About the Academy
Fallbrooke Piano Academy was founded on a simple conviction: that the highest standard of musical training and genuine joy in playing are not in conflict — they belong together. Theresa brings conservatory-level training and a deeply personal approach to a small, focused studio where students are known, challenged, and encouraged to grow.
Meet Theresa
Founder & Lead Instructor
Theresa's musical formation began at the University of Toronto, where she earned both her Bachelor of Music and Master of Music in Piano Performance — studying under Patricia Parr, one of Canada's most celebrated concert pianists and pedagogues. She went on to earn the ARCT, the Royal Conservatory of Music's highest performance diploma, and has brought that concert-level musicianship into her teaching ever since. Her experience as a chamber musician in two professional piano trios gave her a rare sensitivity to ensemble listening and musical conversation that she weaves naturally into her students' development.
Beyond the piano bench, Theresa has spent years in the homeschool community as an educator, co-op director, and youth worship director. That background shapes how she teaches — she understands how families learn together, how to meet a student where they are, and how to build a curriculum around a child's whole life, not just their lesson slot.
Theresa's teaching is warm, encouraging, and genuinely demanding — in that order. She holds her students to a high standard because she believes they are capable of meeting it, and she makes sure the process of getting there is joyful. Whether a student is finding their footing as a beginner or preparing for an advanced RCM examination, Theresa's goal is the same: to send them away from every lesson more confident, more musical, and more in love with playing than when they arrived.
Credentials
- MMus & BMus, Piano Performance — University of Toronto
- ARCT (Piano Performance) — Royal Conservatory of Music
- Student of Patricia Parr
- Former Chamber musician — two professional piano trios (past)
- 20+ years of teaching experience
Why Training Matters — At Every Level
It might seem that a young beginner just needs a patient, encouraging teacher. And patience and encouragement matter enormously — Theresa brings both. But the earliest lessons are also when the most consequential habits form: hand position, wrist alignment, finger independence, posture at the bench. These are not things a motivated but undertrained teacher can guess at. They require someone who has been taught correctly themselves, at the highest level, and who has the technical vocabulary to pass that foundation on precisely.
For advancing students, the stakes shift again. A teacher can only take a student as far as they themselves have gone. Theresa has performed at the concert level, prepared for and passed the ARCT — the Royal Conservatory's highest performance diploma — and studied under Patricia Parr, one of Canada's foremost concert pianists. When your student is ready to work at that level, Theresa has been there.
This is why training matters: not as a credential to display, but as the foundation that makes genuine teaching possible — for the very first lesson, and for every lesson that follows.
The Fallbrooke Impact
Theresa's students go on to carry music with them into highly accomplished lives — evidence that rigorous training and genuine love of playing can grow together.
“She truly is an inspirational teacher and I would strongly recommend her to others.”
Joyce Hsu
Toronto
“I still enjoy playing the piano for events — this is all thanks to Theresa's joyful piano teaching style.”
Annie Lee
PhD Student in Systems Design Engineering, University of Waterloo
“Theresa has provided me with knowledge of piano playing that I couldn't receive elsewhere. She has always been patient and encouraging, and I look forward to every lesson because of this.”
Daniela
Adult Student
“The earliest lessons are when the most consequential habits form. Getting them right requires a teacher trained at the highest level.”