Inspiring Sounds Music Studio

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Muskoka's loss is Barrie's gain. Wing Chow, an established music teacher in practice for the past 12 years in Bracebridge, has relocated to Barrie area and opened a new studio in the south end called Inspiring Sounds Music Studio.

 

Chow and her students are familiar with this area and have participated, won awards and scholarships from the Barrie Music Festival, Orillia Kiwanis Music Festival and South Simcoe

Arts Council Music Festival. They have also worked together to raise more than $12,000 for local charities through two annual concerts. Chow hopes to do the same in Barrie.

 

"For me, I like teaching children. You can use your musical talent to do a lot of things: make people happy and help other people," said Chow, who is enjoying living in Barrie and feels the music standards here are very high. "There are a lot of good teachers. I love living in Barrie."

 

Chow has always been attracted to the education side of music and has enjoyed working with children as young as three years old. For her new studio in Barrie, she has introduced a new piano program called WunderKeys for preschoolers. She said it will provide young children with a good head start and solid foundation in music and math.

 

She teaches a wide variety of music, styles and periods from classical to Broadway, folk, popular, jazz and contemporary and prepares her students for Royal Conservatory exams, music festivals, recitals and public performances throughout the year. Her piano and singing students have also won awards at the provincial levels and many have achieved high standards with Royal Conservatory exams. Some, such as Daevyd Pepper, a well-known young Canadian tenor, have been accepted to post-secondary music programs at the University of Toronto, York University and Sheridan College.

 

Chow was born in Hong Kong and started taking piano lessons in a time when not many children had the opportunity to take music lessons. It was her parents' idea but she grew to love playing the piano. A good teacher helped. So did her early accomplishments, doing well at recitals and winning awards and competitions. Today, some 30 years later, she still keeps in touch with her first piano teachers.

 

By 16, she was studying music at the Hong Kong Baptist University but wasn't able to acquire a degree because she immigrated to Canada at 18 and spent the next year and a half learning English. At the University of Calgary, her first degree in linguistics focused on child language development and her second degree was in elementary education.

 

Chow did a graduate program in Kodaly Music Education in order to become a music specialist with the Calgary Board of Education. She taught elementary school music, from Kindergarten to grade 6, until she moved to Bracebridge in 2004 and started her own music studio teaching piano, voice, theory and music theatre.

Chow's Inspiring Sounds Music Studio is located in the Holly area of Barrie.

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​Festive tunes at farewell

concert for Inspiring

Sounds in Bracebridge

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http://www.muskokaregion.com/news-story/6991268-festive-tunes-at-farewell-concert-for-inspiring-sounds-in-bracebridge/

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Students bid farewell by giving Wing a wonderful group gift

BRACEBRIDGE – Inspiring Sounds Music Studio hosted its farewell Christmas concert on Nov. 27 at the Bracebridge United Church. Wing Chow, the studio’s director, selected the program of familiar festive tunes and Christmas carols for the near 50 piano and vocal students performing.

Accompanied by a few of her talented students, Wing also sang "‘Til We Meet Again" at the end of the concert, lending a warm yet sombre tone to the afternoon. The audience responded with continuous applause and a standing ovation to show its appreciation. Students bid farewell by giving Wing a wonderful group gift organized by parent Kim Schroeder. Before her final bow, Wing acknowledged all the community organizations and individuals, who, over the years, helped her bring music to life in the hearts and minds of so many of Muskoka’s young people.

And in keeping with this Christmas concert’s tradition, $700 in concert proceeds was donated to the Salvation Army Food Drive.

After 12 successful years mentoring, instructing and leading our young people through rewarding music experiences, a job transfer has forced Wing to close the Studio. For those of us who have come to benefit from Wing’s contribution to our community, she and her Studio will be deeply missed.

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Fareewell Concert in Bracebridge

Debbie Moore/Photo

Inspiring Sounds Music Studio students and families say goodbye to director Wing Chow and her husband, Alan Chow, at the Farewell Christmas Concert on Nov. 27 at Bracebridge United Church.  After providing quality music education for the past 12 years to young musicians from across Muskoka, she will be closing her Bracebridge studio and will be opening the studio again at a new location in Barrie in Feb 2017.

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Bracebridge Examiner

By Cathy Guthrie

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