Grace Notes Music Academy

A huge thank you to our 2025/2026 donors!

Grace Notes is not just a music school. We have a mission to ensure that every child who wants a quality music education can access it. This means helping families overcome financial barriers through our sponsorship program and by helping provide the materials students need such as instruments and sheet music. Nine students would not have been able to take lessons this year without sponsorship, and even more students received instruments to play this year. 18 students got to participate in community music groups for free, and all students experienced community through music at our pop-up community music groups and events.

Our vision is that through being part of our music community, these children and youth will be empowered to grow not only into excellent musicians, but also healthy, confident, caring, ambitious, and thriving adults one day. We couldn't do this work without the donors and generous support from our community. Thank you for supporting our students and our mission! Thank you for investing in the next generation!

As the 2025/2026 season comes to a close, check out our spring newsletter to see some of the awesome things that happened at Grace Notes this year! 🎻🎶

Individual violin/fiddle lessons and community music groups are officially over for the 2025/2026 season. We had a blast during our last week learning simple fiddle tunes, playing ice cream rhythm math games, listening to Mussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition” while touring the hallway art exhibit, and choosing practice prizes for accomplishing all our practice goals!

Registration for the 2026/2027 season has officially opened for returning students. A reminder to returning students to please fill out this form https://gracenotesmusicacademy.ca/returning-student-registration/ before June 12th to reserve your spot.

If you are a new student interested in starting violin/fiddle lessons in the fall, you can fill out this registration form https://gracenotesmusicacademy.ca/grace-notes-program-registration/ to be contacted if there are spots available.

*Please note, financial support is available for students who need it to be able to participate :)

At last week’s concert, we had the pleasure of awarding Judy MacIntosh the first ever Grace Notes Outstanding Volunteer Award for exemplary commitment, enthusiasm, and support that have significantly contributed to the joyful creation of community and the changing of lives through music.

For the past several years, Judy has not only been learning the fiddle herself, she has been volunteering with the youngest community music group class. Judy has shown up every week with incredible energy, joy, and enthusiasm for learning music and such a love for the kids. She is always willing to help with whatever needs to be done whether it’s preparing snack and doing dishes, setting up chairs, playing fiddle with the students, or working one-on-one with a student who needs extra support. The kids love her and classes wouldn’t be the same without her!

Thank you Judy for your years of volunteering with Grace Notes!

The Grace Notes “Pictures of Music” Spring Concert was a beautiful way to celebrate another wonderful year at Grace Notes! It was an evening filled with all things beautiful and joyful: music, artwork, flowers, ice cream, friendship, and community support! 💐🎶🎻

Congratulations to all the Grace Notes students who performed their musical solos with confidence, grace, and love and created amazing pieces of artwork to accompany their music!

Congratulations to the community music groups (the Playful Players, Pr***en Players, and Teen Players) who worked together to beautifully perform ensemble music in multiple parts.

A huge thank you to our guest performers The Scheidlers, Starr Bishop , and Sabrina Perry-Drover for adding their energy and talents to the concert. Thank you Marianne Tiessen Bell for accompanying the students and Sabrina.

Thank you Plant’s Flower Pot & Gifts for adding the beauty and joy of flowers to the evening and for making all the musicians, young and old, feel special.

Thank you Kelsie Cummings for working sound/tech to show us all the student artwork, music videos, and more!

Thank you Kathleen and Diane for helping serve ice cream sundaes after the concert.

Thank you L Darlene Morton and Carolyn Smith for welcoming everyone at the front door.

Thank you Sandi Tattersall for supporting and helping with anything that needed to be done!

A huge thank you to the team who helped setup for the concert and cleanup after the concert (Sarah Corbett, Kathryn Mann Barbara Southan, Anita Finnamore and more!).

Thank you to all the families and friends who came out to celebrate and support the Grace Notes students.

Come out tonight to enjoy a unique celebration filled with music, visual art, flowers, and ice cream!

The Grace Notes students have prepared a musical piece to perform and a visual art piece inspired by their music.

Guest performers The Scheidlers, Starr Bishop, and Sabrina Perry will also be performing.

Plant’s Flower Pot & Gifts will be there with beautiful flowers to purchase and gift to a performer, family member, or friend.

Finally, the celebration will end with ice cream sundaes!

All are welcome! Admission is by donation with all proceeds supporting students who need financial support to take music lessons.

Everyone is invited to attend the Grace Notes “Pictures of Music” Recital on Thursday, May 28th starting at 6:30pm at Perth-Andover Baptist Church. This will be a unique concert where we explore the connection between music and visual art! All Grace Notes students will be performing and showing their creative art piece inspired by the music they are playing. Special guests Aaron Crain, Sandi Tattersall, Starr Bishop, The Scheidlers and Sabrina Perry will also be performing. Community members of all ages are invited to come out to enjoy the music and maybe even create their own artwork to go with the music! After the concert, we will celebrate another wonderful year at Grace Notes with ice cream sundaes. Admission is by donation with all proceeds going towards sponsoring students who wouldn’t be able to take music lessons without financial support. We hope to see you there!

What an amazingly fun time we had at this year's Grace Notes Traditional Family Dance! The dance floor was filled with all ages, young fiddlers and experienced fiddlers played music together, and many volunteers came together to create this community event.

A huge thank you to our dance teachers Kate Scheidler, Darlene Morton, Amy Chartier, and Becky Hodgson who patiently and joyfully taught all ages a variety of traditional dances.

A huge thank you to the Wednesday Evening Fiddlers for providing live fiddle music and to the Grace Notes students who joined in.

A special thank you to Garold Hanscomb for providing the sound equipment.

Thank you to the Rotary members (Rotary Club of Perth-Andover) who manned the front door, handed out beverages, and treats, and helped with cleanup.

Thank you to Perth-Andover Legion - Branch 36 for donating their space for this event.

Thank you Grace Notes students and families who helped with setup and cleanup.

We're already looking forward to doing it again next year!