My name is Tom Harding but everyone knows me as Tom the Pom. Originally from the UK, I moved to Australia with my wife in 2006 and live in the beautiful Blue Mountains near Sydney, Australia. I teach music workshops to groups of awesome people – like you – in schools, corporations, group homes, festivals, parties and more! I also teach guitar and ukulele classes which can either be arranged as a regular group session or one-on-one classes.

I love music, but don’t love traditional music education quite as much. I’ve been teaching for nearly 30 years and specialise in getting people playing as quickly as possible. Learning shouldn’t be a chore.

Being dyslexic in a world full of music readers has left me feeling like a man with a fork in a world full of spoons. I prefer the hands-on approach, music theory is a wonderful world, but I understand it retrospectively, first I have to make the music, then I take it apart. You don’t need to know that it’s the Tonic, then Submediant, Subdominant and then Dominant chords, you just want a teacher to enable you to play them together as Stand By Me. If you want the theory, we can cover that, but I’m sure you want the fun first!

I play heaps of percussion, ukulele, guitar and bass, and have recorded an album of percussion under the name Samba Ninja, and a mini album of didgeridoo solos as Tom the Pom. I am also the president of the Australia Ukulele Teachers and Leaders Association (autla).

So if you need:

• Ukulele, samba or djembe workshops (adults or kids)

• One-on-one guitar or ukulele classes (adults or kids)

• Get the party started and book my band, Samba Ninja for your festival, party or event

• Book me as MC for your next event (dad jokes may or may not feature!)

• Fix your drum (re-rope, re-skin, tune and get it singing beautifully again)

Get in touch!