About Drema

     Drema is a creative and dedicated music educator with a heart for children, families, music and creativity. Her desire is to inspire children and adults to develop a lifelong enjoyment of music through discovering how to learn music and express it through the piano. 

     She began learning the piano when she was seven, taking traditional piano lessons.  In 2010, she obtained her Teacher's certification as an Associate of the Royal Conservatory of Music. She has Kodaly Level 1 training from the University of Alberta. She also holds a bachelor of Family Studies with a minor in Health & Society and a graduate diploma in Christian Studies from Regent College. ​

     Being an active member of the local Vancouver/Burnaby Branch, which is under the Provincial  Registered Music Teachers Association and the National Canadian Federation of Music Teachers' Association), she has been serving on the Executive Committee since 2018 and currently oversees various branch areas and plans monthly workshops for members. She is passionate about connecting teachers and continuing professional development. The Vancouver/Burnaby Branch is celebrating it's Centennial in May (2022) this year!  

8-Hands Teacher Ensemble

She continues to develop her musical and teaching skills through online pedagogy courses, further instrumental lessons, research, connecting with colleagues, and attending local/international workshops and conferences. In the first few years, she found the support she needed as a new inexperienced teacher through the participation, support network and professional development in the Student Teachers' Auxiliary (STA) of the BCRMTA. She became friends with the teachers in the STA and performance collaboration with them also led her to discover the world of piano duets and ensembles, musical experiences she never got to explore growing up, but that definitely struck a chord deep within her. 

The joy and exhilaration that comes from making music with other human beings is just inexpressible. I love collaborating with someone else on the piano. Music for one is great, but for me, the magnificence that comes when two or more create something is what I resonate with. Maybe that's another reason why my heart, mind and ears are captivated when I hear the euphony of sounds from a symphony.   
​Drema 

After she started teaching, she also discovered and began exploring jazz, improvisation, composition, body mapping and alexander technique -- which helped her in growing her own musicianship as well as her teaching.

Most recently, in 2018, her teaching was dramatically transformed when she stumbled upon the Music Moves for Piano (MMFP) series by Marilyn Lowe and thus discovering Edwin E. Gordon's Music Learning Theory (MLT) of how we learn music. Discovering how to learn and teach based on Music Learning Theory is unlike how she had been taught growing up in traditional piano lessons and how she had been teaching over the years. 

Member of GIML

MLT and MMFP opened up ways for her to deepen her own music learning and skills which in turn have enriched her students' learning more than ever before. MLT/MMFP is fostering musicians to be independent learners and encourages creativity from the very beginning of their music journey. During the pandemic (2020-2022), she had the opportunity to take several courses and workshops as well as learn, discuss and train with other MLT practitioners around the world on a weekly basis. In 2022, Drema's Music Studio has also begun collaborating with other MLT/MMFP-based studios around the world in some of our studio events. 

​Be sure to find out more under the TEACHING APPROACH & PROGRAMS section on the website.