B.Mus (Humber) in-progress
Adina is a singer-songwriter based in Toronto completing her Bachelor of Music degree at Humber College in vocal performance. Trained classically in piano since the age of 5, she has branched out into pop and jazz as well.
Vocally she is well-versed in many genres including jazz (she loves to scat!), musical theatre, pop, singer-songwriter, country, R&B, and acappella. She has 7 years of choir experience in both chamber and jazz styles. Adina has been writing and singing original songs since the age of 12, and has two singles as well as an EP out on all platforms under the artist name Adina V.
She has performed all across southern Ontario singing with the Toronto All-Star Big Band, as well as at various venues in the GTA with her own jazz duos and trios. As a member of the Cawthra Park Chamber Choir she performed at Roy Thompson Hall with the TSO for two years in a row. At Humber College she is part of the Vocal Jazz Ensemble led by Lisa Martinelli; this group performs advanced repertoire at events like the Ontario Vocal Jazz Festival.
Adina has been teaching music for the past 7 years and loves helping students meet their personal goals while fostering a love of music that lasts forever!
Get to know Adina…Beyond the Bio!
Hobbies: reading, puzzles, video games, painting
Musical Influences: Ella Fitzgerald, Nancy Wilson, Doris Day, Joni Mitchell, Taylor Swift, John Mayer
Favourite Food: Pad Thai
Least favourite food: eggplant
Favourite music: Indie rock and folk
Favourite song: All I Need by Jacob Collier ft. Mahalia & Ty Dolla $ign
Favourite movie: Matilda
Favourite movie music: The Pirates of the Caribbean theme
Favourite Musical: Dear Evan Hansen or The Last Five Years
Best Quote from your teacher: “It’s an amazing and wonderful experience to be able to be intentional about, in the moment, making music”
Favourite Quote: “Even as we are, we are becoming”
Favourite Book: The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo trilogy – Stieg Larsson
Best thing about teaching at ABC: Sharing and fostering a love of music with students of all ages
Latest Homework from Adina
Is Adina Your Teacher?
Sign up now to get your weekly assignments delivered, and never lose your homework sheet again!
Sunday, June 20th, 2021
Sahil
Recommended minutes to practice: 15 minutes a day
What to practice: Beyblade Burst Turbo (piano and singing), March on D-E-F, Mister Bluebird
How to practice it most effectively: For March on D-E-F and Mister Bluebird, we are introducing treble clef notes D, E and F. Note which of these letters are in the spaces (D and F) and the lines (E). When we are stepping, like in these songs, on the staff notes will move from line to space or space to line. On the piano we just play the very next letter (up or down). These songs are just for RH! For Beyblade Burst Turbo, please try playing the chorus (“Gonna take the victory…”) with both RH and LH. The LH chords are:\
- “Gonna take the victory” C major, G major
- “Bursting out in overdrive” E minor, D major
- “The warrior will take the lead” C major, G major
- “Beyblade burst turbo” A major, B major
Then it repeats for the second half! Please remember that LH’s C major and E minor chords come in before the RH melody. You can try singing the melody with lyrics along with the RH melody (take LH out while singing just so you don’t have to focus on 3 things at once!).
Nathalia
Recommended minutes to practice: 10-15 minutes a day
What to practice: Rockin’ Pneumonia and the Boogie Woogie Flu
How to practice it most effectively: You can start off by playing this song hands separately – there is a lot of repetition in the melodic ideas! LH does the same 5th – step up pattern for almost the entire piece, you just have to check if the bottom note is G or low D. Remember that your accidentals last for a whole bar. G is the home note and our key for this piece – RH is often coming back to that 2nd treble clef line. There are many semitones in this song (like from A# to B, or F#-G-G#-A). As always, please try to follow the written fingerings, and use your clef sayings for the lines and spaces if you need help figuring out a note! Feel free to revisit songs like Rockin’ Robin or Bye, Bye, Love over the break. Thank you for your hard work and have a great summer!
Sina
Recommended minutes to practice: 10-15 minutes a day
What to practice: Old Uncle Bill, Love Somebody, reading ahead in your book!
How to practice it most effectively: For Old Uncle Bill, LH is playing together intervals (either a 2nd, 3rd, or 4th) while RH has the melody. RH make sure you hold your dotted half note while LH plays underneath. For Love Somebody, be really careful with the direction each hand is moving in when they play together. RH, do your best to play connected under the slurs. You’re absolutely ready to read ahead in your book this summer, as you move into playing with intervals like 5ths. Thank you for all your hard work and enjoy your summer break!
Tuesday, June 15th, 2021
Anaya
Recommended minutes to practice: 10-15 minutes a day
What to practice: Play a Third, Puppies and Guppies
How to practice it most effectively: For Play a Third, please be careful with the last bars for each hand (there is always a combination of steps and skips). Remember that skips move line to line or space to space, and we skip a finger number as well as a key. In Puppies and Guppies, the first 2 bars are all skips, and the next 2 are all steps. It would be helpful to point with your opposite hand to help you see the directions and any repeated notes.
