Hawke’s Bay’s specialist music lessons.
By tertiary qualified musicians.

Two men in suits holding guitars, standing against a plain white background.

Canopy Music School co-creators/owners, Luke Burns (Left) & Chris Beernink (Right)

What is Canopy Music School?

Welcome to Canopy Music School – your local hub for professional, high-quality music lessons in Te Matau-a-Māui (Hawke's Bay).

Every tutor at Canopy is an experienced gigging musician and qualified music educator, with teaching backgrounds spanning complete beginners through to advanced, tertiary, and professional musicians – including at Te Kōkī New Zealand School of Music and EIT Hawke's Bay. We hold our tutors to a high standard: all hold a degree in their instrument or a related discipline.

Our approach is grounded and deliberate. We slow down, focus on the fundamentals, and treat music as something bigger than learning a single piece – covering theory, improvisation, recording, and performance skills so students develop as well-rounded musicians. We also have a simple philosophy when it comes to knowledge: we share it openly, with the hope that you can also make music the way you’d like.

Enroll
Enroll

Meet The Canopy Team

Luke Burns is a professional guitarist with over 20 years of experience on the instrument, including 15 years of live performance and a decade of teaching both privately and at tertiary level. He is a jazz guitar graduate of Te Kōkī / New Zealand School of Music and currently lectures in music theory while guiding performance within the music programme at the Eastern Institute of Technology.

Luke has extensive live band experience across a wide range of genres, from extreme metal, funk, and R&B to contemporary jazz, and has also written original compositions, toured, and conducted live band workshops. He is the guitarist for the show band Hush Hush, performs and writes for the groove nu-metal band Crate, and plays jazz guitar for weddings and functions.

Luke’s teaching approach focuses on breaking down complex concepts into clear, manageable lessons, connecting theory with practical application at any level. He fosters a supportive and inspiring learning environment, helping students develop both technical skill and creative expression while encouraging them to explore their full musical potential.

Electric and Acoustic Guitar: Luke Burns

Chris Beernink is a double and electric bass player, guitarist, and audio engineer based in Te Matau-a-Māui (Hawke's Bay). A versatile performer and educator, he lectures in music technology at the Eastern Institute of Technology and plays across a wide range of genres, from jazz and contemporary folk to stage musicals and large-ensemble projects.

Chris leads the show band Hush Hush and coordinates the Assembly Concert Club in Hawke's Bay. In 2025 he released The Chimera Suite — an extreme-metal-meets-jazz-orchestra album showcasing his adventurous approach to composition and production.

His teaching encourages creativity and versatility; between 2021 and 2024 he taught bass and improvisation at the New Zealand School of Music, and many of his students have gone on to become active performers, engineers, and educators throughout Aotearoa and Australia.

Electric & Double Bass: Chris Beernink

Trumpet: James Lowe

James Lowe is a professional trumpet player and educator with over 22 years of performance experience. Originally from London, where he trained in music performance and worked extensively across the UK music scene, James has built a diverse career spanning jazz, big band, soul, funk, pop and commercial performance.

Since moving to New Zealand, he has become an active part of the Hawke’s Bay music community, performing at festivals, wineries, corporate events and private functions. Alongside performing, James teaches trumpet and directs ensembles, sharing his passion for music with the next generation of players.

Drums: Felix Wood

Hello, I’m Felix – the Drum Tutor at Canopy Music School.
I’m an experienced and encouraging drum teacher, offering personalised lessons for all ages and skill levels. My teaching focuses on building confidence, developing solid technique, and helping each student achieve their individual goals on the kit.

Alongside teaching, I perform as a drummer for a local covers band, Hush Hush, which keeps my playing active and up to date in a live setting. I aim to make lessons engaging, structured, and tailored to each student—whether you’re picking up the sticks for the first time or looking to take your playing to the next level.

Production: Floyd Pepper

Floyd brings 6 years of teaching experience from his time at EIT, delivering classes to diverse student cohorts ranging from high-school age through to retirees. He believes that it’s never too late, or early, to begin your creative journey. Floyd is adept at a number of recording applications as he has been actively using them for two decades, but his preferred DAW (digital audio workstation) is Ableton Live.

Some of Floyd’s musical career highlights include; 

  • Performing original music at renowned music festivals both in New Zealand and abroad.

  • Recording albums and EP’s with a variety of bands both in New Zealand and Canada.

  • Releasing music on an international record label under his CASHEK alias.

  • Performing 150+ gigs with cover band Groove Foundation as a bass player.

  • Touring the North Island in 2015 with his then-band Heterodox.

Vocals: Greg Conrad

Greg Conrad has been a professional singer performing for the last 17 years. He studied at Columbia College in Chicago, Illinois USA and with many other top vocal teachers in the Chicago area.

He has performed on stages and theaters in Chicago and Portland in the USA, on cruise ships around the world and finally ending up here in Hawke’s Bay.

His vocal style ranges from Rock and Pop to Jazz and Musical Theatre. He currently performs as a singer and guitarist solo, with his blues band Smalltalk and as a bassist in several jazz groups.

  • A young woman playing a double bass in a dimly lit room.

