Working musician · Music teacher · TEDx speaker

I turn rooms full of people into musicians.

I'm Andy Hawkings — a working musician and qualified teacher in Frome, Somerset, and the inventor of Numbiano, the music system that makes anyone a player in minutes. I teach guitar, lead live experiences where whole audiences become the band, and write and speak about opening music to everyone.

Andy Hawkings playing guitar as a group of people sing along at a festival
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My invention: Numbiano.

Music by numbers, music for all. Red numbers are natural, blue numbers are flat, and everything you learn works from any Tonal Centre. It's a complete musical system — notation, singing method, harmony, guitar method — and an app that turns any phone into an instrument. Trademarked, live, and free to play.

What I do

Three ways to work with me.

Guitar teaching

Classical and popular guitar tuition in and around Frome — preparing students for Trinity College London classical guitar exams and Rockschool popular music grades, with the Numbiano method opening every door.

Enquire about lessons →

Live experiences

Collective songwriting events where the audience is the band — for families, festivals, schools and communities, from 20 to 500+ people, on the phones in their pockets.

Book a Numbiano experience →

Talks & workshops

Speaking on music, creativity and education — from TEDx stages in the UK and Cambodia to school halls and teacher CPD. Practical, musical, and never a lecture.

Watch the talks →
From the TEDx stage

Two talks, one idea: music belongs to everyone.

The Numbiano — music by numbers, music for all

TEDx Frome, at the Merlin Theatre. The origin story of the system.

Collective songwriting — musicians without borders

TEDx Phnom Penh. Why writing a song together changes a room.

About

Both sides of the music stand.

I'm a qualified teacher (QTS) and teach music at Avanti Park School in Frome, alongside working as a peripatetic guitar teacher preparing students for Trinity College London classical guitar exams and Rockschool's popular music grades. Away from the classroom I'm a working musician, and for over a decade I was co-founder of Rocktopus, one of the UK's best-loved providers of interactive, music-based experiences for schools and families — including sold-out shows at the Cheese & Grain.

Everything I've learned across those years — what actually gets a reluctant beginner playing, what makes five hundred people sing together, why notation shuts people out — went into Numbiano, my invention: a complete musical system built on numbers, colours and a moveable Tonal Centre.

I write regularly about music education, creativity and the ideas behind Numbiano — you can read the latest below.

Based — Frome, Somerset
Teaching — QTS; music teacher, Avanti Park School
Exams — Trinity classical guitar · Rockschool grades
Speaking — TEDx Frome · TEDx Phnom Penh
Previously — Co-founder, Rocktopus
Inventor of — Numbiano™
Writing

Latest from the blog.

All writing →

Let's make music together.

Guitar lessons, live experiences, talks, or anything Numbiano — email me and I'll get back to you as soon as I can.