About

Music Lessons:
I offer private and semi-private lessons in your home or in my home in the east end of Toronto.

Piano  –  Music Theory  –  Cello  –  Vocal Coaching  –  Band Instrument Coaching
All Ages  –  All Styles  –  RCMT Exams if desired

Who Am I?

Formal education doesn’t tell you everything about a person, but here’s mine:

ARCT Piano Performance  –  Royal Conservatory of Toronto
Bachelor of Music  –  University of Toronto
Bachelor of Education  –  University of Toronto

I’ve also studied West African Drumming, sung in a lot of choirs and studied Special Education.  I’ve taught high school music and computer studies in Toronto.  I home schooled my own kids for 7 years in the mountains near Woodstock, New York.  I performed in several West African drumming groups in New York City.  I coached a flute student to a successful audition for one of the performing arts schools in New York City.  I founded the MUSET Homeschool Orchestra who are an awesome group of 5 to 70 year-olds and raw beginners to semi-professionals who continue to meet weekly during the school year.  I miss them a lot since moving back to Toronto.  I was the music director for New Genesis Productions, an outstanding child and youth theatre company focusing on Shakespeare.  I arranged and composed music, provided background music and taught the company to sing.  For one production of Romeo and Juliet, I coached the kids to drum on parts of the set for the opening scene. Oh, and I also made a lot of the costumes that you can still see in the photos on their website.  I miss these guys a lot since returning to Toronto too.

Now back in Toronto, I’ve been focusing mainly on teaching my private students.  I have also accompanied 2 local school choirs;  sung for a number of years with the Amadeus Choir including several performances with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra;  dabbled a bit in the local West African drumming scene;  and learned about Egyptian dance and music including performing on toy instruments for a dance group at a festival at Harbourfront.

Over the years I’ve gained a lot of experience in working with people who are differently abled including those with Asperger’s and ADHD.  My life experience and Special Ed training lets me see people for what they can do, not what they can’t. Private music lessons are an excellent way for people to gain confidence by continually improving a skill which brings joy, satisfaction, and focus.  Learning outside the school system can relieve the pressure of time and competition allowing development at a pace that is appropriate to each individual learner. See the Why Study Music tab for more reasons to learn to play an instrument.

Why Do I Teach?
I teach music because I truly want every one of my students to continue to play or sing music with joy and sorrow and all of life’s emotions for the rest of their lives.