Background Knowledge
My background is in music on paper, but off paper I have many skills that are suitable to certain areas of the curriculum. For the purposes of this page, I will go through them one at a time.
Music:
I have pursued music since I was in elementary school. I have sung for over 15 years, and I have played all of the woodwind instruments to some degree of ability. I have pursued some guitar, and some strings (although I would not call myself competent in either), and I acquired RCM Piano Grade 7. During high school, I played flute, piccolo, trumpet, alto saxophone, tenor saxophone, trombone, and euphonium in junior band and senior band. During my undergraduate degree, I played clarinet, bass clarinet, euphonium, in orchestra and symphonic band, and during the methods courses for woodwinds I played bassoon, oboe, Tuba, and French Horn. After I finished this degree, I played French Horn for my senior band back home and then stepped in with the community orchestra for one concert at the behest of my old voice teacher. During my bachelor degree, my primary instrument of focus was Voice. I have done my RCM Voice up to grade 10, and I sang a half and a full recital in my last two years of my bachelor degree. During this degree I also sang the role of Mother in Hänsel und Gretel by Humperdinck. In my masters degree, I continued to pursue Voice and dropped all the instruments I had been playing to focus only on singing. I sang two full recitals during this degree, sang in two operas, and went to a summer program in Italy called La Musica Lirica to sing a title role in a Rossini opera called L’italiana in Algeri. After this degree, I was immediately accepted into Calgary Opera’s Emerging Artist Development Program after auditioning. Only six new singers were taken from over 500 auditions. During this program I worked with and learned from many professionals, sang in multiple operas, sang smaller shows, sang two touring school shows, and many other small commitments.
English:
I am a writer. I have been since I was 12 years old. Accumulatively, I have written over a million words in short stories, poetry, online, and original stories. The current novel I aim to publish I have completely rewritten seven times. The seventh version that I am currently polishing for the querying process has been drafted six times. In addition to writing a lot, I am an avid reader. As such, I feel that I am suitable for teaching the English curriculum, and this was proven during my second practicum teaching New Media 11.
Textiles:
I am self-taught in crochet, nadelbinding, knitting, weaving, spinning, embroidery, hand-sewing, and machine-sewing. As such, I have many of the skills necessary for teaching a textiles class.
Drama:
I have had classes during my masters degree focusing on stage movement and acting for the stage. During my time at Calgary Opera, we also had multiple workshops and masterclasses focused on acting. In addition, we got to work with established and up and coming directors in Canada. All of this professional and school training makes me a competent choice for a drama class.