About

Circa 1989, Genevieve is tuned by Jo-Anne before a concert in Kitchener Waterloo; now, older and ....older than in this picture, nevertheless, we are both still cute!

I am a cello teacher, sixty-two years old, and I’ve been using the Suzuki Method since 1977. I have been married to John, a recently retired professor of sociology, for twenty-four years and we have four grown children and three grandchildren, some of his, some of mine. Four of our children learned music the Suzuki way, two on violin, and two on cello. It is a tribute to the method’s success that our eldest grandchild, Kai, age 10, is studying in cello Book 5; Malia, 6, is in Book 2 violin and Simon, who turns 2 in September, is considering enrolment in a pre pre-Twinkle class! Our current family at home consists of three very size diverse dogs and a geriatric cat. This year I am teaching twenty-five private students, weekly, for forty-five minutes or an hour each, and all cello group classes for the Oakville Suzuki Association, ON, Canada, with which I have been affiliated since 2004. This page will, I hope, keep the Oakville cello students up-to-date with the goings on in the Oakville Suzuki Cello program. Joining me as co-teacher of group class for her third year is Genevieve Schirm-Joyce,  former student par excellence who brings her  Master’s Degree in Suzuki Cello Pedagogy from the University of Denver to her work with the Oakville cellists. Having taught her since age two, we feel pretty comfortable with each other!