Education - Studies
- ARCT (Piano Performance), The Royal Conservatory
- BMus (Piano Performance), University of Regina
Teaching
Nancy Nowosad maintains a large private studio in her home, where she teaches all levels of piano and rudiments to children and adults, as well as some saxophone. Ms. Nowosad also teaches piano and saxophone through private music lesson programs at three Winnipeg schools.
Nancy grew up in small towns in rural Saskatchewan and was fortunate to have qualified teachers wherever she lived. Through high school she studied piano with Lyell Gustin at his Summer Piano School, and through university, with Dorothy Bee. Nancy's saxophone teachers were Marvin Eckroth, Barb Acorn, and Thomas Schudel. She also studied flute with Jane Schudel. Because the music department at U of R was small, several other teachers there influenced her musical growth, including William Moore, Thomas Manshardt, Ed Lewis, Richard Raum, and Bruce Lobaugh. Ms. Nowosad has attended many piano workshops and master classes throughout her teaching career, with clinicians Edward Parker, Robin Wood, Winnifred Scott Wood, Robert Silverman, Jon Kimura Parker, Angela Cheng, Jamie Parker, Christopher Norton, Thomas Green, Peteris Zarins, Kent McWilliams, and Ann Crosby. She is a regular attender of CFMTA conventions as well as other workshops and master classes.
Nancy Nowosad has presented several piano master classes for the Manitoba Conservatory of Music and Arts, the University of Manitoba preparatory studies division, and the Manitoba Registered Music Teachers' Association, as well as adjudication sessions at music festivals. She has given workshop presentations on Royal Conservatory exams to MRMTA and the local Conservatory Alumni Association, as well as a workshop on behalf of The Conservatory on the Preparatory A and B levels. Nancy has also presented workshops on studio organization for both MCMA and MRMTA, and has adjudicated workshops for the Associated Manitoba Arts Festivals, including Adjudicating Outside a Specialty Discipline. Over the years she has done many saxophone clinics and workshops, including with the Regina Lions Bands and Regina Catholic Schools Bands while in university and DND Schools while living in Germany.
Ms. Nowosad has adjudicated at music festivals for over twenty years in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and western Ontario, mainly piano and band, but also voice, strings, and guitar at small festivals. One year when she was in Victoria examining for The Conservatory she was asked to adjudicate at the Madeline Till Competition. She worked for the Associated Manitoba Arts Festivals for many years as the facilitator and as a mentor adjudicator for their adjudicator training program. She has also been a mentor examiner for The Royal Conservatory.
Current performance activities are mainly as a church musician (organ and piano), a festival/recital/exam accompanist, and as part of a seventeen-piece "big band" for which she plays keyboard. Ms. Nowosad performs in her students' recitals, and with a colleague at her yearly duet recital. She has done some two-piano work; performances include Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue and selections from Saint-Saens' Carnival of the Animals. She has played organ for several performances of Handel's Messiah at local churches, as well as performances of repertoire for organ and brass quintet, and performed in one of her local RCCO's Lenten Series.
Nancy Nowosad has held many executive positions with the MRMTA, including president at both branch and provincial levels. Currently she serves as the membership convenor of the local chapter of the Royal Canadian College of Organists. For the past three years she has been a member of the board of directors of the Winnipeg Music Festival.
Professional Affiliations
- Manitoba Registered Music Teachers' Association (MRMTA)
- Royal Canadian College of Organists (RCCO)
- Canadian Music Festival Adjudicators' Association (CMFAA)