This shoutout goes to Mrs. Dejesus Academy, an online music school for violin and other stringed instruments, founded by music teacher Tynisha Hearne of Dover, Delaware. Her online music lesson platform takes students step by step through lessons, lets them send in practice videos for feedback, and books a 1-on-1 session with her every month. You can check it out at mrsdacademy.com.
Who Mrs. Dejesus Academy is
Tynisha teaches violin and stringed instruments, and Mrs. D Academy is how she brings that teaching online. Her students are often young, which means parents are part of the picture too. Any website for her had to work for a kid holding a bow for the first time and for the parent signing them up.
She came to me needing more than a course website. She needed a way to teach the way she already teaches, just online.
Why an off-the-shelf course site wasn't enough
Course platforms are great at one thing: putting videos behind a login. But string lessons don't work like a video playlist. Students need to learn posture before bowing, and bowing before songs. And the teacher needs to actually see them play.
Tynisha's teaching model needed four things working together:
- Lessons in a set order, so students build the basics first
- A way for students to send in practice videos and get them reviewed
- Monthly 1-on-1 sessions that schedule themselves, with reminders
- Something simple enough for parents and young students, with the power for Tynisha to run it all behind the scenes
Off-the-shelf learning platforms didn't have the flexibility for that workflow, so we built it custom.
What we built for this online music lesson platform
The academy is a custom web app built with React and TypeScript, styled with Tailwind, with Supabase on the back end and Stripe for payments. Here's what students and families get:
- Structured lesson pages covering technique, note reading, posture and bowing.
- A "Before You Begin" section so new students show up ready for their first lesson.
- Practice video submissions that Tynisha can review, so practice at home doesn't happen in a vacuum.
- Monthly 1-on-1 scheduling with automatic email reminders, so nobody has to chase anyone down to book.
- Separate logins for students, parents and admins, so each person sees what they need.
- A layout that works on a desktop, tablet or phone, since students practice wherever their instrument is.
It's also built so she can add more courses and more students later without starting over.
What I liked about this project
The fun part was translating how a real teacher teaches into screens. The order of the lessons, when a student should record themselves, how often they need face time with her: those are teaching decisions, not tech decisions. My job was to build the site around them, not force her teaching into a template.
That's how I try to approach every build, whether it's an online academy or a five-page site for a local shop. You can see more of that range in our portfolio, and more about how I build in web design and development.
Check them out
If you or your kid want to learn violin or another stringed instrument, take a look at Mrs. Dejesus Academy.
Teach lessons of your own?
Music teachers, tutors, coaches: if you're squeezing your teaching into a platform that wasn't built for it, let's talk. I'll put together a free sample so you can see what a site built around your teaching could look like. Get in touch here.