Saskia
Recommended minutes to practice: 10-15 minutes a day
What to practice: ooh-ah 5ths warmup *going up only*, Little Do You Know, My Girl
How to practice it most effectively: for the warmup, please only go as high as A5 as your bottom note. Anytime you feel straining you don’t have to continue! See if you can exaggerate the slide between your bottom and top note. For Little Do You Know, play around with trying to sing the guy part in chorus 2 and 3, then the girl part. For her part (I know it’s a little quieter), your guide note for the 2nd chorus is E4, and your guide note for the 3rd chorus is G4. Please continue to sing My Girl with the lyric video I linked last week – we will start with this one next class.
Gianna
Recommended minutes to practice: 15 minutes a day
What to practice: warmups, Do a Deer, Michelle, So Long Farewell
How to practice it most effectively: A great warmup to continue doing is the skips warmup, which starts on C-E-G-E-C, using “ya-ya-ya” then moves up to D-F-A, E-G-B, etc. For Do a Deer, see if you can find a lyric video to help you learn the beginning verse section as well as the cute little ending. In Michelle, the French lyrics are “sont les mots qui vont tres bien ensemble” – try practicing speaking these a few times for pronunciation before singing them. Here is a lyric video for So Long, Farewell to start working with:
Ken
Recommended minutes to practice: 15 minutes a day
What to practice: scales, Court Dance, and finishing the rest of the “Theory” scales on page 5.
How to practice it most effectively: Please continue to play G major and F major scales hands separately; you can put C major hands together. Notice how the finger 3s line up together on E and A. For Court Dance, start by playing hands separately for the first part of the week, then try hands together closer to our next lesson. We are no longer in one position for the entire song! Please double check all notes and fingerings by using your sayings (Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge and FACE for treble clef; Good Birds Don’t Fly Away and All Cows Eat Grass for bass clef). See if you can add in the staccato articulation. Please complete the scales with note names and circling the tonic, dominant, and leading tones on page 5.
Steve
Recommended minutes to practice: 15 minutes a day
What to practice: Changing Moods, Sword Dance, Jazz Blast, any other songs you enjoyed from this book!
How to practice it most effectively: For Changing Moods you can now add the D and A position section – as always, take it a moderate speed so all fingers line up between the hands. For Sword Dance, you’re ready to add the fun dynamics in! Please also be careful whenever RH has phrases starting on E (bottom treble line), and remember that bars 13-16 are up the octave. For Jazz Blast, we wrote in the counting for the “2 and” beats. You can try this one hands together, noting when there are flats in the melody. Have a great summer!
Gabe
Recommended minutes to practice: 20 minutes a day
What to practice: Frere Jacques Stands on His Head, Liebestraum, transposing Merry Widow Waltz and Spring!
How to practice it most effectively: For Frere Jacques Stands on His Head, you can try it hands together, noticing how RH’s melody is just repeated in LH. Please remember the Bbs and ties, and don’t rush the eighth note section. For Liebestraum, there are lots of 3rd and 6th intervals. Double check all your accidentals for this one! For fun, take songs you know really well (like Spring and Merry Widow Waltz) and try transposing them to different keys (like G major, D major, F major, etc.) Have a great summer!
Isaac
Recommended minutes to practice: 20 minutes a day
What to practice: Burlesque in G, Pyrenese Melody, revisiting old songs you like!
How to practice it most effectively: For the Burlesque, remember to play LH down the octave! Please hold RH’s eighth notes the full value before playing the sixteenth notes they’re attached to. The last step for this one is working on the fluid transitions between bars. For Pyranese Melody, you’re ready to gradually speed it up! Try thinking of when you hit your A tonic triad. This summer you can try revisiting some of the pieces you enjoyed playing. Have a great summer!
Wednesday, August 11th, 2021
Diya
Recommended minutes to practice: 15-20 minutes a day
What to practice: Mexican Jumping Beans + L’il Liza Jane, C’s Rock, 2 vocal warmups, Reflection
How to practice it most effectively: For fun this week, you can try singing the lyrics while you play the 2 pieces Mexican Jumping Beans and L’il Liza Jane. The new piano piece is C’s Rock, which uses treble, middle, and bass Cs (as well as a few As and Gs for LH). Make sure you’re counting rests and holding all notes their full beat value. For the vocal warmups, continue doing the “ya ya ya” skips warmup, starting on C-E-G-E-C then moving through all the white key positions until A minor position. The other warmup is the sliding down “ah-ah” from E-C then moving each note a semitone down. Feel free to repeat any warmup spots a few times if you didn’t feel great on them right away. For Reflection, please continue singing along to the pink lyric video. The main things we talked about today are: keeping your vowels nice and tall/round at the ending for both the loud and soft versions of “when will my reflection show…”. In terms of breathing in these phrases, best places would be after “show” and after “am”.
