Meet Sue van Wetten, ARCT

When children learn music in a fun-filled environment, they carry it with them for the rest of their lives.

Games and hands-on activities are an integral part of my teaching style. Children learn best when they are having fun.

I want students to love learning music and playing the piano. I teach popular music and easy/intermediate versions of well-known classical pieces they know and love. 

I supplement with fantastic music from many composers so students are exposed to a wide variety of music styles and genres. Long after they finish music lessons, students will have a repertoire of pieces that will mean something to them.

See the Studio Where My Students Learn

What I believe about teaching piano and music

Music and piano lessons is much more than learning to play ~ it’s about using music, the piano, the discipline of practicing and joy of learning as a catalyst to help students fulfill their potential.
Music lessons should be fun. I teach through games—on and off the piano bench—using visual, auditory and kinesthetic activities.
Parental involvement: When parents of beginners are involved both at their child’s piano lesson and with home practising, I have found students are more excited, committed and progress more consistently.
Creating a sense of community: Piano can be a solitary activity. I use Piano Parties to create community. My students love to see, hear each other and play games. 
Knowing my students as people: How children feel can have such an impact on their music experience every day. Together we take time to share our day before and after lessons. And sometimes … just for fun … I write piano compositions for their stuffed animals!
Learning music extends beyond the keyboard. Students compose, improvise, transpose, learn how to play lead sheets and play popular music!  I encourage them to borrow from my music lending library. Exams will happen occasionally through Conservatory Canada – but this is not my focus.

My Musical Journey

I was lucky enough to grow up in a home which had a baby grand piano. When my mother played a Chopin Nocturne, I would lean against the piano and something inside me was fierce to learn to play the piano. I was five years old.

Even though I asked for piano lessons from the age of five, my mother wouldn’t let me start until I was nine and a half years old.  She thought I wouldn’t practice! She was wrong.

Piano meant so much to me that I travelled an hour and a half (three buses) each way to go to piano lessons.  

Ten years after starting lessons, I started my ARCT in Piano Performance, and completed it in ten months—with first class honours.

My Mother’s Baby Grand

Now that you’ve learned a bit about me, I suggest that you review my studio policy.

Read my Piano Studio Policy
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