    "Chris is a highly educated teacher who really focuses on the interests of the individual musician. He is engaging, and is knowledgeable on so many aspects of music. My bass playing has improved significantly as a result of his teaching"

  • "Luke is an absolutely brilliant musician. He has incredibly strong musical foundations, hard-earned over many years of consistent playing and studying. I've had the pleasure of playing with Luke over the past 8 years. He's been pivotal to my own development as a musician and nothing but a force for good in my life. Luke is a great teacher and an asset to Aotearoa's musical landscape.

  • A black-and-white photo of a musician playing an electric guitar or bass on stage, wearing a cap and a plaid shirt, with stage lights overhead.

    "Chris was my first double bass teacher and he put everything in such a digestible and understandable manner that I couldn’t help but improve. Chris was the starting point of my passion for the instrument"

  • Silhouette of a person singing into a microphone with a guitar in the background

    "Luke is one hell of a guitarist, endlessly funny and humble. He's a brilliant tutor."

  • Black and white photo of two women looking through a glass or mirror, one of them wearing a large sun hat with a floral pattern, the other with curly hair and a jacket.

    "As a past student of Chris at the university level, I have found his teaching to be consistently insightful, holistic and inspiring. I would gladly recomend him to any music student."

  • I would recommend Luke as teacher to anybody. Luke is a highly skilled musician with clear mastery of many guitar techniques and music concepts. He is a clear communicator and has taught me so much about guitar, and about music over the ten years that I have known him. 5 stars.

  • A man playing a bass guitar in a recording studio, wearing headphones and glasses, smiling.

    "Chris is one of the best tutors/teachers I ever had! Open-minded to lots of genres and approaches. He always finds ways to push you further in whatever direction you want to go"

  • "Luke is a great musician and teacher who is highly knowledgeable in many styles of music, from jazz to metal and everything in between. He is great at meeting specific needs of his students and helping to identify clear learning plans and goals that are tailored to the individual."

  • Young man in a black suit and white shirt playing a red keyboard and singing into a microphone.

    "I would highly recommend Chris Beernink to anybody looking to learn a musical instrument, music theory or musicianship. Chris is very proficient, dependable, organised, great at communicating, and he is also a nice person to have a conversation and laugh with"

  • A man playing an electric guitar on stage. He is wearing sunglasses, a light gray shirt, and khaki pants. He has long hair tied back and is smiling.

    "Chris is a great teacher, who takes care to understand the needs of each student. He works alongside them to help progress their skills on the instrument aswell as their overall understanding of the musical world!"

  • A man with long, curly brown hair wearing a black shirt, smiling while holding a double bass.

    "Chris was great as a tutor. He balanced covering all of the technical bases with helping you towards your specific goals very well. His wide range of musical knowledge and experience was great to learn from"

  • A woman playing the piano in a recording studio with microphones, standing on a wooden floor, with studio equipment and dark walls in the background.

    "Chris was great as a tutor. He balanced covering all of the technical bases with helping you towards your specific goals very well. His wide range of musical knowledge and experience was great to learn from"

  • A man with a beard, wearing a baseball cap and dark clothing, playing an electric guitar on stage with warm lighting, smiling and enjoying the music.

    "Chris was one of the best tutors I’ve ever had. His vast musical knowledge and down-to-earth, patient teaching style made a huge impact on my development. Thanks to his guidance, my playing reached a new level — I now perform jazz gigs regularly and continue to use the skills he taught me"

  • A young man with a beard and dark hair, dressed in black, standing outdoors next to a bus shelter with various posters. He is pointing to a poster advertising a live music event for Steely Dan at SanFrans, scheduled for March 27, 2025, in Wellington, New Zealand. The background includes parked cars, a street with speed limit signs, and buildings.

    "Chris Beernink is a phenomenal teacher who understands how to learn! Great teacher and a great person to hang out with!"

  • A woman playing a saxophone in a dimly lit room, possibly a music venue or studio.

    Chris was consistently an encouraging, kind and passionate teacher. His approach to music is holistic and always inspiring, creating space for all students to feel supported and safe to express their creativity freely. Not only did I gain technical skills and better musicianship under his tuition, but also a more nuanced understanding of myself as a musician and a part of a wider community

  • A young man sitting barefoot on grass, playing an acoustic guitar outdoors near a wooden fence, with trees and outdoor furniture in the background.

    "Chris's dedication and attention to detail shines through in his teaching; it's contagious in the best way."

  • A young musician with black hair playing an electric bass guitar on stage during a rock concert. There is a drum set and a keyboard in the background, with a dark stage illuminated by purple and red lighting. A screen behind displays a logo, and a logo in the bottom right corner reads 'Smoker Free Rock Quest NZ 2017'.

    "Chris teaches you everything about music inside and out. He’s follows the learning pace if a student is a quick or fast learner. Chris also takes time to listen to students preferred music and uses their own music taste to relate to the current learning topic of music and theory"

  • Musicians performing on stage with colorful graffiti artwork, featuring a woman playing the saxophone in the foreground, and a man playing the drums and another man playing the guitar in the background.

    "Chris combines a comprehensive musical understanding and skillset with innovative, approachable teaching methods to get the best out of his students. I was lucky to study improvisation under his tutelage and he is a top tier music educator!"