Our Vision

As part of my piano pedagogical training, I started teaching young children in 2008 and have worked with students across all levels (RCM Prep A to ARCT) as both a piano teacher and a practice coach. In this time, as music educators, I’ve noticed we can hyperfocus on the aspect of music education (understandably), pushing our students' capabilities to match their infinite potential. It is common that in pursuit of musical progress, we view the importance of their relationship with music outside the classroom as secondary. Across my teaching and artistic practice, I’ve encountered a school of thought that unserious or fun music education lends to lesser quality skills and results. Despite this, I have met countless colleagues who have gone through extensive training (many with musical diplomas or degrees) who choose not to pick up their instruments or participate in playing music at all. Where did our educational system go wrong to cause so many musically skilled people to leave music entirely? 

While the pursuit of musical excellence can be commendable, I have concluded that for my own teaching practice it must be done without sacrificing musical curiosity and enjoyment. I have worked with too many glassy-eyed children that, somewhere along the way, became uninterested, distant, and resigned; students who felt their musical thoughts and interests didn’t matter; students that felt their efforts to satisfy their (well-intentioned) teachers and parents would never be enough; students who enjoyed music in movies and video games but not music lessons nor practicing music; students who enjoyed playing their instrument but didn’t fit the mould of a standardized curriculum or the culture of the genre they were enrolled in. 

I want to measure the success of my teaching by the quality and longevity of my students’ engagement with music. This involves offering a breadth and depth of learning activities as well as encouraging students to reflect and assess the relevance music plays in their lives. Some music lessons may be brief and recreational, but I aim for their music experience to be lifelong and impactful. I am open to my students’ lessons being sporadic between hockey seasons, prematurely paused in pursuit of other activities, much-anticipated after decades of parenthood, or even short-lived to satisfy learning just one favorite tune. 

I believe creativity and imagination are deeply rooted in all people and strive to provide a rich musical education that explores these abilities. 

While teaching music is fun and interesting, it is teaching students that makes it fulfilling. At Signal Hill School of Music, all activities in private lessons will take a student-centred approach that focuses on personal growth through music. In truth, the most valuable skills developed in a music education are not unique to music. You can develop grit, focus, and perseverance in gymnastics or coding. You can develop confidence, teamwork, and interpersonal skills in team sports or debate clubs. You can develop coordination in swimming, discipline in martial arts, critical thinking in chess. This school strives to impart these skills while exploring each individuals’ creativity, imagination, and musicality. I hope this school is a place of safety and inspiration, where students can experiment and create within a community that is supportive of their growth as human beings. 

One of my goals in teaching is to re-integrate the play in playing music. In 2017, the LEGO Foundation based in Denmark released a white paper report1 summarizing over 70 scientific references on the characteristics of playful learning. They identified five key elements thought to play a neurological role in the cognitive processes behind learning. We have adopted these elements: 

1. Joyfulness

2. Meaningfulness

3. Active Engagement

4. Iteration

5. Social Interaction

I hope our students’ learning processes feel interactive, personal, and purposeful; that they can connect what we learn in lessons to real-world experiences; that they learn how to utilize constructive feedback and assessment for their goals; and that they see failure as merely one repetition within a series of improving iterations. This school is a place where we celebrate each other whilst discovering aspects of ourselves and learn our most important lessons through many many meaningful mistakes. I ask for your active collaboration in crafting this supportive atmosphere with me. Please do not hesitate to reach out with any questions, ideas, requests, and of course any comments or concerns. 

We aim to help students become well-rounded capable musicians, and for that learning experience to be engaging and meaningful. Taking a student-centred approach means every students’ lessons will be different based on their interests and goals. Additionally, they will include a variety of skill-specific activities we feel are essential music tools. These include:

• Rhythm: ability to feel music temporally; ultimately developing a strong sense of time and rhythmic feel

• Ear training: ability to hear musical elements; ultimately able to learn pieces through listening

• Technique: ability to move with their physical instrument healthily and efficiently; ultimately pain- and injury-free

• Sight reading: ability to read (various) music notation including lead sheets and chord symbols; ultimately at first glance

• Music theory: ability to understand and analyze musical elements; ultimately to recognize and appreciate music more deeply

• Improvisation: ability to spontaneously create music; ultimately able to ad-lib and respond effortlessly in music

• Composition: ability to write and develop musical ideas; ultimately bringing music out of the mind and into the world

• Collaboration: ability to cooperate musically in ensembles; ultimately creating rich music with friends

• Performance: ability to share live music with others; ultimately with ease and joy

• Recording: ability to capture music with current technology; ultimately sharing and preserving music you create

• Repertoire: ability to play a variety of musical genres and styles; ultimately having a personalized collection of learnt music

• Musicianship: general music ability; ultimately creating meaning through music: internalizing, experimenting, and making music your own