Welcome…

to my virtual home. Please sit back, enjoy an original song or two (now on iTunes), and check out current shows and projects.

Upcoming events: Kids of Note and The Notations will be performing “Where were you in ’72?” on April 29, 2 pm at Grosvenor Park United Church in Saskatoon. Dressed in the attire of the era (the band and the directors too!) the music is going to be a lot of fun, everything from the Jackson Five, to the Beatles, to a Coke commercial! Please check out our groovy poster and new website here. And we’ll perform excerpts of the show the following week at Parkridge Long-Term Care Centre and Preston Park Retirement Centre.

Then it’s an emcee gig for the 95th (!) birthday of the VERY famous Harold Chapman — yeah, the guy who’s looked 60 for 35 years now — and on to Prince Albert for a coaching gig (see below). I’m excited about performing at the NE Sask Children’s Festival (Tisdale) on June 1 and an upcoming and rare gig for grownups in July — the 100th Anniversary of St. Andrew’s College, the United Church theological college on the prairies.

Recent stuff: Emceeing the Grandmothers 4 Grandmothers event in March was a blast, once again, with lots of money raised for this important cause. The Saltcoats show went off without a hitch (no storm this time) and their newly renovated hall is terrific. Several schools in the area attended and we had a great time.

Nexstage website update: Some of you may know that my earlier Nexstage Live Music Performance Coaching website was sabotaged and ruined by a horrible virus, created by some smartiepants tech geek. I have finally rebuilt the entire thing with the help of my webguy, Derek Mah, but this time it’s on WordPress, which means it’ll be much easier for me to update — that’s the silver lining, I guess. Please check it out and tell your friends in the music biz.

Coaching: I continue to work as a live music performance coach, though things have slowed down a bit since becoming a mom again in May of 2010. I’m almost finished a project in Prince Albert, where the EA Rawlinson Centre for the Arts organized a major performance development program for young people. We’ve had auditions, a performance seminar and soon, as resulting variety show. Coaching highlights of 2010 included giving full-day workshops in both Winnipeg (for Manitoba Music) and Saskatoon (for SaskMusic). In 2011 I had a fabulous time at the Sask Country Music Awards where I gave a seminar on the Elements of Performance. I’ve been invited to participate as a coach at the Canadian Country Music Awards in Saskatoon this September. Wahoo!!!

Kids of Note/The Notations: These are the integrated choirs, for children or young people with and without disabilities who love to sing, directed by myself and my sister, Diane Phillips. We’ve just launched a brand new website, KidsofNote.com. The Kids of Note season is almost over for the 7th time, and registration for our 8th season for both KON and The Notations begins July 1.