ABOUT DAPHNE LANGFORD

Daphne grew up surrounded by music. Most of her (many) extra-curricular activities involved music. Before attending university, she completed her Grade 8 piano and Grade 3 Harmony and Grade 3 History exams with the RCM while in High School. She also took flute, bassoon and ukulele lessons, all to a professional level. She travelled to many universities such as McGill, UMontana, Hawaii, and Washington, D.C. at the National Music Educators Conference, teaching other ‘student teachers’ how to teach ukulele, before she even finished high school herself. She was very active in her school Musical Theatre program and often had solo roles.

Daphne graduated from UVic in 1996 with a Bachelor of Music and a PDPP (Post Degree Professional Program). While in university, she auditioned and performed as a soprano four times with Pacific Opera Victoria, a professional opera company attracting internationally known opera stars.

After university, Daphne moved to the interior and started her own piano studio teaching the Toronto Conservatory of Music method. She was so popular, her studio was full within a month and she had a waiting list. In order to reach more children, the following year she started her own musical theatre company enrolling 40 students in a town so small it only had two schools! All this, while teaching music at one of the schools during the daytime.

Aidan was born in 1998 and after a year of trying to balance it all, Daphne took a leave from work and focussed on being a mom. Four years later, Liam came along.

Daphne gradually went back to work and opened a new studio in the Comox Valley in 2004. Continuing her education has always been important to Daphne so during her maternity leave, she trained with another program called Music for Young Children. Within 3 months of teaching MYC, she recognized the superiority of this program and switched her focus from purely classical piano to teaching young children the entire spectrum of music in an innovated way. Through fun activities such as piano games, singing action songs and stories she found she was able to reach all types of learners and make the information really stick – all while the children had no idea they were doing anything but having fun.

Six years later, Daphne opened a bigger studio to accommodate the growing demand for her classes.

Most recently, she has taken more training with a methodology called Music Pups, with The Music Class. It is aimed at children from birth to age 4. It comes across as a fun social get together for caregivers and their children, but it is also building the brain muscle in many ways. There is constant music, everything from upbeat songs that make you want to dance, to a new lullaby at the end of every class.

As always, Daphne is continuing to improve her studio and welcomes new students into her classes.