Bianca Baciu
Location: Alberta, Canada
Instrument: Piano
B.Mus., Piano Performance, Transylvania University, Romania, 2000
Advanced Pedagogy Diploma, Transylvania University, 1999
M.Mus., Piano Performance, University of Western Ontario, 2002
D.Mus., Piano Performance, University of Alberta, 2006
World premiere Jack Behrens CD, Centaur Records, 2008
"Death of the Author - A Tribute", VDM Publishing, 2008
Certified Mindfulness Instructor, 2017
Certified Performing Arts Medicine Practitioner, 2019
Royal Conservatory of Music Examiner, 2019
Licensed Body Mapping Educator, 2020
Available for: Workshops, individual lessons
Website: drbiancabaciu.com
Contact: bianca@bodymap.org
Dr. Bianca Baciu has led an active career as soloist, chamber musician, pedagogue, examiner, clinician, and adjudicator, and has received numerous awards including the Marusia Yaworska Award for the most talented musician in Canada and the prestigious Izaak Walton Killam PhD Scholarship for research at the University of Alberta. She recorded a world premiere CD featuring piano solo works by Canadian composer Jack Behrens, released by Centaur records in 2008. Her book “Death of the Author – A Tribute,” discussing postmodernism in Jack Behrens’s piano music, was released in 2008 by VDM Publishing in Germany.
Dr. Baciu currently teaches piano, piano literature and performance wellness at Grant MacEwan University, and also maintains a full private teaching studio in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. In 2017, she became a certified mindfulness instructor, dedicated to cultivating body and mind awareness in the Performing Arts. She is also an RCM Examiner and a certified Performing Arts Medicine practitioner.
Kimberly Barber
Location: Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
Instrument: Voice
Bachelor of Music in Performance
Opera Diploma
Canadian Opera Company Ensemble Studio artist 1985-87
Ensemble Member: Frankfurt Opera, 1989-94
Recordings on Deutsche Grammophon, Naxos, Dutton Classics, Telarc
Digital and CBC Records
Available for: Workshops, individual lessons
Website: https://kimberlybarber.com/teaching/
Contact: kimberly@kimberlybarber.com
Canadian mezzo-soprano Kimberly Barber’s eclectic and varied career combines not only the standard repertoire sung on some of the great opera house and concert stages of the world (Opéra de Paris, Lyric Opera of Chicago, New York City Opera, Seattle Opera, Opéra de Marseille, ENO, Canadian Opera, Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia; Wigmore and Weill Halls, and Avery Fisher Hall), but also contemporary and baroque works with smaller, experimental companies. She is a champion of the music of our time, frequently giving world and Canadian premieres of new music. Her discography includes Ravel’s L’heure espagnole on Deutsche Grammophon under André Previn, arias by Handel and Hasse for CBC Records, the title role of Handel’s Rinaldo (Naxos), l’accordéoniste, a disc of German and French cabaret songs, and most recently, Le petit elfe (Florent Schmitt) for Dutton Classics.
She has been frequently heard in broadcast on CBC Radio, NPR, KING FM (Seattle), BBC Radio and SDR in Germany.
In demand as a guest lecturer, panelist, clinician, consultant and pedagogue, Kimberly has given master classes and workshops around the world at universities, conservatories and Young Artist Programs. A full Professor of Voice at Wilfrid Laurier University since 2018, she acts as administrative Coordinator for their Opera Program, instructing the opera class in acting and the creative process. A Licensed as a Body Mapping Educator since 2015, Ms Barber has a long track record of incorporating elements of Alexander Technique, yoga and effective, anatomically sound use of the body in her pedagogy.
Gabriela Sanchez Diaz
Location: Canada & Latinoamerica
Instrument: Percussion
M.M. Percussion Performance, University of Ottawa
M.G.S. Embodiment and Performance, Memorial University of Newfoundland
Licensed Body Mapping Educator, 2014
Available for: Workshops, individual lessons
Website: www.bodymapstudio.com
Contact: gabrielabodymap@gmail.com
Gabriela is a Licensed Body Mapping Educator and a trained classical percussionist. Applying Body Mapping into her playing has changed her music making and the relationship with her body. Gabriela strongly believes that awareness in the body not only helps to reduce the risk of injuries and pain in the body, but that it creates a solid connection between the music and the performer. Gabriela also teaches in Spanish.
As a percussionist, Gabriela has played with several orchestras and ensembles in Mexico and Canada. Besides classical music, she enjoys experimenting with sound and improvising.
