I am an adult music student who started classical piano studies in September of 2013 at the age of 52.   I have since completed my Conservatory Canada(CC) grades 1, 2, 4 and 6 classical piano exams.  My most recent level 6 piano exam was completed in June 2024 in my 11th year of piano studies.  I will continue to study classical piano from my sixth piano teacher, Kathleen van Mourik, who I started studying with, in April 2024. 

 

I have completed my CC Music Theory Level 1 and Level 2 exams.  I am currently learning Level 4 CC music theory (for grade 8 piano) with Julian Iafelice and my plan is to write this exam by September 2025.  Now that I have completed my level 6 exam, I will start searching for a jazz pianist to study the art of jazz piano.  Jazz piano has always been my end game.  But I will not add this to my plate until my Level 4 music theory exam has been completed as I want to set myself up for the best chance at success. 

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I am excited to announce that I started a new music journey with a new instrument in September!  I have always been fascinated with the cello.  I thought I had earned the opportunity to explore this beautiful instrument after my successful June piano exam.   I joined the Westwinds Green Strings band and am learning from Heidi Behrenbruch.  I also started weekly private cello lessons with David Morrissey, a cellist with the CPO.  I have never touched a stringed instrument before so this will be a whole new experience.

This is the other reason I want to delay learning jazz piano because I want to see how I can organize my time best so I can give this huge learning undertaking the focus it needs, and coordinate with the learning I already have on my plate. 

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I love singing! I sang in a community choir for 8 years (2004 - 2011) but started concentrating on solo jazz voice in April 2017.  I have had vocal jazz and voice lessons from four different teachers but had to pause my vocal learning lessons in May 2023 because I was preparing for my level 6 piano exam.  I explored the art of 'singing and playing at the piano' at the November 3rd ALMSG masterclass "Marriage of the Piano with Voice"with Amy Wood.  I really enjoyed it and will see if I want to explore it further in 2025!

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​​​If you want to learn more about how I came to found this group and what led me to be such an avid music learner, you can read my story.  In March 2023, the story of how I came to learn piano was published as a CBC First Person story.  You can find it 

 

Updated April 6, 2025