Music teacher seeks to inspire

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This article was published 20/06/2016 (3438 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Julianne Warkentin-Dick said she can easily tell when one of her students — whether a child or adult — is lying to her about practising between lessons.

However, she doesn’t give up on any of her piano students because sometimes they suddenly become more motivated.

“Something will click and they’ll take off like a rocket,” she said.

Warkentin-Dick now lives in Headingley, having moved there with her family from Portage la Prairie in 2012. She grew up near Oakville and started teaching piano lessons while in high school.

“I knew that I loved teaching,” she said. “I started my own private teaching studio and never looked back.”

Warkentin-Dick earned an Associate of the Royal Conservatory of Music diploma in piano performance and is qualified to teach students up to the Royal Conservatory’s Grade 10 level.
While she also teaches outside her home, she spends the majority of her instruction time with students at her white Yamaha baby grand piano.

“I really like the flexibility of having students come to my house and having my own studio.”
She feels she’s able to play a role in some young students’ lives.

“You have that one-on-one with the child and you’re in their life for so long,” she said. “You get to have a real impact on their life too.”

Warkentin-Dick said she gets adults who have taken lessons as children, and also those who have never played a note.

“It (learning to play the piano) has always been on their bucket list.”

Warkentin-Dick trained as an adjudicator and has judged piano performances at Manitoba arts festivals since 2011. She said she enjoys the role and views it as a way to encourage aspiring musicians.

“It’s a real privilege to do it,” she said.

Her most recent musical adventure is composing, and is now working on a second book of piano tunes for children with Glory St. Germain, owner of Ultimate Music Theory. The first book, called Peculiar Pets, contains simple tunes each named after an animal and designed to teach a specific scale or key.

Warkentin-Dick’s original compositions have been published in Canadian National Conservatory piano books. She was thrilled when Gareth Rice, from Portage la Prairie, and Katie Blight, from Oakville, won first place in each of their categories after performing two of her compositions.

She said she’s sometimes inspired to compose when looking at a painting or photo. Her piece, Gray Sky, was the result of images she saw following the terrorist attack on and subsequent collapse of the World Trade Center’s twin towers in New York City.

Warkentin-Dick plans to keep exploring the link between artwork and music as her own musical career evolves.

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