Project Description
Bachelor of Fine Arts (York University)
Katie Thurman is a singer, pianist, accompanist, and teacher based in Toronto. Her passion for music has been with her since childhood, and she is excited to have recently completed her undergraduate degree in music at York University.
Trained classically in piano, she continues to explore other styles including pop and jazz, as well as write her own compositions. Her vocal training is in both classical and musical theatre styles, as well as lengthy choral experience both in and out of school.
Katie spent 6 years singing with WIBI A Cappella, a collegiate-based group, during her time at York, and is proud to have competed with them twice in the ICCA (the very competition the Pitch Perfect films were based on!). Currently, she sings with the Toronto-based That Choir.
Katie loves all types of music, but spends most of her time listening to pop, indie, and alt-pop records.
Katie also writes her own songs and is working towards putting together an EP. Aside from music, Katie’s other passions include baking, film, and psychology. She loves teaching and is always pushing herself to grow pedagogically and musically!
Get to know Katie…Beyond the Bio!
Hobbies: baking, watching movies/TV, writing, yoga, hiking
Musical influences: Classical: Natalie Dessay, Maria Callas/Pop: Arcade Fire, Lana Del Rey, BANKS, Florence & the Machine, Rhye
Favourite food: Pasta
Least favourite food: Seafood
Favourite music: pop & alt-pop, indie/folk, dance, and all things Celtic
Favourite song: currently “Favourite Boy” by Half Moon Run
Favourite movie: Eighth Grade
Favourite movie music: A Single Man, music composed by Abel Korzeniowski?
Favourite musical theatre/opera: Les Misérables
Best quote from your teacher: Vocal teacher: “Just go for it! We want to hear ‘Katie-and-a-half'”.
Favourite quote: Motivation comes from work
Favourite book: The Handmaid’s Tale
Best thing about teaching at ABC: I like sharing my knowledge with students, and I learn from them too!
Latest Homework from Katie
Is Katie Your Teacher?
Sign up now to get your weekly assignments delivered, and never lose your homework sheet again!
October 20th Assignments
Lucas
How many minutes to practice: 15-30
What to practice: This week Lucas I want you to work on playing the beginning Seven Nation Army up through to the pre-chorus. HERE IS A VIDEO OF ME PLAYING THE PART!
How to practice effectively: This is the transcription of Seven Nation Army and here is a link to the song. This is sounding great Lucas, I love the improvement! For now, don’t worry about the hi-hat. Try to play through with the song all the way through the crash cymbal part in the pre-chorus that we covered today. Remember to play the floor tom and bass drum nice and strong and check out my video if you have any questions to how things sound!
Great work this week Lucas, have fun practicing this week!
Ella
How many minutes to practice: 30
What to practice: Play the second half of the bridge of Paranoid Android as best as you can. Here is the UPDATED transcription and a link to the music And HERE IS A VIDEO OF ME PLAYING THE PART
How to practice effectively: I know you haven’t practiced too much recently but man you’re catching all of this so quickly. I think if you spent a couple sessions this week just covering everything we did you’d be playing it perfectly at tempo! So just focus on going over everything we did today and if you have any questions just check out my video! I play through the whole thing at the end.
Its awesome to see you take on such a challenging song!
Jonah
How many minutes to practice: 30
What to practice: This week Jonah I want you to work on this new accent tap exercise. For Rock With You just keep going through the song and nailing those little fills we looked at today.
How to practice effectively: For the accent tap exercise remember to keep the accents strong, but not tense and the taps should be super low, like one inch, but clear. The sticking for this exercise is alternating RLRLRL the whole time. You can apply this technique to Rock With You! Anytime you have 16th notes on the hi-hat remember to lighten up your touch on the smaller notes but keep the big accented notes like the snare drum nice and strong. Remember to check the fill going into the second pre-chorus and the beat during the bridge.
Awesome as always to see you play today!
Samson
How many minutes to practice: 15-30
What to practice: This week Samson I want you to work through the Accent Tap exercise with the feet and work on trying to get the Dark Red beat up to 0.85 speed on youtube. Here’s a link to the song.
How to practice effectively: Remember with the accent tap exercise that the accents should be strong but not tense and that the taps should be only like one inch off the drum, but still clear. Also remember to lead with the bead of the stick for this exercise and not your elbows or forearms. For the feet, just take things slow, it looks like you had the hang of it in the lesson, keep pushing the tempo! For Dark Red, the right hand on the ride cymbal is doing exactly what its doing on the Accent-Tap exercise, it transfers perfectly. Then just keep bumping the tempo!
Great job this week Samson, look forward to hearing your business ideas next week!
Preferred Books for Katie’s Students
Click to buy them here, and they’ll come right to your house! What could be easier?
Faber & Faber Piano Adventures
The 2nd Edition Primer Lesson Book introduces the keyboard, note values, and the grand staff. Students play in C 5-finger scale patterns, develop recognition of steps and skips, and learn letter names independent of finger number. Musicianship is built through the use of dynamics and coloristic experimentation with the pedal. The book is organized into units which represent the major concepts and skills. As new units are introduced, earlier concepts and skills are constantly reviewed.
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.
RCM Voice Repertoire
A Comprehensive Voice Series serves as the official resource for voice assessments of the Royal Conservatory Music Development Program. Featuring an outstanding selection of voice literature and supporting materials, this series offers a truly enriched learning experience to help ensure student success. As in previous editions, Resonance encompasses a rich and varied selection of Repertoire, Vocalises and Recitatives that students of all ages and voice types will find appropriate to their musical interests and level of technical ability.
Vocal Workouts for the Contemporary Singer
The vocal workouts in this much-anticipated follow-up to Peckham’s The Contemporary Singer are based on Berklee College of Music’s highly effective vocal method. This volume will help vocalists develop the voice through good vocal health, warm-up exercises, advanced techniques, stage performance advice and more. Includes companion online audio for ultimate interactive education!
Alfred's Teach Yourself to Sing
Learn to sing and open up a brand new world of musical knowledge with this exciting method from Alfred Music. Beginning with the fundamentals, you will learn about equipment used by singers, vocal health, and getting acquainted with reading music. You will then move right along to breathing, vocalizing, proper warm-ups, and singing songs, lesson by lesson, all while continuing to increase your knowledge of reading and understanding music. You will learn to sing an array of musical styles including pop, jazz, classical, and musical theater. Near the end of the book, you will be introduced to the idea of individual interpretation, which will help you color your songs with your own unique style. The book features a chord and scale chart for reference during and after your lessons.
