Music concert this Sunday - local Prime Academy
Anita Prime always had a love for music growing up and started Prime Music Academy (PMA) prior to pursuing her own music career. It originally started in Upper Hutt, Wellington in 2006 and was known back then as Vocal Expressions. Anita had many lessons over the years and felt like she never received tuition that covered the things she wanted to know... even with over nearly a dozen tutors. They often didn't know how to teach the "how." Anita was inspired to write her own teaching modules. Running a small music tutoring business was also a good option for a solo mum with a 6-month-old baby and another 2 children under 5 years old. She could work from home in between caring for her children.
PMA grew over the years with people wanting to learn more than vocals and currently today, with other tutor involvement, the Academy teaches Drums, Bass, Guitar, Piano, Ukulele, Recorder, Theory, Song Writing, Harmonies and Recording. PMA teach quality, private lessons one on one with techniques Anita has developed over the years that get results. The Academy caters for any age and currently they have a range from as young as 3 to 83 years old. Anita prides herself in being able to cater for anyone at any age. In 2016 Anita moved to Whitianga, but still keeps her academy in Wellington running strong.
Now with two studios in Whitianga, PMA, which has hardly been advertised, is at full capacity with only a few spaces available. Helen Gower (who tutors Drums, Guitar and Bass with the Academy in Whitianga), with Anita, will be hosting the annual Christmas Concert to showcase their students and give them an opportunity to perform on a proper stage with all the trimmings expected with a music concert. This is followed by a special finale performance by Anita and Helen as a treat for their audience. There is an awards/trophies time where clients who have achieved well throughout the year, receive an award for various categories. Following the show there will be light afternoon refreshments.
This is the is the first year PMA is putting this event out to the community for anyone who would like to come. The Concert is this coming Sunday 11 December, 2022 at 1pm in the Town Hall. Entry by Koha
Global vocation: Along with tutoring in Whitianga, Anita also tutors online lessons and visits the Wellington studio every few months. She continues to do session work around the world with her former producer Ron Thaler (Grammy Award winner alongside Alicia Keys etc). Prior to Covid, Anita provided online lessons with an artist in Colombia and wrote an album with her, being flown over to South America to work with her in the studio while she recorded the album. Last month Anita worked with an Australian artist on a single, at Neil Finn’s studio in Auckland, pretty much writing the song and completing the demo in a day.
Anita released her own album in 2011 in the USA and got two nominations for the LA music Awards as well as winning Best Music Video for her song "La La La" She also got on the USA Billboard Dance Charts for her song, Complicated, which and remained on the charts for 11 weeks.
Anita is still writing her own songs, but feels to focus on the youth of our community and giving back rather than a full-on music career likened to what she has had in the past.
Along with the academy, Anita run's an after-school community children's group called Na Ihowa Ahau during the school terms. This is a Biblical Life-Skills based programme where the kids are fed, educated and then have crazy fun game time. One is run from the Town Hall on Monk Street every Friday at 3-5pm and the other in Coromandel at the Anglican Church, every Tuesday 3-5pm. All school aged kids welcome.