News / Blog

Yes, we have guitar lessons!

Possibly the most often-requested instrument we get asked about, we can finally say yes! Midtown Music School is thrilled to welcome guitarist/composer Richard Fortin to our faculty. You can read his bio, or read on for more information about our latest teacher.

Richard Fortin has a long and storied career in music production, working on everything from television tracks to orchestral works. He is a dedicated teacher, well-rounded and incredibly versatile. It is not often one can say that whatever you want to learn, the teacher can accommodate. But Richard is absolutely capable of teaching you quite literally anything about the guitar you would want to know. A delightful personality and professional, we couldn't be happier to have him on staff. Welcome, Richard!

MTMS Update

It's been a couple of weeks since we last updated, but we've got some very good reasons. We're happy to share some of the latest news with you!

First of all, you may notice the new visual elements to the site. Every page has been updated with proper photos, along with the beautiful new gradient along the edges. We've got some more structural changes to come, to make things even more navigable along with some new features.

Next, our community has absolutely exploded! We've got well over 120 student lessons happening each and every week. On any given night, you'll hear the strains of piano, electric bass, cello and voice lessons echoing through our halls. It's been a wonderful transformation, and we hope to keep it up.

Finally, we're preparing for our Bursary Fundraiser Concert with a new raffle along with the show! We've got some great prizes (seriously, these ones are top notch, with people wondering how we were able to get them!), so we'll be unveiling that soon too.

Thank you all again for being part of our amazing school. If you're new to the site and our school, this is just a small taste of what happens each and every week at Midtown Music School. It's even more fun on the inside!

Guess the Birthday Contest #2!

One of our beloved piano teachers, Mariko Kamachi-Cosbey, is due to have a baby soon! So, following tradition, we're having another contest to guess the baby's actual birthday. Up for grabs is another $25 iTunes gift card!

The baby is due October 1.

All you have to do to win this contest is to go to our Facebook page (either by clicking the blue Facebook button at the top of the page, or by clicking here to visit our Midtown Music School page), "Like" us, and go to the contest post on the Wall. Leave your best guess in the comments. One guess per person!

If multiple people correctly guess the birthday, the winner will be chosen at random from the correct entries. If nobody guesses the correct date, all entries will be entered into a random drawing. Contest closes... well, whenever the baby comes! Good luck to everybody out there.

(And if you aren't on/can't be on Facebook, let us know in person and we'll give you the super-secret email address you can use to enter too!)

MTMS Bursary Concert: October 27

Please join us at our First Annual Bursary Fundraiser Concert. Our goal is to raise $2500 for students within our community. Any unallocated funds at the end of the school year will be donated to the Regent Park Music School.

When: Saturday, October 27 @ 7:30 p.m.

Where: Women’s Art Association Gallery (23 Prince Arthur Ave.)

Cost: $25 per ticket

There will be faculty and student performances, plus some surprise guests!

In addition, there will be a raffle to raise even more! Tickets are $5 each. Prizes include:

Tickets to Opera Atelier's Der Freischutz for their closing night performance on November 3, courtesy of Robert Lowrey Piano Experts
Signed ballet slippers from National Ballet of Canada's principal dancer, Heather Ogden
Tickets for the Annex Quartet's performance at Alliance Francaise at the end of November
A beautiful new piano bench, courtesy of Piano Tune Canada
Two tutorial sessions, courtesy of The Study
A $25 Gift Certificate from Riverdale Mac
A CD from faculty member Joanna Chapman-Smith

(A big thank you to all our sponsors!)

Call (647) 629-6867 or email us for tickets. If you are at the school, please speak to your teacher to purchase tickets for either the concert or the raffle. Thank you for your support, and we look forward to seeing you there!

Special thanks to the Women's Art Association of Canada for supporting us and the arts in our city!

Summer Adventures: Ida Neufeld at Mannes College

While many of you were on vacation, our teachers didn’t stop learning. Earlier this summer, Ida Neufeld, along with colleague and friend of MTMS Karen Quentin, attended the Festival and Competition at Mannes College New School of Music in New York in the week of July 22-28.

“This was an incredible experience for me,” notes Ida. “The master classes were with some of the best professors and international musicians that are in the classical world today.

“In addition to that, every evening there were two concerts - at 6:00 and 8:30p.m - that one could attend.”

The performers were the College’s instructors and professors, as well as international celebrities such as Mark Andre Hamelin.

There was also a student competition. The performing students were from all over the world, including Indonesia, China, Brazil, Argentina, Russia, Singapore, Malaysia, Belarus and more. Many of the instructors were from the former Soviet Union,who achieved recognition there as well as abroad.

Ida’s impressions? “I feel very inspired by what I have learned after attending this excellent institute and can’t wait to share these ideas with my students.”

We can’t wait either.