Gabriela also holds a master’s degree in Gender Studies where she studied the effects of Body Mapping in women musicians in relation to their perception of their bodies, classical music, and notions of gender. As part of this project, she created a workbook for women studying Body Mapping.
Dana Boyd
Location: Montréal, QC, Canada
Instrument: Oboe
Education: Artist Diploma, McGill University
M.M. in Oboe Performance, University of New Mexico
B.M. in Oboe Performance, University of New Mexico
Available for: Workshops, individual lessons
Website: www.movehappybodymapping.ca
Contact: dana@bodymap.org
I'm an oboist and educator based in Montréal, Quebec. I turned to Body Mapping during my recovery from an injury sustained in the course of my work as a freelance orchestral musician, and soon realized it offered me something other modalities didn't. With an emphasis on concrete and practical anatomical education, and guided by my individual curiosity and needs, Body Mapping empowered me to return to playing on my own terms. Whether you are dealing with an acute or persistent injury, or are experiencing technical limitations or plateaus you can't seem to overcome, I'm excited to help you discover the ways that Body Mapping can improve your experience as a musician and a person!
Amber Ghent
Location: Waterloo & Hamilton, Ontario
Instrument: Cello
Cellist, Madawaska String Quartet
M.Mus., Performance studying at San Francisco Conservatory and in Cleveland with members of the Cleveland Orchestra
B.Mus., Performance from Wilfrid Laurier University
Licensed Body Mapping Educator, 2015
Available for: Workshops, individual lessons
Website: www.amberghent.com
Contact: amberbodymap@outlook.com
A versatile chamber and orchestral musician, Amber has been cellist with the Madawaska String Quartet since 2007, performing and recording a wide range of repertoire and appearing at major venues throughout Canada. Since 2014, along with quartet, she has served as artist-in-residence at University of Toronto, Scarborough. Amber has performed with diverse ensembles such as Bach and Beyond Baroque (Fredonia), Tapestry New Opera (Toronto), and various orchestras throughout Southwestern Ontario including the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony.
Amber offers body mapping workshops and private lessons for performers, teachers, and students of all ages who are interested in learning. Through clear anatomical information and explorations, her students learn how to find ease and freedom in all kinds of movement, both at their instrument and in other activities. She teaches cello at Wilfrid Laurier’s String Academy in Waterloo, the Suzuki String School in Guelph, and in the summer at institutes across the country. Amber finds the human body as equally fascinating as music, and enjoys backpacking, canoeing, pilates, yoga, and reading neuroscience.
Jennifer Johnson
Location: Newfoundland, Canada
Instrument: Violin
B.M., Honors Performance Degree, Converse College in Spartanburg, South Carolina
Body Mapping Educator Sponsoring Teacher, 2010
Author, What Every Violinist Needs to Know About the Body (GIA Publications, 2009)
Licensed Body Mapping Educator, 2005
Available for: Workshops, individual lessons
Contact: jennifer@bodymap.org
Jennifer held the position of Principal Second Violin of the Newfoundland Symphony Orchestra and second violin of the Atlantic String Quartet for twelve years. During that time, she performed regularly with artists of international acclaim including Krystof Penderecki, Dennis Brott, Patrick Gallois, Rivka Golani, and Anton Kuerti. In 2004, a generous grant from the Canada Council for the Arts funded a 7-month Alexander Technique sabbatical for Jennifer which permitted her to study throughout Europe and the United States with many of the world’s leading Alexander Technique teachers. Some of these teachers included Pedro de Alcantara, Alex and Joan Murray, Walter Carrington, and Barbara Conable. Jennifer went on to train with Barbara Conable and in 2005 became Canada’s first Licensed Body Mapping Educator.
She now presents Body Mapping workshops internationally, working with musicians who are interested in learning to enhance their musical ability and to prevent injury through a clear understanding of how their bodies are designed to move. She is a Body Mapping Educator Sponsoring Teacher.
Principal Second Violin, Newfoundland Symphony Orchestra, 1993-2005
Second Violin, Atlantic String Quartet, 1993-2005
Karin Schasny
Location: Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
Instrument: Piano
Available for: Workshops, individual lessons
Website: www.guidonian.com/karin-schasny
Contact: kschasny@gmail.com
Karin connected with the Guidonian Therapy Clinic while completing her Bachelor of Music at Laurier University. After meeting and working with owner Sara-Lynn Weiler, Karin became a Registered Massage Therapist inspired to help musicians heal from injury and learn about their bodies.