Dvorah
Recommended minutes to practice: 10-15 minutes a day
What to practice: page 5 warmup, Little River, Sailing in the Sun
How to practice it most effectively: Continue gently speeding up the warmup every time you play it. This week, try it in both C and G positions! We will keep Little River as a warmup song to really get comfortable doing legato playing. Sailing in the Sun is our new full song; there are many slurs, and some of them go between the hands. RH, please notice your quarter rests. LH be careful when you’re playing B (above the staff) or G (top space). You can use your labeled finger numbers to help you find notes. Feel free to sing along with the lyrics if you’d like!
Oliver
Recommended minutes to practice: 10-15 minutes a day
What to practice: Young Hunter, Skipping in Space
How to practice it most effectively: For Young Hunter, let’s put the whole song hands together! Watch out for when each hand does steps versus when it does skips. For the second line, both hands should be skipping in the same direction (both down, then both up, etc.). For Skipping in Space, we are in 3/4 time, meaning we count to three in each bar; make sure those dotted quarter half notes get all 3 beats, and are much longer than the quarter notes! This song is all skips since we’re just using FACE in the space.
Ken
Recommended minutes to practice: 20 minutes a day
What to practice: F major scale hands together, Cossack Ride, Lunar Eclipse
How to practice it most effectively: For the F major scale, please think of your key signature (Bb) before you jump in and start playing. Remember that finger 1s line up on Cs and finger 3s on Es. For Cossack Ride, you can put the whole song hands together, being extra careful when LH has staccatos while RH has legatos. I’d isolate 3 bars a few times each in this order: easy is bar 4, intermediate is bar 2, and hard is bar 7. Really ground through the RH while LH is bouncy. For bars 25-28, try it with the pedal! Each time there is a “spike” in the pedal bracket, lift and re-press the pedal while the notes above the spike are played. Once articulation feels good, work to speed it up little by little. For new song Lunar Eclipse, watch out for slight changes in LH’s note patterns of the first 3 lines. In bars 17-24 there are moments where RH has two voices in one hand. Please play the top voice stronger and the lwoer voice (plus the LH in these sections) softer. LH should always double check notes on the 7ths intervals. Please only go until bar 24 hands together this week.
Preferred Books for Adina’s Students
Click to buy them here, and they’ll come right to your house! What could be easier?
Alfred's Basic Piano Library Lesson Book 1A
This easy step-by-step method emphasizes correct playing habits and note reading through interval recognition. Lesson Book Level 1A begins by teaching basic keyboard topography and fluent recognition of white key names in relation to black keys. It focuses on simple rhythms and prepares students for intervallic reading with entertaining songs that focus on “same,” “stepping up” and “stepping down.” It then introduces lines and space notes in treble and bass clefs, melodic and harmonic intervals of 2nds, 3rds, 4ths and 5ths, and graduates to reading on the grand staff. It also introduces the flat and sharp signs. This course is most effective when used under the direction of a piano teacher or experienced musician. Songs Include: Balloons * Batter Up! * The Donkey * A Friend Like You * Hand-Bells * A Happy Song * Horse Sense * Totem Pole Song * It’s Halloween! * Jingle Bells! * Jolly Old Saint Nicholas * July the Fourth! * Just a Second! * Love Somebody * Merrily We Roll Along O’er the Deep Blue Sea * Mexican Hat Dance * My Clever Pup * My Fifth * My Robot * Old MacDonald * Old Uncle Bill * Play a Fourth * Raindrops * Rain, Rain! * Rockets * Rockin’ Tune * Rock Song * Sailing * Sea Divers * See-Saws * Skating * Who’s on Third? * Willie and Tillie * Wishing Well * The Zoo
Alfred's Adult Basic All-In-One
Alfred’s Basic Adult All-in-One Course is designed for use with a piano instructor for the beginning student looking for a truly complete piano course. It is a greatly expanded version of Alfred’s Basic Adult Piano Course that will include lesson, theory, and technique in a convenient, “all-in-one” format. This comprehensive course adds such features as isometric hand exercises, finger strengthening drills, and written assignments that reinforce each lesson’s concepts. There is a smooth, logical progression between each lesson, a thorough explanation of chord theory and playing styles, and outstanding extra songs, including folk, classical, and contemporary selections.
The Brown Scale Book
This essential resource includes all major and minor scales, triads, arpeggios, dominant sevenths, and chromatic scales organized by key. A favorite for decades, The Brown Scale Book belongs in every student’s library.
The Real Vocal Book
The Real Vocal Book has many of the selections from Volumes 1 and 2 of the instrumental Real Books, but now with complete lyrics added to the pre-existing melody line. This edition features 300 essential songs arranged for low voice, including: Alfie * All of Me * Autumn Leaves * Bewitched * Bluesette * Don’t Get Around Much Anymore * Fever * Georgia on My Mind * Misty * Moon River * My Funny Valentine * Satin Doll * and more. Looking for a particular song? Check out the Real Book Songfinder here.
