MEET SUSAN MANDER

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Susan discovered the art of teaching at the age of 15, having achieved her Grade 9 in five years, and has taught ever since!  She believes that the early years of piano lessons should be fun, and should motivate the young player with a wide variety of pieces, developing an appreciation of lots of musical styles!

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It is important to Susan that students love the lessons.  Playing games lets them have fun while learning various elements of music

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Susan feels it is important to have a great rapport with her students, and wants them to love the lessons! She plays games with her pupils, so that they have lots of fun whilst learning various elements of music.

 

Susan earned her Associate Teacher’s diploma before entering the University of Western Ontario. Upon graduating with both her Bachelor of Music degree and Associate Performer’s diploma, Susan moved to London, England where she lived for five years, working at St. John’s Smith Square Concert Hall and performing in chamber music recitals in England and Scotland. She travelled extensively throughout Europe, and attended concerts, recitals, plays, opera and master classes in England, Scotland, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Greece, Austria, Switzerland, Yugoslavia and Russia.

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Susan has examined all levels of piano from Vancouver to St. John’s.  She feels that music festivals should be enriching and rewarding.

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Susan is an examiner and has examined all levels of piano in cities from Vancouver to St. John’s Newfoundland. She believes in making the examination experience a positive one and does her best to put the candidate at ease!

 

Susan loves adjudicating, and has judged music festivals across Canada, including Contemporary Music Showcase and the Provincial Finals several times. She is always positive when adjudicating and feels that music festivals should be an enriching and rewarding experience for young people.

 

She has also written several volumes of books for the beginning pianist, which contain compositions ideally suited to develop good sight reading skills and take a young person through the first two years of piano study.

 

Susan has written a complete set of books, Musicianship Skills for the Superstar Pianist, Levels 1 to 10, which contain comprehensive exercises in all aspects of aural skills, vocalization, transposition, harmonization, improvisation and piano technique. She believes that these musicianship skills are fundamentally important to the developing pianist and should be part of everyone’s daily practise of this wonderful instrument!

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Sight reading is the greatest skill a pianist can have.  Susan gives students a wide variety of pieces each week not just the ones required for skill levels.

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Susan believes that sight reading is the greatest skill that a pianist can have and nurturing that ability in a person of any age is her fundamental goal. With that in mind, she gives her students a wide variety of pieces each week, to help motivate them to have fun at the piano!

 

Susan believes that the piano can be a life long art, from ages 5 to 95, and welcomes students of all ages with the hope that all who study with her can have that life long appreciation for music and this wonderful instrument!

 

In her studio, Susan has two pianos, and this allows her to help her students uniquely with a new pieces, for example, by playing one hand on one piano, while her student plays the other on the second piano.

 

She plays duets with her pupils at most lessons, to encourage good sight reading skills, and have lots of fun!

 

Susan loves jazz, and inspires her pupils to enjoy that genre of music as much as she can!

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Susan has become adept at providing online lessons and has some students world wide.  This suits students in challenging locations who need her level of teaching which may not be available locally.

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Throughout the pandemic, Susan conducted lessons very successfully online with Zoom, and this platform has become a viable alternative to in person lessons when a student is not able to travel to a lesson.

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Susan performs a wide variety of chamber music with the Kingston Piano Trio.

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Susan is the pianist of the Kingston Piano Trio with violinist, Andrew Dicker and cellist Jeff Hamacher. She adores the genre of chamber music and the wide variety of works that inspire her to go to the piano every day!