Piano
Education and awards:
- Began playing piano at four years old
- Classically trained with the Royal Conservatory of Music
- Currently studying level 10 (the final grade) with the RCM
Notable roles/performance experience:
- AJ’s most memorable performance was her first time playing at a jazz club, The Velvet Note
AJ began playing piano when she was only four years old, and she went on to study at the prestigious Royal Conservatory of Music. She is currently finishing up their final grade, level 10, and will be receiving the Associate Diploma of The Royal Conservatory of Music.
As she begins teaching private lessons, AJ is pulling from her experience with Sublo, where she is a software developer. “Something I feel I do well is I give my interns the freedom to explore,” she explains. “Run their hands in the grass. Get their nails dirty. Because when we code-in a screen, sometimes it’s trial and error. I typically guide them in the right direction without just giving the answer outright.”
AJ’s goal as a teacher is to provide her students with a foundation that they can build on, while also letting them experiment on their own to see what other sounds they can create. She believes it’s important to let students really feel and enjoy the process of learning.
AJ has strong advice for students just starting piano regarding comparing themselves to others: “I think it’s very easy to get lost in comparison, like, ‘Hey, this person is X and can do this.’” She continues, “We see the results and not necessarily the struggle to get there. So something I’d emphasize is that every musician has had to start from the very beginning. And every musician’s journey is different.”
AJ has five birds (“going on nine now since there seems to be a mini parakeet dynasty,” she adds), and they’re all named after gemstones. In addition to playing the piano, AJ also plays the synthesizer and shares that she’s been having fun learning and experimenting with sound synthesis.