Jack brings creative dream to life
Music teacher and student opens studio
A YOUNG Toowoomba man is living his dream, and making the same happen for others just like him.
At just 20-years-old, Jack Hickey has opened his own business that he hopes will fill the gaps in the local arts community.
JMH Studios is a teaching space as well as a recording studio for local musicians, giving artists the ability to learn from teachers and performers as well as creating professional level recordings.
“I have been teaching for three years in Toowoomba and recently I moved into audio production in my home,” Mr Hickey said.
“I was getting a lot of work out of my home, mostly from a youth market and from bands around Toowoomba and people wanting to learn but didn’t have access to equipment.”
Mr Hickey said it seemed like there was a big hole he could fill, with only two recording studios in Toowoomba, but both at a professional grade, which meant expensive.
“So this is really to give people an opportunity to come in, learn from other local artists - outside of a professional education environment,” he said.
“So a lot of the people teaching here are performers from the Empire Theatre, uni students, just people with some real skill to offer.”
Mr Hickey said the recording side started as a hobby, which he was now able to pursue.
“It is really just for the fun of producing other people’s music and helping them bring their concepts to life,” he said.
As well as being the director of his own business, Mr Hickey works as a music teacher at St Mary’s College and Mary MacKillop Catholic College as well as studying a Bachelor of Education part-time at university.
“I was always interested in music and when I was at St Mary’s (as a student) my music teacher lined me up for a job there teaching music the following year,” he said.
“It was never exactly what I wanted to be doing. I really love my job, but I want to be more producing music for people, helping people out and working outside that mainstream education system to focus on people who purely want to learn music.”
So, Mr Hickey decided to open his own studio after having a “tantrum” about the difficulties of the industry he had chosen.
“I thought this would be really nice but thought it would be impossible,” he said.
“Literally overnight looking on commercial real estate listings, just out of despair, I saw this building.
“It was a bit too expensive, so I contacted the owner and asked if he would be interested in working out a lease which included me renovating it on his behalf, which brought it into an affordable area for me.
“So before this I never thought it would be a possibility, it was something I have always wanted but I thought it would be more at 30 years old, not 20.”
Mr Hickey now hopes to build up a large student base and also get his performers out into the community. Students can also learn a range of instruments and participate in workshops including vocal, recording, performance and music theatre. He is also taking enrolments for the school holidays.
As for the recording side, he hopes to connect people with musicians and writers to help them finish their products and get it on paper and recorded.