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Piano students tickled to win gold at Royal Conservatory of Music competition

'I think they could hear my screams of joy all the way down the street,' Taya Koski recalls of hearing the news about multiple gold-medal wins

The term practice makes perfect is pretty close to the truth for three local piano students.

Despite the challenges presented over the last year and a half of having to do the majority of the lessons online, Taya Koski, Jaiden McDonald and Nissita Francis  along with Fiona Weng from Toronto who travels to Barrie for her lessons  persevered and have reaped the rewards of their hard work.

They recently learned that they are the recipients of the 2021 Royal Conservatory of Music (RCM) regional gold medals, prestigious awards given to the student who receives the highest mark in their level on their RCM exam in Ontario from all exam sessions in the year.

“I was very excited and thrilled,” said Cheryl Graham piano teacher and owner of Joyful Sounds Music Studio, where the four have been taking their lessons.

Weng and Koski also both received the rare mark of 98 per cent on their piano exams, winning the gold medal for Ontario. These marks, noted Graham, also won them the national gold medal for the highest mark in all of Canada.

Koski also won the regional (Ontario) gold medal for Level 6 piano with a mark of 95 per cent, while McDonald won the gold medal for Elementary Piano Pedagogy  a first level of the ARCT teacher's diploma (associate diploma). 

McDonald, 18, will also graduate at the RCM convocation this weekend during a virtual ceremony with her ARCT performer's diploma with first-class honours, noted Graham, adding the teen completed both the performers and first level of teachers exam while in Grade 11 high school.

Francis, 19, will also be graduating with her ARCT performer's diploma. She has been taking lessons with Graham since she was four years old, telling BarrieToday piano consumed a huge part of her life growing up.

“I always had something piano-related every day, either a lesson to attend, a competition, a concert, a workshop, an exam," Francis said. 

With the help of her parents and teachers pushing her to reach her potential, Francis has had the honour of winning multiple scholarships and awards over the years in local music festivals and provincial competitions. 

“It is so rewarding to have completed my ARCT in piano performance with the Royal Conservatory of Music. … (It) is the best accomplishment in my life due to how much practice and hard work I had to put in,” she said. “Most importantly, learning piano has helped me discover my true passion for teaching. Despite the hurdles that the pandemic has put in the way, my students are hard-working and dedicated to pushing through this to achieve their goals in music.”

McDonald was also quote young when she started playing piano  taking her first lesson at the age of five. 

“My parents recognized the benefits of music lessons and wanted me to be exposed to music. I was home-schooled all the way from JK until Grade 12 and I always looked forward to practising the piano every day as part of my school routine,’ she said.

McDonald began lessons with Graham after moving to Barrie when she was 11.

“She completely changed the way that I played the piano and gave me a love for music. Since then, music has been such a huge part of my life because it has given me something to be passionate about and it has really inspired me to always do my best and strive to reach my goals," she said. 

"Music was such a great creative outlet for me as a child and it also pushed me out of my comfort zone by giving me opportunities to perform in front of others," McDonald added. "I started teaching a few piano students when I was 13, and now that I have graduated high school, I am teaching piano full-time while I continue my music studies.”

McDonald is proud of her accomplishment, adding she was thrilled to graduate with her ARCT diploma of piano performance as it was the culmination of her many years of hard work. 

“I was also so surprised and thrilled to learn that I won the regional gold medal for the Elementary Piano Pedagogy, which I completed last year. I was definitely not expecting to get the gold medal, and so it was very exciting,” she said. “This fall, I am working toward completing my Intermediate Pedagogy Level and I look forward to continuing to work toward the rest of my ARCT teacher's diploma.”

Koski, who turns 12 this weekend, was five when she began playing. She tells BarrieToday she chose piano for a few reasons.

"We already had a piano in the home; I really love classical music; and it seemed like a very grown-up thing to be able to play piano  once you get good at it," Koski said. "Even from the first days and my earliest lessons, I loved the challenge of learning new things on the piano. I still love the fact that with piano, there is always more to work on.

"Even once you perfect a piece, even after you've performed it, you can keep working to make it even more musical."

Over the years, piano has become more than just a fun activity for her.

"I love that piano gives me a way to make music come to life and even gives me a way to express emotions. Best of all I like seeing the joy that my music brings to others," Koski added. "There is nothing better than knowing others are brought a smile, or even a tear sometimes, when I'm performing. 

"As much as I love performing, though, when I am older, I would like to be a piano teacher like Mrs. Graham."

Koski said she was "shocked and surprised" with the news that she had been awarded not one but two gold medals.

"When my teacher, Mrs. Graham, called to tell us the news, she first told me about the regional gold medal for Grade 6. Then she said, 'Well, I guess that makes three gold medals!' I was really confused, because although I had been awarded the gold medal a few years earlier for Grade 3, and now this one for Grade 6, it seemed to me that this totalled two medals.

"But then Mrs. Graham exclaimed, 'Oh, yes, I do mean three, because you also won for Grade 7, and even better, your mark was the highest in all of Canada," Koski added. "I think they could hear my screams of joy all the way down the street."

These accomplishments take a lot of discipline, Graham acknowledged.

“It also takes perseverance through times when something may be a bit of a struggle and keeping a good attitude for sure," she said. "One of the big things I try to teach my students that may not be as common is really not just learning pieces but how to approach the piano. How to do it so that when they play they feel fre.

“If something becomes a struggle, it’s usually because a student doesn’t know how to practise right. They don’t know how to break it apart, so a big part is teaching them how to practice," Graham added. "Practice does not make perfect… perfect practice makes perfect. And learning techniques that will keep things interesting.”

Graham said she is honoured to be the teacher of all four of the gold medallists. 

“I have had Ontario gold medalists in the past, but to have this many in one year, including national gold medallists, is truly a very rare and special honour," she said.