Salt Spring Music Academy

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Salt Spring Music

Join our community on Salt Spring Island for flexible lessons and online courses designed for players of all ages and levels.

A glossy black grand piano with open lid revealing polished strings and hammers, its lacquered surface reflecting subtle highlights, stands in a bright, modern rehearsal room. Around it, neat rows of empty music stands hold crisp white sheet music. Sunlight pours through large floor-to-ceiling windows, casting long, soft-edged shadows across a smooth light-wood floor. The atmosphere feels calm, focused, and professional, ideal for serious music study. Photographed at eye level with a slightly wide angle, the piano is placed on the rule of thirds, with a gentle blur softening the far end of the room. The style is clean, photographic realism with balanced colors and a contemporary academic tone, perfectly suited to a professional music academy homepage.

Meet Our Instructors

Suzie Gay

Piano and vocal coaching

Bachelor of Music, Vancouver Island University

Brenda Morie

Voice, guitar, harmonica, ukulele and beginner flute

Mike Iurincic

Guitar and Bass

Bachelor of Fine Arts, Specialized Honors in Music, York University

Monik Nordine

Saxophone, Jazz History and Improvisation

Master of Music, McGill University

A drum practice area in a professional music academy featuring a compact, high-quality electronic drum kit with mesh heads, rubber cymbals, and a small control module lit by tiny LED indicators. The kit is set on a dark acoustic rug within a room lined with grey fabric sound-absorbing panels and a neatly coiled set of cables along one wall. Overhead track lighting casts controlled, soft beams that create subtle highlights on pads and cymbals while keeping the overall scene gently shadowed and focused. The mood is disciplined and technical, emphasizing serious percussion study without distraction. Captured from a low, three-quarter angle, the drum module and snare pad are in sharp focus while the surrounding panels and floor gradually soften into a mild blur. The photographic realism underlines a contemporary, professional practice environment.

Atom Lazare

A close-up of a well-used violin resting in an open velvet-lined case on a natural wood studio table, the warm amber varnish showing subtle wear marks along the edges. Beside it lies a neatly coiled, high-quality audio cable and a sleek tablet displaying digital sheet music. Soft, diffused afternoon light from an unseen window washes over the scene, creating gentle highlights on the violin’s curves and a faint shadow within the case. The mood is focused and studious, suggesting dedicated practice and online learning. Shot from a slightly elevated angle with shallow depth of field, the violin’s bridge and f-holes are in sharp focus while the background of neatly organized shelves and acoustic panels falls into a tasteful photographic blur, emphasizing professional, modern music education.

Iain Duncan

A glossy black grand piano with open lid revealing polished strings and hammers, its lacquered surface reflecting subtle highlights, stands in a bright, modern rehearsal room. Around it, neat rows of empty music stands hold crisp white sheet music. Sunlight pours through large floor-to-ceiling windows, casting long, soft-edged shadows across a smooth light-wood floor. The atmosphere feels calm, focused, and professional, ideal for serious music study. Photographed at eye level with a slightly wide angle, the piano is placed on the rule of thirds, with a gentle blur softening the far end of the room. The style is clean, photographic realism with balanced colors and a contemporary academic tone, perfectly suited to a professional music academy homepage.

Jill Oakes

A sleek home music-learning setup designed for online lessons: a 61-key digital piano with illuminated controls sits on a minimalist black stand against a softly textured light-grey wall. Above it, a large monitor displays an open music notation software interface with clearly visible staves and chord symbols. A condenser microphone on a boom arm and a pair of studio monitor speakers frame the instrument. Cool LED strip lighting along the back edge of the desk casts a subtle blue glow, while a warm desk lamp adds balance, creating a focused yet comfortable mood. Photographed straight-on at eye level with sharp focus throughout, the composition is symmetrically balanced. The realistic, clean photographic style conveys professionalism and reliability for remote music lessons and online courses.

Tonya Horoky-Cooper

Student Rave Reviews

Rating: 5 out of 5.

“Monik’s students tear it up every morning in rehearsal. Never quite seen or heard the like in 20 years of teaching.”

— Ian Farish, Band teacher, St. Michael’s University School, Victoria, BC, Canada

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

“… now I actually WANT to practice!”

— Tevne, student

Rating: 5 out of 5.

An assortment of instruments used in a music academy arranged in a careful semi-circle on a clean, matte-grey studio floor: a classical guitar with warm cedar top, a gleaming silver flute, a compact digital keyboard, and a pair of over-ear studio headphones resting on a closed theory workbook. Behind them, a large wall-mounted staff and notation diagram is subtly out of focus. Cool, even studio lighting eliminates harsh shadows, giving everything a crisp, professional clarity. The atmosphere is inviting yet serious, representing comprehensive lessons for all levels. Captured from a slightly elevated, three-quarter angle with moderate depth of field, the central instruments are sharp while the educational wall graphics gently blur. The photographic style is modern and minimal, ideal for explaining the range of courses offered by a music academy.
A detailed overhead view of a composition workstation tailored for advanced music students: a dark walnut desk holds a laptop running a digital audio workstation with colorful tracks and MIDI notes, a compact MIDI keyboard controller, a spiral-bound manuscript book open to hand-written harmony exercises, and a pair of over-ear reference headphones neatly placed to one side. A small, tasteful desk plant softens the scene. Soft, even daylight from an unseen window creates minimal shadows and natural color rendition. The atmosphere feels intellectually engaged and meticulously organized. Shot from a precise bird’s-eye perspective with sharp focus across the entire frame, every item is clearly legible. The photographic style is clean and modern, ideal for illustrating theory, composition, and production segments of a serious music academy’s curriculum.
A tidy classroom corner of a music academy featuring a whiteboard filled with neatly written scales, chord progressions, and rhythmic patterns, all in different colored markers. Below, a sturdy black music stand holds an open method book with clearly printed notation, and a small metronome rests beside it on a light-wood cabinet. Natural daylight filters through a high side window, producing soft, indirect illumination with delicate shadows that keep every marking legible. The mood is organized, academic, and encouraging of focused study. Captured from a three-quarter angle with the whiteboard on the rule of thirds, the foreground music stand is in crisp focus while the far edge of the room gently blurs. The photographic realism and clean composition underscore a professional, structured learning environment.