In this age of great digital access to everything, including all kinds of great music, why should a person dedicate time and effort to learning to play or sing?

Well, it turns out there’s a host of reasons, and getting away from the computer to actually do something real is only the beginning. Increasingly, studies are showing there are positive benefits to music making from reduced stress to increased learning power.

Can music help treat children with attention disorders?
Music Lessons Were The Best Thing Your Parents Ever Did For You
B.C. Students Who Took Music Scored Higher Than Peers in Math, Science, and English
The Benefits of Playing Music Help Your Brain More Than Any Other Activity
Music Lessons Improve Children’s Cognitive Skills and Academic Performance
Want to “train your brain”?  Forget apps, learn a musical instrument.

How Playing An Instrument Benefits Your Brain
How Playing Music Benefits Your Brain More Than Any Other Activity
Practicing Music Improves the Symmetry of Your Brain
From Musician to Physician: Why medical schools are recruiting for musical ability
Scientists Just Discovered an Amazing Benefit to Giving Kids Music Lessons

For children, private lessons outside the school setting allow them to learn and accomplish at their own rate so they are always succeeding without feeling boxed in by someone else’s schedule.  Anxiety and other mental health issues are becoming increasingly prevalent in our schools.  Taking time to participate in learning to make music at their own pace can help students feel value in their own capabilities and help to reduce stress.

Adults too can benefit from spending time engaging in the enrichment of making music. The arts allow us to feel joy and sorrow and continue through these emotions to connect with others and ourselves.

Once you’ve done your practicing for today, consider going outside:
Texas School Triples Recess Time and Sees Immediate Positive Results in Kids

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.

 

Learning music works best when there is good communication between the music teacher, the student, and home.  I like to keep in touch with my students’ responsible adults by regularly talking, emailing and sending home assignment pages with progress notes.

This assignment page form has sections for technique, repertoire, listening, theory/composition, progress, practice record,  and blank staves:  Music Lesson Assignment Page

 

 

 

 

James Webb Telescope image translated to sound

Portraits of dogs and cats as music scores

Music takes 13 minutes to ‘release sadness’ and 9 minutes to make you happy according to new study

How Playing An Instrument Benefits Your Brain
For more articles on how learning an instrument gives cognitive benefits
go to my Why Study Music page.

Revolutionary piano has 108 keys and nine-octave range

Mozart Sonata helps reduce brain signals associated with epilepsy

Bobby McFerrin demonstrates the power of the pentatonic scale.

An innovative solution for small hands.

Why it’s impossible to tune a piano

Classical Music Mashup

Weiner Cello Ensemble (1 cello, 6 hands):  Bolero

Flight of the Bumblebee for 2 basses

A Scientist is Turning Every Element In The Periodic Table Into Music

Wintergatan Marble Machine

How Piano Works – 1 minute animation

How Do Pianos Work – Piano Keys – detailed description

How A Vertical Piano Works – detailed description

How do piano pedals work?

How A Grand Piano Is Made – Steinway