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 with my sixth piano teacher, Kathleen van Mourik, who I started studying with, in April 2024. 

 

I have completed my CC Music Theory Levels 1, 2 and 4 exams. The most recent level 4 exam was completed on Nov 13th, 2025.  I studied Level 4 CC music theory (for grade 8 piano)with Julian Iafelice.  

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I am excited to announce that I started a new music journey with a new instrument in September 2024!  I have always been fascinated with the cello.  I thought I had earned the opportunity to explore this beautiful instrument after my successful June 2024 level 6 piano exam. I started weekly private cello lessons with David Morrissey, in Sept 2024 which I continue to this day.
 

At the same time, I also decided to explore another aspect of music learning with ensembles. In September 2024,  I joined the Westwinds Green Strings band taught by Heidi Behrenbruch.  In September 2025, I graduated to Blue Strings which is also taught by Heidi.

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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 solo vocal learning lessons in May 2023 because I was preparing for my level 6 piano exam.  Solo singing is still on pause for me. But, in Sept 2025,  I decided that I needed to have the strong endorphins rush I get with choir singing.  So I joined the Westwinds Mixed choir this year which is taught by Justin Macosky.  I am happy to be singing in a choir again although it means my life is very busy with four learning streams - solo cello, group cello, solo classical piano and choir.  But since I have now finished my music theory lessons, I have freed up some time and money.

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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 Dec 7, 2025