At JamHub, we love disruptive entrepreneurs, and Jack Pisters and Ed Cremmers are making some serious waves in Denmark with their dynamic, blended approach to music education and retail sales.
Jack Pisters runs the Dutch School Of Popular music with his wife, Jamie Van Hek, teaching students of all ages, from pre-schoolers to professionals. Their unique approach to education keeps the focus on the goal. Students always have something greater to achieve, whether it’s learning the next song or earning a Bachelor’s of Music through their accredited collegiate program, which has produced some of the best and brightest adult musicians and educators in the region.
By focusing on popular music creation and production in his programs, Jack found a niche among hungry young musicians who were eager to learn and collaborate. He was constantly exposed to the latest sounds and the latest technology, and he wanted to find a way to take it to the streets. That’s when Jack found JamHub studios, and dreamed up the HubTower.
Jack has partnered with Ed Cremers to form Bright Ahead, an equipment importer and retailer, serving the needs of greater Denmark as well as the Dutch School Of Popular Music. Together, they build HubTowers.
HubTowers are a rolling enclosure of musical wonder. Each tower conceals a keyboard, a sample controller, an iPad, and a guitar, all connected together by a JamHub GreenRoom. But the really special thing about HubTowers isn’t their great gear, it’s their wheels. HubTowers can be loaded and unloaded by a single person, making them easy to bring just about anywhere.
“If you don’t do anything different, nothing happens. You can have the technology, but if you don’t do anything different nothing will change. The nice thing about the JamHub and the HubTower is that it’s a catalyst for social creativity,” Ed Cremers told us.
Bright Ahead builds the HubTowers and makes them available for rent to schools and community centers all across Denmark. But you don’t just get the gear, you get the full experience.
“We’ve tried to create programs with teachers, equipment, and methodology for the teachers. Those are our products, and we’re expanding with online video material to help schools and, of course, with gear.” Jack’s big idea was to offer more than just equipment. Bright Ahead works with educators from the Dutch School Of Popular Music to provide everything you need to put quality modern music education into any community space.
“The JamHub itself in the HubTower is great. It looks great, it sounds great, and it’s so easy to use. But at the end of the day, it’s a tool, and this is about people developing themselves and becoming more proficient at expressing themselves.”
By giving teachers the freedom to travel to any location with a complete slate of gear, a solid curriculum, and a proven methodology, Bright Ahead is breathing new life into old programs and infusing music into offices and festivals that might not be considered traditional learning spaces.
Jack and Ed effectively control every aspect of the experience, using reliable teachers they have trained themselves, importing quality gear that students will want in their own studios, and embracing an exciting and collaborative learning process by wheeling the jam around town.
And Bright Ahead is much more than just a builder of boxes. Under the Bright Ahead umbrella, Ed and Jack are building a healthy ecosystem of education and retail opportunities with multiple highly focused brand identities.
HubTower builds portable jam stations, AMACK provides a streamlined educational methodology, BizzBeats offers corporate team development, and their latest effort, MusicMatrix, is an online retail portal for the aspiring musician in search for personal tone and expression.
“Through these brands we aim to develop the relationships in the educational, corporate and musicians/consumer world.” Ed said of their multiple properties.
It’s a simple formula, really. By diversifying their entrepreneurial efforts, supporting one business with the other, Jack Pisters and Ed Cremers are helping to change music for the better in Denmark. And for that effort, we doff our headphones in salute.