Karin is also an active Body Mapping Educator and piano teacher. She enjoys teaching anatomy, movement and awareness in her piano studio and through Body Mapping workshops and classes at Guidonian and universities throughout Southwestern Ontario & Quebec.
Karin has studied meditation for seven years with Susan Child & Gwen Sears, and continues to practice awareness and curiosity daily.
In all disciplines, Karin aspires to create a calm and compassionate space for learning and healing, and a deepening connection with our mind-body system.
Karin is grateful each day for the opportunity to work with others and herself in learning and healing.
Teri Slade
Location: Edmonton, Alberta
Instrument: Piano and Voice
Licensed Body Mapping Educator, 2013
Available for: Workshops, individual lessons
Website: www.teriteaches.com
Contact: teribodymap@gmail.com
As a Licensed Body Mapping Educator, Teri Slade uses Body Mapping to help musicians prevent injury and promote facility. The training of movement, senses, and attention are essential components of her music and somatic pedagogy. As a researcher at the Piano Pedagogy Research Laboratory at University of Ottawa, Teri investigates measurable evidence of change in music performance following the study of somatic methods such as Body Mapping. Originally from Newfoundland, Canada, Teri now resides in the country’s capital region, Ottawa, Ontario, collaborating with music ensembles as a pianist and vocalist, and is an avid dancer of Argentine Tango.
Lauren Smee
Location: St. John's, Canada
Instrument: Violin
Honours B.Mus, Wilfrid Laurier University
M.Mus in Violin Performance/Pedagogy, Memorial University of Newfoundland
Available for: Workshops, individual lessons
Website: laurensmee.wordpress.com
Contact: lauren@laurensmee.ca
Violinist Lauren Smee has a love of playing that fuels her teaching and a love of teaching that informs her performance.
As a member of the Newfoundland Symphony Orchestra, Lauren has enjoyed the opportunity to work with artists such as Andre LaPlante and Mark Fewer. She regularly plays in the Opera on the Avalon orchestra and the Watershed Ensemble. Together with fellow violinist Carole Bestvater, Lauren co-founded the Isabella Project, an initiative that celebrates and creates space for the music of composers that deserve to be heard more in the classical music world.
Whether on stage or in the studio, Lauren is passionate about preventing playing-related injury. As a Body Mapping Educator, she educates musicians on how accurate information about the body in movement can enhance both music pedagogy and musical ability.
Lauren enjoys teaching with the Suzuki Talent Education Program of St. John’s, where she served as Artistic Director from 2014 - 2016. She has been on faculty at the Newfoundland and Labrador Suzuki Institute, and in 2017-2018 was the Project Coordinator of Memorial University’s Chamber Music for Youth program.
Lauren holds degrees from Wilfrid Laurier University (Honours B.Mus) and Memorial University of Newfoundland (M.Mus in Violin Performance/Pedagogy) and is grateful to her principal teachers, Dr. Nancy Dahn, Jennifer Johnson, Jerzy Kaplanek, and May Ing.
Michèle Wheatley-Brown
Location: Alberta, Canada
Instrument: Piano
B.Mus, University of Toronto
B.Ed, University of Toronto
M.A., (Music) University of Ottawa
Graduate Diploma in Piano Pedagogy Research, University of Ottawa
A.R.C.T., Royal Conservatory of Music
Author, The Role and Management of Tension in Pedagogical approaches to Piano Technique, Arts Biomechanics
Available for: Workshops, individual lessons
Website: www.mindbodymusic.ca
Contact: michele@mindbodymusic.ca
Michèle is an active teacher, adjudicator, and examiner with the Royal Conservatory of Music and Music Development Program in Canada and the United States. She has conducted in-depth research at the University of Ottawa Piano Pedagogy Laboratory into the role and management of tension and relaxation in pedagogical approaches to piano technique. She is committed to teaching musicians to play with more ease and freedom, and presents Body Mapping masterclasses, workshops, and private lessons. Michèle performs both as a solo and collaborative pianist with a wide variety of instrumentalists, vocalists, and choirs.
As founding Artistic Director for a highly successful classical concert series, Michèle has a passion for making music a vital part of community life.
