I have been teaching music since 1986, my two main specialties being infant and preschool music classes and private piano instruction. I have taught music classes at several community centres in Vancouver, was given the opportunity to lead some musical experiences for selected classes from K – Gr. 7 at Mt. Pleasant Elementary School and am currently teaching music at University Hill Preschool, Bumblebee Preschool and Bayview Community Preschool.

Apart from teaching, I was also a partner in a company that designed developmentally-based activity kits for 3-6 year olds.

I went through the Royal Conservatory program in piano and graduated from the Trebas Institute of Recording Arts, specializing in Recorded Music Production, in 1991. I also have a diploma from the VSB in Using Music as a Tool for Child Development.

The goal for all of my classes, no matter what the age group, is to have music become an active rather than a passive activity. My activities are designed to involve as many of the senses as possible in order to introduce musical ideas in a fun and interactive way. Music combines visual, auditory, gross/fine motor, speech, language and cognitive skills, therefore, each student will have some strengths in the class and there will be new experiences for everyone. We will experiment with a wide variety of instruments, including bells, shakers, drums, triangles and more and will investigate how different sounds are made.

Each class encourages social interaction, individual ideas and creativity. Singing, dancing and making music are emotion-releasing forms of personal expression. These activities give the children additional tools to further their social-emotional development.

The specific musical ideas I focus on are rhythm, dynamics, tempo pitch and timbre. However, all of the activities also reinforce other concepts the children are learning, such as opposites, counting, listening skills and turn taking.

Group music lessons provide the children with a very strong foundation in music that may be a stepping-stone to more formal music lessons and will, hopefully, start them on the path to enjoying music as a lifelong activity.