Frances Saxby
Frances Saxby
Education - Studies
- ARCT (Teacher's), The Royal Conservatory
- Photography Diploma, Niagara College
Since 1991 Frances Saxby has taught piano privately in a self-sufficient music studio attached to her home. She also taught harmony, history, and rudiments (three levels) for many years. At one time she maintained a thriving music studio with over fifty students, but recently downsized her studio for personal reasons and teaches only rudiments.
Ms. Saxby's piano teachers included Myrtle Guerrero and Earle Moss in Toronto and Jacqueline Dingman and Rivoli Iesulauro in Niagara Falls. She studied theoretical subjects at The Royal Conservatory with William Andrews, Joe Ringhofer, and Anthony Dawson, and had the pleasure of participating in performance master classes conducted by Boyanna Toyich at The Conservatory Community School.
The highlight of her career came in 2007 in Toronto when she teamed up with Scott Price of the University of South Carolina School of Music to present a lecture at the CFMTA/RCM Collaborative Conference entitled "I Have Tourette's But Tourette's Doesn't Have Me." The presentation showcased one of her students who lives with Tourette's Syndrome. (This student is currently majoring in music education at a university in the United States.) Recently Ms. Saxby gave a lecture to pedagogy students at the Music Department of Brock University on her experience of teaching students with special needs that was well received.
Frances enjoyed adjudicating piano classes at both the Barrie and Windsor-Essex Music Festivals in 2004 and 2005 respectively, but was unable to continue adjudicating owing of personal circumstances.
She performs along with her students at seniors' residences in the Niagara region and previously played the organ in two churches.
Ms. Saxby completed a three-year tenure with the Royal Conservatory Examinations Council of Examiners. She was a former examiner with Conservatory Canada and a member of the ORMTA Board of Examiners. Frances believes in continuing education and as such has taken several general interest courses in computers, writing, and photography, and regularly attends The Art of Teaching and ORMTA conventions. She has served in executive capacities for ORMTA, and as an enthusiastic advocate of contemporary music she served on the Board of Directors of the Alliance for Canadian New Music Projects.
Frances is the proud recipient of the ORMTA Special Teachers' Award (2011). She is not only a practical examiner (piano) for The Conservatory in Canada but also for the Carnegie Hall Royal Conservatory Achievement Program. Frances Saxby served on the Music Selection Committee for the Niagara Falls Kiwanis Music Festival for many years and was the co-founder of Contemporary Showcase in the Niagara region.
Professional Affiliations