Gabriela Sanchez Diaz
Location: Canada & Latinoamerica
Instrument: Percussion
M.M. Percussion Performance, University of Ottawa
M.G.S. Embodiment and Performance, Memorial University of Newfoundland
Licensed Body Mapping Educator, 2014
Available for: Workshops, individual lessons
Website: www.bodymapstudio.com
Contact: gabrielabodymap@gmail.com
Gabriela is a Licensed Body Mapping Educator and a trained classical percussionist. Applying Body Mapping into her playing has changed her music making and the relationship with her body. Gabriela strongly believes that awareness in the body not only helps to reduce the risk of injuries and pain in the body, but that it also creates a solid connection between the music and the performer. Gabriela also teaches in Spanish.
As a percussionist, Gabriela has played with several orchestras and ensembles in Mexico and Canada. Besides classical music, she enjoys experimenting with sound and improvising.
Gabriela also holds a master’s degree in Gender Studies where she studied the effects of Body Mapping in women musicians in relation to their perception of their bodies, classical music, and notions of gender. As part of this project, she created a workbook for women studying Body Mapping.
Amy Likar
Location: Orinda, California & San Miguel de Allende, Mexico
Instrument: Flute
B.M., Performance and Music Education, Kent State University
M.M. and D.M.A., Flute Performance, The Ohio State University
Licensed Body Mapping Educator, 1998
AmSAT Certified Alexander Technique Teacher, 2002
Director of Training and Sponsoring Teacher, Body Mapping Educators®, 2006
Author of "The Breathing Book for Flutists" (Mountain Peak Music)
Editor/narrator of the DVD Move Well, Avoid Injury (Andover Productions)
Available for: Workshops, individual lessons
Website: www.amylikar.com
Contact: amy@amylikar.com
Amy Likar began her career as a flutist and became fascinated with performance health and wellness through her own recovery from stress-related injuries. She has since integrated her expertise in Alexander Technique and Body Mapping into her flute teaching, chamber music coaching, and master class teaching. By developing students’ physical ease, presence, and confidence, she helps them reach their musical potential.
As the Director of Training for the Association for Body Mapping Education, Amy Likar has trained, licensed and mentored over 40 professionals. These educators are now teaching in their own private studios and in institutions such as the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, Amsterdam Conservatoire, Columbus State University, and Oberlin Conservatory.
Likar serves on the faculty at Saint Mary’s College of California as instructor of flute and is a teaching artist mentor for the Oakland Symphony’s award-winning Music for Excellence program. With a focus on supporting and building community and music learning for diverse student populations, Amy’s teaching integrates musical learning with whole body awareness.
A member of the Oakland Symphony, Amy has also performed as a freelance musician with Opera Parallèle, West Edge Opera, the San Francisco Opera and San Francisco Ballet. Highlights of her performance career include a critically acclaimed premiere of Martin Rokeach’s Concerto for Piccolo and Orchestra, in addition to the premieres of solo and chamber works by Valerie Coleman, Michael Stephens, Donald Sloan and Daniel Felsenfeld.
As a guest artist, Likar presents recitals, workshops and masterclasses. Residencies often integrate workshops for students and faculty across music, dance and theater departments.
She is a Verne Q. Powell Performing Artist and available for custom clinics and residencies.
Emerson Pirot
Location: Seattle, Washington & San Miguel de Allende, Mexico
Instrument: Voice
Graduate of the Dick Grove School of Music in Los Angeles
B.M. in Jazz Studies (piano), Cal State Northridge
Licensed Body Mapping Educator, 2007
Available for: Workshops, individual lessons
Website: www.emersonpirot.com
Contact: ep@emersonpirot.com
Emerson Pirot is a jazz vocalist and multi-instrumentalist with over twenty years of professional performing experience. To heal an injury (tendonitis) that resulted from playing the piano, Emerson began to study the Alexander Technique in the early 1990’s. In 2000, an article by Tom Mark on pianists’ injuries opened her to the world of Body Mapping. These two disciplines ultimately provided the information from which she bases all movement – musical and everything else. The process was one of intense self-investigation, evaluation, and retraining of the physical, mental, and emotional elements involved in making music. After six years of private lessons and workshops with Barbara Conable, Amy Likar, Lea Pearson, Tom Mark, Kurt-Alexander Zeller, and others, she became a Licensed Body Mapping Educator in 2007.
Emerson teaches workshops, classes, and private lessons in voice, piano, and Body Mapping from her home studio in the Fremont district of Seattle, WA. She also offers clinics for schools, private studios, and choral groups.
