Judy Teto has earned a musical hat trick.
Not only has she added two more medals from Conservatory Canada for music history to her collection, she is the proud winner of the Dale Wheeler Music History Scholarship – a scholarship awarded through the Alberta Piano Teachers Association.
“The first one was for History 6 and I have now won the award for History 5 and History 7,” she says. “I’ve won all of the history awards you can possibly win, I think.”
Teto says she has been “working like mad” to fulfil all of the requirements for a degree in classical singing.
“This is part of it and I discovered that I really love music history,” she says, noting she scored a perfect 100 for History 5 and 6, and 95 for the third course. “It’s much tougher because there’s more essay questions.”
Another “win” of a sorts is that Teto has been asked to be soprano soloist for Monashee Chamber Choir’s Spring 2012 production a “Concert For Peace,” which will give her an opportunity to sing one of the pieces she will be working on for her degree.
With a heavy workload of difficult songs from such composers as Puccini and Bach, Teto believes it will take another 18 months to complete the course.
In the meantime, the singer is ready to teach young folks a thing or two about singing.
She is ready and able to teach anyone from the age of 12 to 99.
Teto says she has found that the necessary emotional development, stamina and willingness to practise are not normally in evidence before the age of 12. She uses the Conservatory Canada syllabus, which includes a book for each grade with songs appropriate for each level.
Sessions include vocal exercises and songs, musicianship and basic music theory.
“They’ll learn how to read music and how to sight sing,” she says. Teto says students will also learn how to develop their ear and will have “a whole lot of fun in the process.”
For more information, call 250-832-3085.