NODA Award winning performance of Avenue Q.
Originally trained as a jazz saxophonist, Lisa-Marie expanded her training to dance as a young teen and worked closely with the Marion Pearce School of Dance in Newport as part of her teacher training. She is an Associate of the London College of Music and a Certified Coach for the British Dance Arts Federation.
Married to Dave, Lisa-Marie has most recently been working alongside a couple of local theatre companies as their choreographer - a passion she indulges whenever she can.
Her proudest achievements include performing at the renowned Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club alongside jazz legend John Critchinson at the tender age of 18, and achieving a record mark at her ALCM Jazz Saxophone examination where she was examined by no less than the chief examiner of the London College of Music!
Emma-Jayne Morris
ALCM – Vice Principal
Emma joined the Academy as a vocal coach in 2001 and is the founder of our musical theatre group "VIG Theatre Company" and the academy's choir "Voices". After 10-years as Principal, Emma stepped into the role of Vice Principal in 2019 so she could spend more time with her little family.
Having been a vocalist for decades, Emma has a wealth of experience both academically and in performance. With qualifications in rock & pop vocals, musical theatre and some opera training, she is also an Associate of the London College of Music. Having fronted a popular rock, pop & jazz band for 7 years, Emma was the "face of Brecon Jazz Festival" in 2004. She has also had the pleasure of performing with the Welsh Musical Theatre Orchestra.
Theatre is her first love and she enjoyed 9 years working as a drama teacher for the renowned Helen O'Grady Drama Academy (where her voice is now immortalised in 4 production albums) from 2005 until 2014. She also plays piano, soprano saxophone and flute (but has always been hopeless at anything with strings!).
Married to her chef husband Dan, Emma is mum to Jack Stan. In her very rare spare time, she is an active committee member of several theatre companies and boards and treads the boards with them when she can.
Emma's proudest achievement to date at the academy is the creation of our long awaited Dance Studio. The day we opened the doors to the public was a dream come true for the team at MPAA and she has high ambitions for the academy's future.
Pip Williams
Senior Guitar Tutor
Pictured here in a suit (a VERY rare occurrence for him!), Pip has been a guitar & bass teacher at the Academy since 2001. Pip grew up on a farm in Somerset but never quite took to the family business. As a teenager he was bought a guitar and thus began a lifelong relationship with music.
In his late teens, Pip left Somerset for London and became a session musician for several recording studios, both writing and performing for bands such as Spooky Tooth, Mott The Hoople & T-Rex. Some of the most famous pieces he performed on include T-Rex's "Ride A White Swan" and Mott The Hoople's "All The Young Dudes". Pip was never a huge fan of Marc Bolan, finding him very difficult to work with both in the studio and live gigs, but highly respected him as a musician.
In his early twenties, Pip met and married May. In his thirties he moved to Wales to be nearer her family and they opened a recording studio where they met and worked with bands such as the Manic Street Preachers (before they were famous!). They closed the studio when their children came along, and Pip returned to his career as a computer programmer & lecturer - something he had done alongside his music for many years. Working at several colleges over the course of his lecturing career, Pip was particularly proud of being instrumental in the creation of Coleg Gwent's Rock & Pop BTEC course.
Pip began teaching guitar as a side career 3 decades ago and has proudly seen students go on to the iconic Guitar Institute in London. He was also incredibly proud to come up with a technique of teaching a young disabled boy to play guitar using just bar chords back in the 90s and delighted the student's family by playing Jimi Hendrix's "Hey Joe" at full blast on electric guitar at his funeral when he sadly passed away.
In his spare time outside of the academy, Pip has a passion for fair social housing and was the chairman of the tenant's forum for Monmouthshire Housing Association for several years. He also worked closely with the Welsh Assembly Government on legislation ensuring tenant's rights in social housing and won awards for his work.
Still a talented writer and actor, Pip has composed several rock operas over the years, one of which was performed at the Myth & Magic convention in 1989 and also at the opening of Garden Festival Wales. He continues to write when inspiration takes him.
Andrew Hart
Business Admin Associate
Andrew is a local lad who has enjoyed a colourful list of roles with local theatre companies. He treads the boards several times a year with companies in both musical theatre & straight plays, and he played Cinderella’s Prince when VIG performed Into The Woods; a role which saw him take home a few awards!
As well as running the Academy office a few days a week, Andrew also works in advertising for local newspapers.