From there, Juliet started to study her secret love: the PIANO! She studied under several classical teachers at home, as well as learning how to chord and improvise with the help of a friend in her church.
While classical studies were good, Juliet discovered the world of pop and jazz when she moved to the big city of Edmonton in 1986. This passion led her to Grant MacEwan Community College where she earned a Diploma in Jazz Studies. During this time, she directed a church music department, trained singers and musicians, played and performed, and taught in a musical theatre school. These activities necessitated the need for custom music charts and arrangements that would work for small orchestras, choirs, and vocal groups, so Julie set about learning the popular music notation software known as Finale.
Excited about the possibilities of the digital music world, she started to explore the new music apps, websites, and software that may be the most useful in regards to writing, arranging, composing, and teaching voice and piano. Juliet says, “These days one can find a piece of music your student wants to perform, download it in the key you need and start to learn it within the first 5 minutes of a lesson, or, one can find an app that provides a back up rhythm section that your up and coming pop pianist can play along with – the possibilities are endless!”
Meanwhile, crafting classes that suit the “student in front of me” is her daily challenge. Julie uses the computer/technology to great advantage with this goal in mind. In the days ahead, Julie hopes to have her talented students perform a few of her arrangements that will eventually be posted on our website – so stay tuned!
In her downtime, she loves to dabble in calligraphy, doodle, read, sip coffee, and decorate: “The world should not only sound good, but it should also look good too!”
