About Me
Hi, my name is Peggy. I am an experienced music teacher, qualified librarian, music researcher and PhD graduate from the University of Melbourne. I am currently based in the Drouin & Warragul area where I give piano and music theory lessons, provide freelance tutoring in music history, and essay writing consultations.
I have I over 25 years experience teaching piano and theory in my own private studio. During my graduate studies, I worked at the University of Melbourne as a research assistant and tutored the subject "Music in Australia" at the Conservatorium of Music. I was also a member of the editorial committee for the musicology research journal Context and worked as a rare music cataloguer at the Louise Hanson-Dyer Music Library.
My PhD thesis explored the performance and dissemination of chamber-music in Melbourne during the late nineteenth century and resulted in articles that were published in "Context" and the "Victorian Historical Journal". From 2014 to 2020, I taught Suzuki method piano, teaching children as young as three years old. This experience proved to be extremely rewarding and has added another dimension to my teaching.
Today, I teach children from three years upwards, focussing on a variety of repertoire with a technique-based foundation. I encourage my students to perform in range of contexts including concerts, competitions, masterclasses and AMEB exams. In 2023, I relocated my studio from Melbourne to the Warragul & Drouin area and I am fortunate to have retained connections with musical circles in Melbourne.
Qualifications
My qualifications include a PhD in musicology from the University of Melbourne, a Masters of Music degree and two undergraduate degrees in Arts (professional writing) and Music (BMus), LMusA (Dist.) and A MusA piano, and a Graduate Diploma in Applied Science (information services).
Publications and theses
"Horace Poussard and Dead Heroes: A musical tribute to Burke and Wills", Context 23 (Autumn 2002) 23-32.
"The Melbourne Popular Concerts: Emulating an English Concert Model", Context 27-28 (Autumn-Spring 2004) 97-109.
"St James's Hall to Bust: The Success and Failure of the Melbourne Popular Concerts", Victorian Historical Journal 77.1 (May 2006) 46-65.
"The Changing Repertoire of Horace Poussard", BMus thesis, University of Melbourne, Faculty of Music, 2002.
"The Rise and Fall of the Melbourne Popular Concerts: Chamber-Music Concerts in Pre-Federation Melbourne", MMus thesis, University of Melbourne, Faculty of Music, 2005.
"Chamber-Music Concerts in Pre-Federation Melbourne, 1877-1901: A History of Performance and Dissemination", PhD thesis, University of Melbourne, Faculty of Music, 2009.