Music: An Essential Part of Life
My exposure to music began before birth – my older brother and sister learned Suzuki violin from the age of 3, with our grandmother as their teacher. So for me, music is part of life and an important way of expressing myself. Learning the Suzuki method from an early age has given me a fantastic basis for all learning. And now that I’m a mother to twin girls, I am enjoying the opportunity to give them the same strong foundations for future learning.
I studied Suzuki violin, first through my Grandmother Joyce Churchill, and later with Yasuki Nakamura, until I was 18 years old. I also took up singing during my teenage years, which has become a strong passion for me. I believe it is because of my early exposure to beautiful classical music that my passion for music extends across a wide range of musical genres. Of course I enjoy listening to and playing classical music, but my other major interest is musical theatre and I have participated in various productions with Willoughby Theatre Company including The Boy From Oz, Les Miserables, and The Phantom of the Opera – and enjoyed singing from the pit in Manly Musical Society’s production of Wicked.
One of the most important aspects of being a teacher, or in fact any kind of professional, is continued learning. My training as a teacher is ongoing, and I am interested in incorporating many different aspects of early childhood education into my classes. As a parent of twins, now both learning the violin, a different aspect of my continuing education has begun!