Kiama Downs music teacher Katrina Love has been awarded the ‘Most Outstanding Private Teacher (CPM or Percussion)’ at the Australian Music Examination's Board (AMEB) annual presentation ceremony.
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Hundreds of private instrumental music teachers and thousands of students statewide enter the exams each year.
Katrina received the award at Sir John Clancy Auditorium, University of NSW on Sunday.
“It was an unexpected but most welcome surprise,” Katrina said.
“This award really belongs to my wonderful piano students. Their dedication and fantastic results from their piano exams in 2017 made this award possible.”
To be eligible, a private music teacher must have enrolled at least 10 candidates for examinations within the year. AMEB NSW use a formula based on the candidate’s grade along with their final result to determine the top five outstanding private teachers throughout NSW.
In 2015 and 2016 Katrina made it into the top five based on her piano student's outstanding results.
Originally from Sydney, Katrina completed a Bachelor of Music Education at the UNSW and taught in both the public and private sector as a high school music educator for the next ten years.
I have always felt privileged to be able to share my love and passion for creating music with others.
- Katrina Love
In 1998 she lived in South America studying the various pianistic and percussive styles of Latin American music, which led to a CD recording "Viagem Ao Coracao" and an opportunity to tour internationally (Brasil and the East Coast USA) with cantor Alaor Macedo and the Samba Bossa 4.
“I have been teaching piano for 32 years now,” she said.
“When I was 15, my music teacher asked me if I'd like to teach his Saturday morning small group beginner keyboard classes for a few weeks whilst he was away working on a TV show.
“I jumped at the opportunity and as they say "the rest is history".
“Some of the students at the end of my group teaching stint wanted to continue on with individual private lessons with me. I was very fortunate that the music school offered to train me up and kept me on.
“This planted the seed for me to train as a high school music teacher after my HSC.”
In 2002 Katrina was one of the youngest appointed as an AMEB Practical Music Examiner of Classical Piano, Piano for Leisure and P Plate Piano courses, as well as Contemporary Popular Music and Electronic Organ.
She completed the Graduate Certificate of Music Technology degree at the University of Newcastle before relocating to Kiama Downs in 2006 to lecture Music and Music Technology at the Illawarra Institute of TAFE NSW with Dr Michael Barkl.
In 2007 she spent time living in Ghana learning about African Drumming Ensembles, which led to a compendium of graded compositions for the piano based on traditional African drum rhythms; forming the basis of her research for the Masters of Creative Arts degree from UOW awarded in 2013.
Katrina also taught piano at Wollongong Conservatorium of Music before establishing her own private studio ‘Create Music’ in Kiama Downs.
She has had students who travel as far as from Sydney and Callala Beach to have regular lessons with her in Classical, Jazz and Contemporary piano styles as well as Music Composition. Her students range in ages from four to 84.
“I have always felt privileged to be able to share my love and passion for creating music with others,” she said.
“Teaching has never felt like a chore it's something I have always enjoyed doing.”
Katrina said she loves to hear a parent say "I don't have to ask my son [or daughter] to practice".
“When a student excitedly arrives with new ideas for their composition, when I see the light go on as a challenging musical concept is understood or when I hear the beautiful progression of dots on a page turn into a heartfelt, musical performance – those are the things that make my day.”