My job is to give people a gift.
That gift is a series of skills.
Sometimes it is very difficult, and takes hours and hours of repetitive practise.
Sometimes it flows easily and smoothly and feels like a culmination or a great achievement.
That skill is music. Music is a place of mindfulness and safety.
That’s my job.
The skills I teach are things like:
–the skill of recognising small details in the moment they are present (aka reading music)
–the skill of taking on a difficult project, breaking it down into tiny steps, and working on step at a time until the project is finished (aka AMEB exams)
–the skill of co-ordinating different senses, like eyes, ears, mouth, fingers, arms, toes, brain, tongue, lips, etc so they work in concert and are able to produce a wonderful product (it’s not just hand-eye co-ordination, it’s hand-eye-lip etc co-ordination)
–the skill of trying and failing, and trying and failing, and trying and failing, and keeping on trying and trying until it works like it should do (fall down 7 times, stand up 8).
–the skill of trying something hard and failing, and then putting it aside for a while to manage emotions and focusing on the positive aspects so it is possible to keep on going (emotional management).
–the skill of learning how to learn. I am still learning, and I’ve been doing this for 20-odd years.
I am a music teacher of the flute and clarinet. I teach classical, a little bit of Jazz, and a little bit of improvisation and creativity. I teach a little bit of theory and a little bit of history of music. I use Theta Music to teach Aural skills and Quizlet to teach vocabulary.
Generally I teach beginners, but I also teach intermediate students sometimes. I started teaching in 2002, and I worked in primary schools for around 10 years. Since then, I’ve taught privately. I teach in my home in Hornsby, or online. I have a WWCC, an NDISWC, and a National Police Check. I have my First Aid Certificate with a speciality in Education and Care.
If you’d like to contact me, my phone number is 0424 722 727 the best way to reach me is via sms. Leave a message if you do call, because I can’t answer when I’m teaching.
I charge $60 per hour, or pro-rata for online lessons or lessons in my home.
If you have some kind of disadvantage such as being on Centrelink with a child who wants to learn, or are an Indigenous Australian, I offer two different types of scholarships. They are both conditional, but it will give you free lessons for 1 year. Send me an email if you need that.