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... as a musician ...
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With my first formal piano lessons starting when I was 2 years old, and having had my own mother as a music teacher to begin with, I was well set up for learning and growing as a musician. Good old cassettes and CDs, lessons, workshops, Suzuki Summer Schools, performances and constant practice brought about a lifestyle of always having something musical going on. Over the years, I added flute and cello practices and had the joy of playing both these instruments as well as percussion in local orchestras, quartets and ensembles. Organising many solo and collaborative fundraising concerts for all kinds of wonderful causes has also been a highlight in my performing experience for the past 20 years.
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I have always loved mucking around with sound and get excited by random ways of creating a melody using unconventional things and getting ideas from nature. I love listening for patterns in melody, timing and intervals. I love quirky and unexpected aspects of music and am enjoying the ability to compose, record, and create something artistic for my own satisfaction as well as for students and other musicians to benefit from too.
... as a teacher ...
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My private music teaching career started when I was 15 years old and was approached by a couple of parents who were kind enough to see some potential in me as an educator. I have continued to grow this private teaching business for over 25 years. After completing the Higher Training for Music Teachers qualification through the VMTA in 2000, and having piano lessons with masters like Max Cook, Glenn Riddle, Graeme Bartel and Ronald Farren-Price, I have been taught well how to really appreciate the fine details of the skills and theory of playing an instrument. Teaching in schools, in small groups and one-on-one in my own private studio has taught me so much about how kids think, how I think, and what makes us all become better musicians and people. My goals are to make things fun, relevant, pedagogically sound, and sufficiently challenging for students. Collaboration, sharing music with others and being free to be creative are skills I try to instil in all my students, even more so after many online lessons in lockdowns!
... as a student ...
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As well as constantly exploring and developing my musical skills, one of my other big passions is learning about our minds, bodies and emotions. How to help them when they feel broken. How to challenge them when they feel strong. And how to inspire them when they need something new and exciting. The links between our minds, our brains, our emotions and our bodies has always fascinated me and my current study in psychology and potentially counselling is aiming towards adding more of a therapy role to my career. Having done some ABA therapy work and using music with children with autism has also taught me a lot about the calming and exciting effects music has on our minds and bodies.
... at home ...
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It is a real privilege to have my husband as an awesome support and encourager. He has also been able to build an amazing music studio for me to work in, to host concerts in and have jam sessions in. All three of our teenage girls have the beautiful skills of spontaneously coming up with music ideas and bursting into song, piano playing, flute, cello or bass guitar, or making up cool random rhythms and melodies around home.
This is where real music and artistry starts: in the ordinariness of our homes and the stuff around us. Then in the extraordinariness of our creative minds and ability to make sounds that mean something
and bring us joy.