About Susan
Susan is a dedicated piano, voice, and xylophone teacher, offering lessons to students of all ages in Toronto. She holds a Grade X honors diploma from The Royal Conservatory of Music, enabling her to teach students up to grade VIII. Susan is passionate about music education, having also studied Music in Early Childhood and The Orff Method of Music Education. She is committed to creating a safe and joyful learning environment, encouraging her students to play a variety of music fearlessly. Lessons are available online or at Susan's studio, with services tailored to meet each student's unique musical journey.
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Playing piano and singing have been integral parts of my life since childhood. Both of these aspects have brought me endless joy for decades. I learned hundreds of songs every summer at camp and then eventually learned how to play these songs on the piano. Playing piano has brought me continual joy throughout my life. Bringing the joy of playing the piano to all of my students has helped me complete my musical circle of playing, singing, teaching, listening, and being. As a young child lights up when playing "Hot Cross Buns", so do I. As a more advanced student plays a prelude and fugue by J.S. Bach, we both delight in the beauty of the music. My goal as a piano teacher is to create a safe environment for the students to play a variety of music, to play fearlessly as they create music, irregardless of the difficulty of the piece of music. I like to expose my students to classical music, folk tunes, jazz songs so that I can discover where there musical passions lie. I let them know that there are no mistakes, only opportunities. With careful and positive guidance, my students and I grow into pianists with a passion for playing the piano. Playing piano is a life's journey. It is fun, exciting, and teaches perseverance along every step of the way. I hope to share the gifts that I've received along the way as a piano player, a piano teacher, and a lifelong learner with your children and with you.
Name: Susan (Full name will be provided upon registration)
Age: 70's
Gender: female
I began taking piano lessons as a 6-year-old child in Flint, Michigan and immediately fell in love with playing piano. I took a hiatus from the piano at the age of 13. When I moved to Canada in 1976, I began seriously studying piano following the Royal Conservatory of Music curriculum, beginning with grade 1V. My piano teacher encouraged me to teach beginning piano students. As a lifelong Montessori teacher and a lover of playing piano, I took to teaching piano immediately with great joy. I studied at The Royal Conervatory of Music and received my Grade X honors diploma, which allowed me to begin teaching students up through grade VIII. At the conservatory in the summer of 1980 (or so), I took a course with the esteemed Donna Wood in Music in Early Childhood, which expanded my love of teaching music to young children. The following three summers took me back to the conservatory where I studied The Orff Method of Music Education which integrated singing, movement, Orff instruments, and playing the recorder. I received my certificate in teaching The Orff method of music education. Following up with my passion for teaching music to children, I went to the Longy School of Music in Boston the following summer. My passion my music education was sealed as well as my love of piano playing.
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).
Online lessons
Susan 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.
Susan's Studio Location
Susan offers lessons from her studio. Please note that map locations are based on the postal code of the teachers studio. address will be released to you if needed.