From age two to the stage.One programme,eight levels.
Fifteen instruments, four tracks and a curriculum we wrote ourselves — so a two-year-old and a thirty-year-old can walk into the same school and each find the right step to start on.
Praça Dona Maria II 5C, Reboleira — Amadora
IN THE ROOMThe eight levels
OUR OWN PROGRAMME- LEVEL01
- LEVEL02
- LEVEL03
- LEVEL04
- LEVEL05
- LEVEL06
- LEVEL07
- LEVEL08
Our own curriculum, with manuals written in-house. Classes are formed by age and level — you start on the step you are actually on, not the year you were born in.
- 2011
- In Reboleira since
- 8
- Levels in the programme
- 15
- Instruments and voice
- 2 yrs
- You can start at
Pick the track, not the year group.
Every student sits in one of four tracks. They share the same curriculum and the same rooms — what changes is who they are for and how far they go.
For children who are too young to hold a full lesson but are exactly the right age to learn how sound works.
- Children's Musical Expression, ages 2–5 — 30-minute classes, groups of up to 6
- Introduction to Piano, ages 4–5 — groups of 2
- Introduction to Drums, ages 4–5
- Introduction to Violin, ages 4–5
- Introduction to Cello, ages 4–5
- Reading by colour with the Rainbow Method
Music therapy sessions also take place on the premises, and there is professional training for students who want to make music their job. Ask at the front desk.
Fifteen under one roof
The question parents really ask: do I have to buy one?
Mostly, no. The rooms already have the instruments — for these you only bring yourself. Filter by track to see what each one teaches.
- Classical GuitarIn the room
- Electric GuitarIn the room
- Electro-acoustic GuitarIn the room
- Electric BassBring yours
- PianoIn the room
- KeyboardIn the room
- DrumsIn the room
- ViolinIn the room
- CelloBring yours
- SingingYour voice
- AccordionBring yours
- SaxophoneBring yours
- ClarinetBring yours
- Transverse FluteBring yours
- UkuleleIn the room
Six instruments are the exception — electric bass, accordion, saxophone, cello, clarinet and transverse flute — where the student brings their own. Before you buy anything at all, call and ask.
How it works here
Colours before letters, levels before years.
Three things hold this school together, and none of them was copied from anywhere.
RAINBOW METHOD
The Rainbow Method
Colours shown for illustration.
RAINBOW METHOD
Reading by colour, at four
Four- and five-year-olds start on the piano, the violin or the cello with the Rainbow Method: the notes are colours, so a child reads a score and plays simple pieces before they can read a sentence.
8 LEVELS
Eight levels, our own manuals
The academy's curriculum is split into eight levels of knowledge, with manuals written in-house. Classes are put together by age and level, which is why a beginner is never stuck behind someone else's calendar.
END-OF-YEAR CONCERT
Everyone goes on stage
Every school year closes with the End-of-Year Concert, where every student plays. In D•Flex, where there are no exams, that concert is how you see the level you reached.
You don't need to bring an instrument.
For most of what is taught here, the instrument is already in the room — you can start on Monday without buying anything.
Your lesson
Build the lesson that fits your week.
Length, format and where it happens are all yours to pick. Put it together and call us with it.
How long
Who's in the room
Where
Your lesson
30 MINONE TO ONEA 30-minute lesson, one to one, in the room at Reboleira.
Online and mixed are available on the D•Flex free-course subjects. Class sizes change with the instrument — from pairs up to six.
Fees are not published: what you pay depends on the track, the length of the lesson and whether you learn alone or in a class. Call and you'll get the number for exactly what you want to do.
FRONT DESK 3–8PM
The academy
A school built by someone from here.
FOUNDER & DIRECTOR
Vanessa Ricardo
Founder and director · Classical guitar and Combo teacher
Academia de Música Desafios opened in September 2011 on Praça Dona Maria II, in Reboleira. It was founded by Vanessa Ricardo — born and raised in the Amadora — who still directs it and still owns the teaching side of it: the pedagogical coordination, the curriculum and the academy's manuals are hers.
She started classical guitar at sixteen with João Tiago Dionisio, later took private lessons with the jazz guitarist Sandro Norton, and recorded her first record of original songs in 2017. The teachers around her are working musicians — degrees in jazz from the Lisbon School of Music, the Hot Clube, the Coimbra Conservatory — who play outside the classroom too.
The room was made to be a room people want to be in: modern, adapted for teaching music, laid out so students and teachers actually meet each other. It is the kind of place students describe as a family, which is the word that comes back in the reviews.
SensitiseEducateProfessionalise
More than training musicians, we want to train people who can express themselves through music.
2011
Founded in September
8
Levels, own manuals
4
Tracks under one roof
Inside the academy
Where the lessons actually happen.
The rooms on Praça Dona Maria II — and the concert that closes every school year.
What students say
Three people who wrote it down.
Not many reviews carry text. These are the ones that do, exactly as they were left on Google.
I give it top marks. The family atmosphere, the professionalism and competence of the entire Academy team, the joy and availability for students and parents — it's felt by everyone. I recommend it to anyone who wants to start and progress in music.
I took lessons at Desafios for three years. The quality of the instruments — 5 stars.
An excellent music school!!!
Before the first lesson
The questions we get at the desk.
Straight answers, including the one about money.
FRONT DESK 3–8PMFrom two, in Children's Musical Expression. Between four and five they can begin Introduction to Piano, Drums, Violin or Cello. After that there is no upper limit — there are adults learning here too.
Come and see the rooms
Book a trial lesson this week.
The front desk is open every weekday afternoon. Call, write, or just walk in — the square is right outside Reboleira station.
- Phone
- 910 889 452
- Landline
- 218 249 199
- Address
- Praça Dona Maria II 5C, lojas A e B, 2720-192 Amadora
Reboleira — ten minutes on foot from the station (train and metro), buses 113, 114, 144 and 154.
REBOLEIRA · AMADORA
Front desk
FRONT DESK 3–8PM- Monday
- 3pm – 8pm
- Tuesday
- 3pm – 8pm
- Wednesday
- 3pm – 8pm
- Thursday
- 3pm – 8pm
- Friday
- 3pm – 8pm
- Saturday
- Closed
- Sunday
- Closed
These are front-desk hours. Lesson times are agreed with each student when they enrol.