Category: Uncategorized

This year’s composition book is out! Over the course of the year, students write their own compositions, which we type up on computer and then arrange for publishing. Students wrote songs for a variety of instruments, including piano, clarinet, and clarinet duet. The cover art is always designed by the students also, and it’s always… Continue reading Composition book 2025

This year’s World Wildlife Foundation challenge went really well! Students raised over a hundred dollars, and voted to adopt a Blue-Footed Booby! Congratulations to students on all their hard work practicing! To earn a dollar for the WWF, students had to practice a song 8 times during the week. The challenge took place over three… Continue reading Puffy the Puffin WWF practicing challenge 2025

This year’s brainy challenge was a great success! Students practiced really hard! They had to practice a song 8 times to earn one dollar for the food bank from the studio. The challenge was three weeks long, and in total, we managed to earn over a hundred dollars for the food bank. Wow! great job… Continue reading Brainy Challenge 2025

Because this was an election year in Canada, students took part in an election in the studio! For our election, we studied music history! The four parties students could vote for were the Baroque Party, Classical Party, Romantic Party, and Modern Party. We studied the composers over in the lead up to the election, and… Continue reading Composer Elections 2024

Students in the studio often work on compositions in lessons! Composing music is a great way for students to express themselves, to get a chance to utilize their creativity, and also to learn how to express their musical ideas. Some students write by ear, coming up with music in their heads or on their instruments… Continue reading Composition Book 2022

Online lessons are new to many of us, so before the teaching year starts, I have put together a list of tips for how to get the most out of your online lessons! Get set up early – Make sure you know how long it takes to set up for a lesson! Make sure to… Continue reading How to Get the Most from Online Lessons

This is a list of easy tips to get the most out of online lessons. Use what works for you – Online lessons can be done in a myriad of ways, and different options will work better for one family. Lessons can be done in different formats: Real time: lessons take place in real time.… Continue reading Online Lesson Tips

The studio worked on a composer elections project this year! Students learned about various eras in musical history, and during the week of the Canadian elections this year, student got to vote for a musical party of their choice. To learn about the various eras in music history, students did a variety of things. We… Continue reading Composer Elections 2019

I recently returned from the MTNA/CFMTA conference in Baltimore.  It was a lot of fun!  I saw a lot of great speakers, listened to some awesome music.  I am looking forward to using some of the great ideas I heard in my teaching! The first night featured a concert by comedic duo Igudesman & Joo… Continue reading MTNA 2017