V. 01 (Updated: November 30th, 2020)
- Day Job: Piano Teacher (13 yrs)
- Old Side Job: Singer (corporate gigs, bars, restaurants, weddings, commercials, you name it)
- Education: Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in Classical Piano Performance
- Piano (26 yrs), Voice (15 yrs)
- Performance Experience: Started 27 years ago (with a big honking hiatus currently)
- Currently: Creating my own teaching method and founded September Hall - a music school
That’s me in the most concise and current form, no frills involved and in the shallowest of waters. However, if you feel like getting to know me one level deeper, forge on, friend.
I was born in the midst of a snowstorm - is what I’ve been told - in downtown Toronto. I came into the world quiet and eyes taking in my surroundings - again, is what I’ve been told. Seems truthful enough since these are the first two signs of my personality at its core - a quietly observant introvert.I personally believe that through your years, aspects of your personality is built upon through experiences yet your character rarely changes from when you’re young. At least, that’s my theory anywaySo, to explain myself in the best way I know how, my first handful of memories will sum up my character and the beginnings of my personality rather well, I think.
My first memory is being on stage for the first time and to this day, performing is something I love and miss a great deal right now during my hiatus. My second, asking my dad on the phone for piano lessons. I’m a piano teacher who majored in Classical Piano Performance and is creating her own piano method so it’s obvious how that part of the story turns out. My third memory is pushing a chair twice my size over to the bathroom where my grandmother, who tweaked her back getting up, was stuck on the toilet (I’m sorry grandma, may you RIP but I am quite proud of this memory). That may seem insignificant and out of left field but it proves to me that even at a young age, I’m wired with a need to help in whatever ways that I can.
Where am I, my fourth memory? It’s really a few memories rolled into one but we'll call it the fourth anyway. I remember a few instances where I was upset that my cousins were getting attention over me. I would like to think I wasn’t an attention hog but as an only child, some people are quick to assume I’m self-involved and spoiled. Now that I look back though, how I interpret it is a need to be seen. I’ve always had a need “to be seen”, in the words of my therapist. It’s a bit contradictory to the stereotypical introverted nature but let me try to explain. For example, I am thoroughly happy when someone compliments me on an outfit that I am proud of putting together yet having people singing ‘Happy Birthday’ to me is a bloody nightmare at the best of times.Does that make a lick of sense?
Finally, to my fifth memory (or it could be my eighth, the timeline’s a little blurry at this point), I remember it like it was yesterday. I was being gently encouraged by my mom to play with her friends’ kids. Despite not wanting to because I was painfully shy, I did so anyway. I made my way up the stairs with everyone and they told me they’d be playing with make-up. When I told them I didn’t want to wear any make-up, they said that if I didn’t, I wouldn’t be allowed in. I refused and remember looking up at the doorknob that was just above my eye level when the door closed in my face. Walking back down the stairs and back to the couch, my mom asked, “You don’t want to play?” All I said was a quiet no and sat back down with the adults. I am forever grateful that neither of my parents, who are both musicians and partied harder than I've ever partied, never forced me to be sociable with those I didn't want to befriend or if I preferred to be alone. That last memory cemented how I navigate social interactions to my present day.
And there we have it, me in a nutshell. I may have strayed here and there but these five memories (save a couple that I feel like shouldn’t be shared unless I write an autobiography) are everything you need to know about who I am - from my struggles with anxiety, to my current occupation, to my goals and passions - everything was a chain reaction from those exact moments. It’s a crash course on me, so to speak.
If you’ve been interested thus far, I hope you stick around and one day find something that connects with you here. And, of course, many thank you's for being interested in, well...me.
Until then,
Stay bold and beautifully weird.
