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

A New Year and a New Duet!

Happy New Year everyone! I hope you are all having a wonderful start to the year. The holidays have flown by and I find myself only three days away from heading back to work. I can't say I accomplished everything I wanted to over the break (I have such a lot of planning to do, not to mention writing and practising. I also want to revamp my website soon as well.). I did get a fair amount of practising in though (considering all the holiday get togethers) and today I want to share with you a new fun duet!

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.

Summer Sizzle trip: Day 1

Here is a summary of our trip so far!

Our group departed from Pearson International Airport at 12:30 on Saturday afternoon and landed in Winnipeg around 2 PM local time. We had to travel downtown to pick up our rental van...and on the way we passed a famous landmark, the Golden Boy statue! The Golden Boy is a statue facing north on the dome of the Manitoba Legislative Building, and is one of Manitoba's best known symbols. It is 5.25 metres (17.2 feet) tall from the toe to the top of the torch and 4.27 metres (14 feet) from head to toe. Here is a picture I took from the car:

Next we picked up our rental and piled into the van for a drive over to Neepawa (about 2 hours away).

Irene took the first driving shift. Yay...Neepawa!

After supper we met some friends at a local church, including Canadian composer Rémi Bouchard and   musician Cameron Streicher. Cameron was giving a concert that evening in Neepawa, so we were able to stay for the first half of the show before hitting the road again.

On our way to Saskatchewan we stopped at a great little place called the Chipperfield Coffee Company in Minnedosa. They had 24 flavours of soft serve ice cream, gourmet coffees and teas and lots more!

I took the second shift of driving, and after another three hours on the road we finally rolled into Yorkton, SK. And that is our trip so far; we're having fun getting to know each other and setting up for the symposium. More updates to follow!

~Jen

Mary Poppins Duet #3: Boogie Woogie style!

So I thought I needed a third instalment of Mary Poppins, you know, to round things out. I chose to arrange Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious into a piano duet because the other two songs were bit melancholy (being in minor keys and all). There is no doubt this is a happy song, and to bump it up a notch from the usual marching band style I added a boogie-woogie bass part!

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!

New Books for Everyone!

Many students started in new music books after March Break. One student made a leap from primary books to graded books in the Royal Conservatory of Music curriculum. Other students received new books from the Northern Lights series (Canadian National Conservatory of Music). It is such an exciting thing to receive fresh new music, and it gives a nice little boost at this time of year when the spring weather is taking so long to appear.

A Studio Update- Winter 2014

Here's a post to let you know what's happening at my music studio. March is often a difficult month, as the "winter blahs" can really set in and motivation/positive thinking is low. This winter is no exception as the snow continues to pile up and temperatures are frequently below -20 degrees Celsius. We are working on some good goals though, and I think we're going to make it through. And although this time of year feels slow, it's amazing how fast the music festival, exams, and recitals creep up come springtime!

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!)

The Start of Fall Term

Today was the day.  Some teachers will wait for students to "settle in" at school before starting back with piano lessons.  But not me! I like to start back with the first week of school.  In fact the sooner the better!  I have so many new ideas and goals rolling around in my head that I really can't wait to start sharing and working on them.

I've had some time over the summer to get lots of new music games and worksheets ready, plus I'm trying out this fabulous set of books called Northern Lights by the Canadian National Conservatory of Music.   My friend and colleague Irene and I decided to purchase the entire series this summer while at the music symposium Summer Sizzle.