Why are we here?
Music education deserves a purpose-built tool for online lessons. As education rapidly shifted online in 2020, our friends at music conservatories struggled to teach students effectively using available video conferencing tools. We knew how to solve the problem.
We also knew that by solving the problem, we could expand access to high quality music education. As the late, great, social entrepreneur Leila Janah said, “Talent is equally distributed, but opportunity is not.” At Forte we believe that everyone should have access to quality music teachers.
What makes Forte better?
Existing platforms like Zoom and Teams are built for business meetings. They use audio that is optimized for the spoken human voice and therefore insufficient for music. It’s difficult to hear instruments played through these platforms.
In business meetings, background noise is distracting, and ideally, one person should speak at a time — less audio is better. Music lessons require the opposite. Both the teachers and the students need fuller sound with less filtering, and they need to hear each other simultaneously all the time — more audio is better.
We knew how to optimize video conferencing audio to elevate online instrument instruction. The result is Forte Pure Audio, and it will radically improve your online teaching.
Who are we?
Mark Murtagh,
Chief Executive Officer and Co-founder
Mark Murtagh worked for years as a trusted advisor to some of the top music institutions in the world, including Juilliard, The Royal College of Music, and Berklee, helping them expand access to high quality music instruction across the globe.
Hunter McGranahan,
Chief Product Officer and Co-founder
Hunter McGranahan spent years developing music education apps for another startup and has seen firsthand how new tech is accelerating learning outcomes in this sector.
Liam Day,
Artistic and Educational Director
William (Liam) Day, a graduate of The Juilliard School and the Cleveland Institute of Music, is a trumpet player and educator. He performs with top ensembles around the world, like the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic, and is sought after as a teacher and clinician.