About Owen
Owen, specializing in organ and piano, offers personalized lessons both online and in the comfort of your home. Pursuing organ performance and a minor in choral conducting at McGill University. He started piano at 5, organ at 11, and holds associate degrees in Piano and Organ performance from Conservatory Canada. With extensive experience as a church musician, accompanist, and teacher, he's well-versed in classical and contemporary styles. Owen's studies include choral conducting, harpsichord, theory, history, and improvisation. Whether you're a beginner or an advanced student, Owen is dedicated to helping you realize your innate musicality and reach your full potential. Book an interview now!
BOOK AN INTERVIEW WITH OWEN NOW
Every person has an innate sense of musicality that can be realized when a healthy and safe learning environment has been made. Creating a space where students feel comfortable and engaged with what they are doing is essential to my teaching philosophy. I believe each student learns differently and requires different challenges to engage in lessons fully. Some students might enjoy learning new pieces and receiving information on the background and history of a piece, whereas some students prefer to engage more deeply with the music they know and enjoy. Both are ways of engaging with one's personal musicality. Learning music and playing an instrument is a skill that everyone should undertake, not just because it is a means of self-expression but also because of the skills it builds that can be applied in other areas. Taking a task that seems immense and overwhelming and breaking it down into smaller and more decipherable chunks is invaluable to everything I do. This is a skill I learned while studying music and a skill I teach to all my students. In my lessons, I take a broad look at our tasks and make them relevant to young students outside of music.
Name: Owen (Full name will be provided upon registration)
Age: 23
Gender: male
I am currently studying Organ performance at McGill University and pursuing a minor in choral conducting (expected graduation ‘23). I began studying piano at age 5 and organ at age 11, and have been working as a church musician, accompanist, and teacher for 6 years. I have two associate’s degrees from Conservatory Canada (ACCM or ARCT equivalent), One in Piano performance and the other in Organ performance. Formally I am trained as a classical musician but informally I have a variety of experiences including leading praise bands and playing bass for a bluegrass duo, these experiences gave me insight into a variety of styles of music which I find useful in my teaching. At Mcgill, I have studied choral conducting, harpsichord and piano accompaniment, Music theory, Music history, improvisation, and Pieces from the 16th century to present day. I am currently employed at Christ Church Cathedral in Downtown Montreal as Organ Scholar and excited to grow a large teaching studio!
-The Paul Westermeyer Hymn and service Playing award ( Awarded By Lutheran Social Services London) 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019 -D.F. Cooke award for HIghest combined average on practical and written associate examinations for that year (2019) from Conservatory Canada
- Choral Conducting - Harpsichord and continuo realisation - musicianship skills (transpositions, improv, open score reading, sight reading, ear training, etc) - Guitar , violin, banjo , mandolin, clarinet - Music theory - Pop music, Jazz and blues, bluegrass and folk
English
Rates and Studio Policies
Registration Fee: $25.00 (One-time lifetime registration fee may be used by all family members)
Rates for instruction:
30 minute private lesson: $39.00
45 minute private lesson: $49.00
60 minute private lesson: $59.00
Travel charge: additional $15.00 per visit (for lessons in a client's home as opposed to my studio)
1. Cancellation Policy
Lessons not cancelled or rescheduled with at least 24 hours notice are billable to the client and payable to the teacher. This does not of course apply to travel fees unless the notice is effectively given at the door and the teacher has travelled to the location.
2. Cessation (quitting) Policy
A client must provide a 2 lesson notice period to stop lessons. So a weekly student needs to give 2 weeks of notice, a biweekly student works out to 3 weeks notice and a twice weekly student works out to a week of notice.
3. Illness Policy
Lessons cancelled due to illness or extraordinary circumstances with less than 24 hours notice remain billable to the client and payable to the teacher.
BAH teachers are encouraged to offer a make-up lesson at a future date in the interest of client relations and general goodwill. This only makes sense as teaching a student with the flu for example, will ruin the rest of your week's employment.
No more than 2 lessons may be made up due to illness within a 60 day period.
4. Rescheduling Policy
Any lesson can be cancelled or rescheduled with at least 24 hours notice.
Summer Vacation and Extended Absence Policy
Clients may schedule longer absences for trips etc. 24 hours notice is required.
It is normal and typical for students and about 20% of our teachers to schedule a break in the summer. We do not enforce a notice period (see cessation of lessons) at the end of a long summer break.
5. Evaluation Period
There are no free trial lessons with Beethoven at Home but we do offer a 2 lesson evaluation period where it is easy to try out a teacher. There are no free lessons during the evaluation period and clients may choose to discontinue the lessons at any time by providing the required 24 hours notice. After the student's 3rd lesson the required 2 lesson notice period will apply (see cessation of lessons above).
Lessons in your home
Owen is available to teach in your home if you are located in the following areas
Online lessons
Owen can provide online instruction. While other platforms are possible BAH strongly recommends the use of the Zoom video conferencing platform as it is optimized for music lessons and audio quality.