I thought I would add this page so you could all get to know me a little better! 🙂
I am Ms. Karlson, and I am the current music teacher at École Inman Elementary School. Before this school year, I was teaching at École Armstrong Elementary since 2007. I have been teaching in public schools since the year 2000. Previous to that, I taught piano to students privately since I was 14.
My Philosophy
I believe that every human needs some kind of creative outlet. Of course, we will all find different ways to express ourselves, but having a creative outlet is important to our mental and emotional health.
My goal is to help my students explore the arts, especially the performing arts for many reasons.
1. to find a creative outlet that they enjoy
2. to appreciate the effort, dedication and talent it takes to create art
3. to learn self-discipline by seeing creative projects through to completion
4. to learn focus and control to be able to play, sing, dance, act parts in creative works
5. to work together in groups and learn positive social skills
6. to learn to be a good audience for each other (I know that most children will not become a professional performer. But at some point in their life they will probably attend a live show. They need to know how to behave in various venues for various kinds of performance.)
7. to participate positively in whole school activities such as our concerts and plays
8. to become a citizen of the world who appreciates the arts for it’s entertainment value, contribution to society and its social and cultural importance
My Family
I live in East Vancouver with my husband and daughter. My husband is a video game animator, poet, artist and all around great guy! My daughter was born in 2011. She is silly and smart and lots of fun to be around.
I have a cat named Fred. She is the fluffiest cat you would ever meet! I also have two guinea pigs. They are both girls and they are named Calypso and Hestia.
Here are some pictures of my family.
My husband is very silly and fun. He is a video game animator for his work, but he is also a very creative person. He draws, writes stories and poetry and acts. My daughter is involved in many after school activities and does very well in school. She goes to school in Vancouver. She is learning the violin in her strings program at school and she sings in her school choir. My parents were both in the medical industry during their careers. My father is now deceased, but my mother is still alive and lives in Vernon. She exercises a lot, she cooks, bakes, does crafts, sews and is a very fun and caring mom.
I have one sister and she is a Pharmacist. She lives in Creston with her husband and new little kitten named Cinder. She has two grown up children. One is a mechanic and the other is an artist.
Musical History and Training
I began learning music and piano at the age of 4. I didn’t come from a “musical family”. Neither of my parents could play an instrument. They were actually both in the medical profession! They both loved listening to music, but mostly rock and folk music and especially from the 1970s. My mother always wanted to learn the piano, so she put both me and my sister in lessons. My sister got quite frustrated with the piano and didn’t continue past grade 8 piano, but I loved it and continued all the way through the Royal Conservatory of Toronto levels.
When we were teenagers, our piano teacher taught piano out of our house. I was her most advanced student, and she was getting a lot of calls to take on young beginner students, which she didn’t have time for. She saw a teacher in me, and mentored me while I took on these young students. This was my high school job (as was babysitting).
In high school I was in the school band classes and in the after school Concert band. I played the clarinet in band. I remember going on trips to Washington D.C., Disneyland in California and to Williams Lake. I loved being in band in high school!
I loved teaching piano, so I thought I would continue my training after high school to become a teacher. I went to Capilano College (it wasn’t a University at that time) and got my Associate Bachelor of Music Degree there. I was a good student and on a full scholarship. I was in a special choir there as well, which was an amazing learning experience and lots of fun. My minor instrument was the clarinet, because I had started on it in band in high school.
I did the rest of my degree at UBC where I majored in music theory (the study of how music is put together). I graduated in 1996 with a Bachelor of Music degree.
I taught piano privately for 3 years after I graduated. I worked for a company in Maple Ridge called “G&G Music”. It was difficult getting enough students to make a living, so I decided to get my education degree and work at a school instead.
I went back to UBC and got my education degree. I taught my practicum in a grade three class.
Then I got a job in Burnaby and started at Marlborough school in 2000 teaching primary music. I moved around quite a bit trying to find my footing. I taught for a year in Ontario and for two years in Nova Scotia. Ultimately, I missed home and came back to Burnaby. I was so happy to find a home at Armstrong Elementary School!
More recently I completed a Masters Degree in Education from SFU. I did my degree in Arts Education and learned more about teaching all of the arts (and all of our hearts!) It was a wonderful experience and it really helped me bring a more integrated approach to children’s education.
Carl Orff Canada Involvement
I have been involved with a group of music educators in the organization “Carl Orff Canada” for many years. We are dedicated to teaching kids about music in a wholistic, experiential way. Carl Orff was a composer and he opened a music school in Salzburg in the early 1900s. He believed in play and exploration. His pieces also have simple parts, but lots of layers so the kids are successful at playing complicated pieces (because their individual parts are quite simple). I was part of the BC Chapter Board of Directors for 13 years. I was chairperson of the National Orff conference that happened in May 2024 here in BC, at my alma mater, Capilano University. We had almost 300 music teachers from all over Canada attend. There were even some teachers from the US and overseas as well. I am also on the National Mentorship Committee for Carl Orff Canada.
I have given quite a few workshops for the BC Orff Chapter and Burnaby Teacher’s Association. My next goal is to enter the internship program of Carl Orff Canada and become a Levels Teacher to teach other teachers the Orff Process.
Here is a video that tells you succinctly about the Orff approach.
And that is a little bit about your music teacher!