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Born and raised in Calgary Alberta, I have been playing piano for as long as I can remember. I was trained in a variety of styles including popular, ballet, jazz, Royal Conservatory, classical and anything my parents requested :) I enjoyed playing around with my own personal style and fiddling with the millions of buttons that studded my keyboard. My teacher allowed me to have fun with that. She was my mentor, and I looked up to her in every way. She always encouraged me, and left room for fun which played a very important role in keeping me going as far as I have.
My main focus in teaching is keeping lessons as something to look forward to each week. I am flexible with how each lesson is taught. I prefer to teach according to each child, because not everyone learns in the same way. I find that sticking to a set lesson plan doesn't always work because of it's "cookie cutter" mold, and doesn't allow everyone to reach their full potential. I use a variety of materials which might include different music series (Basteins, Piano Town, Little Mozarts, etc.) and supplementary materials like notespellers and activity books to strengthen reading. Plus, you've always got to leave some room for music and note games which are always a huge hit with the kids!
At the end of the day, it's all about music so making lessons fun and relatively easy going is my preffered approach to teaching. That being said, of course not everything is play-time and all of my students progress musically at a quick rate. Alot of that has to do with our lesson times together, but it is also dependant on at-home practice time and personal interest. I have a great relationship with all of my students, and having that great base makes it easier for both the student and I to communicate to each other about practice times, corrections, and musical decisions.
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About Me
