A New Duet for Halloween!

Take a listen to my new intermediate piano duet: A Beastly Boo-rrée!

Summer Sizzle 2015

A great time was had by all at this year's Summer Sizzle. Keyboard Kamp was a great success! I was the host composer for Group A:

Some great memories were made...

And some great music too! Our group's composition was called Peaceful Twilight.

My friend and colleague Beth had a great time with Group B:

and everyone really enjoyed the masterclasses.

I got to showcase my new publications!

And how could I forget my convocation? I received my Licentiate diploma in Piano Performance from the Northern Lights Canadian National Conservatory of Music. I'm so happy to have been a part of this year's Summer Sizzle. Look for more pictures to be posted in the studio soon!

~ Jen

End of Year Preparations!

The rest of our term is filled with exciting preparations. First, there is the final recital of the year. Students are busy memorizing their pieces, practising duets, and putting the final touches on their own compositions (this year's composition theme is "Places I've Been"). We will try everything out at an informal performance class before the big day arrives.

Countdown and Congratulations

Well the countdown is officially on: only 13 days until my big exam! This month has been spent performing my program out for various audiences on different instruments, and tonight marks my fourth and final "preparation" concert. I'll have some good solid time after tonight to rest up my arms and go over the finer details of my pieces before the big day. I also hope to get them recorded, as I doubt I'll ever have this much repertoire ready ever again!

*New* Pre Grade One pieces: Part II

My new set of pieces inspired by Vancouver Island is complete! It's a short collection of six pieces, and each one is written in a different mode (Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, and Aeolian). I hope you enjoy!

~ Jen

Purple Starfish

Orca

Totems

New!! Pre Grade One pieces inspired by B.C.

I'm really excited to be working on a collection of Pre Grade One pieces. These pieces are wholly inspired by my short time living on Vancouver Island, as well as many visits to the island throughout various stages of my life. I also decided to write them using the ancient church modes, as a learning experience for me as well as the students who will play them! I think you'll find each one has a unique sound as a result of the mode it is written in. This is just the first instalment-- more West Coast pieces to come soon!

~ Jen

Big trees

Tally-Ho!

Driftwood

A New Festival Playlist and other things on the go...

I present to you a new playlist from my YouTube channel, featuring set piano pieces for this year's local music festival. This list covers all the classes for 5-16 years and under. I hope to post the next set of pieces (9-14 years and over) in the next week or so. I hope this will help teachers and students choose their 2015 festival pieces, and also give them a glimpse of some great Canadian music from Northern Lights.

A New Solo for Autumn

With fall weather closing in I offer you a new autumn-inspired solo called Swirling Leaves. I'm really happy with the way this intermediate-level piece turned out. The left hand accompaniment is gently insistent while the right hand sings a melancholy melody with swirling triplets. The middle section offers a ray of sunshine, though it is short lived as the cold autumn wind soon returns. The piece comes to a close with a short improv played upon the inside strings of the piano. I hope you enjoy.

~ Jen

It's the beginning of Summer Sizzle 2014

Well we are off tomorrow...leaving for the annual piano pedagogy symposium presented through CNCM. This year's event takes place in Yorkton, SK-- so get ready to follow our adventures through the prairies! My friend/colleague Irene and I will be joining a group of other teachers and composers to embark on this adventure together.

Summer Memorizing Project (+ a big reveal!)

Happy Canada Day! It is a beautiful sunny day here-- 26°C with a light breeze-- and I just finished memorizing movement 1 of my Bach Partita. The Partita No. 5 in G major is part of a set of six harpsichord suites that were composed by J.S. Bach between the years 1725-1730 (or so). Each suite contains a number of short dance movements such as an Allemande, Courante, Sarabande and Gigue. I have given myself the task of memorizing the seven movements of this Partita by the time I leave for Summer Sizzle in mid August. BUT WHY??

April Memorizing Project and a New Playlist!

Phew. The local music festival is over and I am a little tired! Everyone did really well; all of my students had great performances, got great marks, and hopefully had great experiences. We ended the week on a high note with Teagan and Ella's duet Oh Brother! by Canadian composer Karen Rowell. Well done girls!

More Mary Poppins...

Since I played it so much recently, my daughter must have gotten Feed the Birds stuck in her head. So I wasn't surprised when she picked out the movie Mary Poppins to watch on the weekend. I was going about some housework while it was on, and couldn't help humming along to all those catchy songs (which definitely made my cleaning more fun). And when Chim Chim Cher-ee came on I thought, "I should try to make this into a duet!". So I did.

A New Composition/Happy Valentine's Day!

Well I finally made time to sit down at the piano this week and do some writing. I've been wanting to do it earlier but with such a busy start to the new year it's been almost impossible to find time. I wanted to write a piece about walking on the snow since I recently tuned in to the wonderfully musical and rhythmic squeaky sounds my boots made while walking. And since my nature walks are currently on hold (due to some major inflammation in my foot) I was glad to try and recreate a wintry walk down our snowy road through my music.  

Kiwanis Music Festival, Set Pieces for Piano, ages 10 to 14 years & over

Here's the rest of the videos for the set pieces for festival (see the first set here). Finally had time to finish recording. Enjoy!
~ Jennifer

Kiwanis Festival, Set Pieces for Piano, ages 5 to 10 years & under

Hi! I just decided to make videos of all the set piano pieces for the Grey County Kiwanis Festival of Music. These great pieces come from the Canadian series of books called Northern Lights, by the Canadian National Conservatory of Music. The comprehensive festival classes range from 5 years & under to 14 years & over with many classes in between. This post will cover right up to 10 years & under (only because I ran out of time to record yesterday!)

Canada Music Week/Blue Snowball Mic Trial #2

November 17th to 23rd, 2013 is Canada Music Week... it's a week to celebrate, support and promote everything to do with Canadian music.  Yay!  This friday our local registered music teachers group (ORMTA) is hosting a student recital in celebration, and the program features twenty different Canadian composers.  Stay tuned for highlights from this recital...

But for this post I am choosing to feature one of my favourite Canadian composers, Alexina Louie.

Blue Snowball Mic Trial #1

So for some reason the GarageBand app on my iPad mini isn't supporting my new usb mic (and I even bought a special adapter cable for it!) so I had to move my computer in order to use the mic today.  I had the piano tuned less than a week ago and the microphone seems pretty foolproof, so I hope it sounds good!  I could definitely use a crash course in GarageBand but that is another story...

Ensembles are fun!

On August 28th my friend and colleague Irene and I attended a fun workshop at Debra Wanless Music Studio called Ensemble Fun.  Irene and I have been playing together for a couple years; we try and make an effort to get together regularly, and are always working on something new and challenging.

I have loved playing duets, trios, duos, and double duos since I was a kid.  I have only great memories of ensembles: playing ridiculously fun music together and laughing a whole lot.  The bonus is that ensemble playing is good for musicians!

At Debra's workshop we learned about the history of piano ensemble, choosing ensemble partners, rehearsal tips and of course repertoire.  We read our way through tons of new Canadian ensemble music, then got to go shopping at the end.  What a fun morning!

Summer Sizzle 2013

From July 21st to 23rd I attended a fantastic piano pedagogy symposium called Summer Sizzle.  This is an annual event held in Mount Forest, Ontario that brings together music educators, musicians, composers and students alike.

The workshops covered topics such as Memorization, Interpreting Modern Scores, Teaching Tricks, and Teaching the Highly Tactile Learner.  The practitioners were both engaging and inspiring, and I came away with a wealth of information and ideas. I can't wait to get going in the studio this fall!

Alyssa at Drum Fit class!