ERIN MONTGOMERY, MEd, B.MUS, MTA, FAMI, CCC, RCT-C
Owner of Making Music - Voice, Piano, Theory
Erin Montgomery has been teaching music since 1997 when she began as a piano instructor at Iris Rock Studios in Dartmouth. Erin also taught at the Annapolis Academy of Music in Wolfville, as well as at Buckley’s Music Education Center in Halifax before opening her own home-based music studio. She completed a Bachelor of Music as well as a Certificate of Equivalency in Music Therapy at Acadia University.
Erin has studied with Matt Hughes, Heather Price, and Peter Allen on piano as well as Elvira Gonnella, Janet Perry (www.janetperry.com) and James Sugg as a vocalist. She has studied harmony, counterpoint and form & analysis with Dean Bradshaw. In addition of her degrees in music she has completed grade 10 voice and piano through the Royal Conservatory of Music.
Erin has extensive experience preparing students for Royal Conservatory of Music Examinations (practical and theory) as well as for various performances at Festivals and other events. She enjoys teaching classical, popular, jazz, musical theatre, folk and other styles of music.
Erin has performed as a singer with Opera Nova Scotia, Walter Kemp Singers, in the Erin Montgomery Quartet (jazz), in Jazz Generations, as well as in the Atlantic TD Trust Jazz Festival. She was the recipient of a Silver Medal (now Gold Medal) through the Royal Conservatory of Music as well as the winner of the Maritime Association for Teachers of Singing scholarship.
Erin is also an Accredited Music Therapist (MTA), a Fellow of the Association for Music & Imagery (FAMI), and a Registered Counselling Therapist (RCT-C).
In addition to running Making Music, Erin is well known as an employee of Central Zone Nova Scotia Health Authority as a music therapist working in palliative care where she has worked for almost a decade. She is the Ethics Chair for the Atlantic Association for Music Therapy, and the Association for Music & Imagery.
SHAN ARSENAULT
Guitar, Bass
Shan Arsenault, jazz guitarist, composer, and educator was born in Prince Edward Island and raised in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Inspired by his mother’s playing, he took up the guitar at age seven. Mostly self-taught, Shan has spent many years cultivating a unique sound.
Shan has taught at the Canadian Conservatory, Buckley’s Music Education Centre and Making Music. Shan has been a clinician at the Acadia University Jazz Band Camps, taught guitar through HRM Parks and Recreation and has taught at the Nova Scotia Community College’s waterfront campus where they offer a music diploma. Shan teaches virtually all styles of music on guitar.
Over his long career, Shan has performed as a side man with countless musicians earning the reputation of a first-call player. Among the many artists he has performed with are Jeff Healy, Doug Mallory, Doug (Dr. Music) Riley, Jerry Granelli, Terry Hattie, Alfie Zappacosta, Dutch Mason, Kirk MacDonald, Lorne Lofsky, Skip Beckwith, Don Palmer, Chris Mitchell, Joe Sealy, Francois Houle, Han Bennink and the Paul Cram Sextet. He has toured throughout Canada and the U.S. and performed in many of Canada’s Jazz Festivals, including the prestigious Montreal International Jazz Festival.
In 1997 Shan was nominated for an ECMA in the category of “Best Jazz Artist.” Shan received a Music Industry Association of Nova Scotia (MIANS) award for Best Jazz/Blues Recording/Artist for his recording “The Jazz Beat Sessions” (June 2005).
Shan has completed two recordings to date. “The Jazz Beat Sessions” is a compilation of two previously aired sessions for the nationally broadcast CBC program Jazz Beat. The CD includes seven of Shan’s original compositions as well as two standards. Shan is backed up solidly by Jamie Gatti on bass and Tom Roach & Dave Burton on drums. Shan’s second international release “Below Sea Level” was released April 2008. “Below Sea Level” is ten of Shan’s original compositions for jazz guitar trio and quartet.