Achille Javois blends classical and modern at Piano Vibes

Achille Javois is the founder and CEO of Piano Vibes, a music school established in 2018 that takes a contemporary approach to music education. Born in St. Martin and raised in Baytown, Texas, Javois graduated as valedictorian and has been teaching music since high school. Selected for Project Row Houses’ 2025 Business Residency Program, he now operates locations in Baytown and Houston’s Third Ward, where he provides both paid and free music lessons to students of all ages. His teaching philosophy combines classical technique with modern music, meeting students where they are while setting high expectations for growth.

What was the moment or experience that made you decide to start your own music school

I had been teaching since maybe high school. I had students before I went to college, and it just kind of hit me once I graduated that I didn’t really know what I wanted to do and how I wanted to do it. I knew that I loved teaching, and so I thought, I should start my own music school. One of my cousins actually named it. She was like, yeah, think about Piano Vibes. And I took the name, and it stuck.

Growing up, it was tough for you to find a teacher who would recognize your talent and challenge you to grow, so how does that experience fuel the way you teach and mentor students today

You have to set expectations for students, and you also have to meet them where they’re at. Those are the two things that you have to be able to do as a good teacher. That’s what I didn’t get coming up. I happen to be one of those students that could play by ear and read music. Whenever I met a teacher, they were either all in on ear or all in on reading music. There was never a teacher to really combine the two.

My uncle opened a French international school in New York. He was kind of like the person that I always looked up to because he flew all around the world to essentially recruit people to his school. That was a big influence on me just wanting to also teach and be an influence to my community. I couldn’t find a proper teacher. I either had to learn at church under church musicians or find a classical teacher. There was never a combination.

Piano Vibes takes a contemporary approach to music education, can you tell us what that is and how it works

We have a recital coming up December 14th. Our pianists, our vocalists, we try to make sure that they’re using the classical set of techniques. But they’ll usually do two pieces or songs. They’ll do one that’s classically inclined, like a Chopin. However, they’ll also do a modern pop song that they picked, that they like. What we try to do is show them the connections between reading and the connections between listening.

Music is a language, so the same way that we learn how to talk and we learn how to read is what we try to show the kids. We try to have both sides of the coin with our students, and so you’ll see a good mix of modern music that they grow up in. We have a couple of students doing songs from K-pop Demon Hunters, and my whole entire studio knows the whole soundtrack. It’s something that they frequently ask because that’s what they listen to. It’s really important that they have that and still are able to talk about Mozart and Beethoven.

You were selected for Project Row Houses’ Business Residency program, so what made you apply and what does it mean for you to bring Piano Vibes to Third Ward specifically

I’ve actually been partnered with Project Row Houses for about a year and a half. I’ve been doing free music lessons on every Wednesday from 4 o’clock to 8 o’clock. To just see how giving they are in their community, they’ve been around since 1993. This past year and a half has been a real blessing to be able to influence a community in a way that I never really thought was possible. We have students that are getting quality lessons for free each and every week. We teach about 8 students every hour.

That was the biggest part in me applying. Because I’m part of their organization, they send me all the invites to everything that they do for the community, whether it’s workshops, camps during the summer for kids, teacher appreciation, art. It’s just so multifaceted in community engagement. That was the biggest reason that I applied, because I wanted to be a part of that. Here I get to be around people that also love to teach, that love to pass on, to build not just wealth, but generational wealth.

The program provides up to 3 years of prime commercial space at a discounted rate along with business mentorship and support, how does that kind of backing change what’s possible for a small business owner

The price of living has just gone up. To be able, in this economy, to get a space and have it for 3 years, not only to build your clientele but also to build the foundation in which you want to grow. Not only am I going to be in the community, but I have 3 other business owners that I have met, that I’m able to communicate with and see what they’re doing. We try to grow together, and the goal is to find enough of an audience and clients to where we can actually be self-sufficient in our own economy, in the Third Ward.

Running a business is often harder than just having an individual-based income because you’re supporting jobs in your community, you’re supporting a trade or a service in your community. It’s just a blessing to be able to get that because you don’t find that in commercial real estate.

Beyond teaching, you’re helping young people build discipline, confidence, and creativity through music, so what transformations have you seen in your students over the years

I have had the honor of seeing young kids, 5, 6 years old, because I’ve been teaching for such a long time, 10 years later, they’re 15, 16. Or even I have kids that I taught before they went off to college, and they’ve graduated college since and entered the workforce.

The biggest thing for me is to be able to see how music has affected their lives, not really the lessons, but the relationship that you form with these people. It’s a chance to not just be their teacher but to be a mentor, to be a supporter. I remember when you did not have the discipline because you were 6 years old.

You slowly but surely built a discipline to where if you wanted to do something, you would break it down into stages. The analytical mind behind a pianist or someone that is learning music is often the biggest reason as to why they often tend to be successful.

Looking ahead, what does success look like for Piano Vibes, and how do you hope to impact the Third Ward community through music education

I think success looks very simple. It’s the students coming to class and being happy to be in class. A lot of times when you hear adults talking about music lessons, they always say, I wish I would have kept with it. But they leave out the fact that they stopped because it became redundant or it was boring.

As I refine and get better as a business owner as well as a teacher, that’s one of the things that determines how successful I am, is do the students that I work with want to come to class? If we’re trying to influence the Third Ward community and keep our community strong and healthy, I think that starts with meeting them where they’re at. If we can pair learning with happiness and positive energy, I think that that’s what determines how successful our program will be.

Can you tell us where to find Piano Vibes

You can follow us @pianovibes on Instagram. Our website is pianovibes.net. We have two locations, one in Baytown at 802 Mabry Rd, Baytown. Our second address is 2503 Holman Street, Houston.