Teachers
Mike Watson
If you love and want to learn the blues, Mike Watson is your man.
Mike teaches guitar at Cornerstone, specializing in Delta Blues, Piedmount and Rag Time. He has been teaching at Cornerstone for four or five years, 10 in general.
He has been playing guitar for 15 years and is a capable vocalist and bass player. He can even bang out a few notes on the drums.
Mike moved to Calgary in 1994, after growing up in London, ON, and bought his first guitar. He completed the Academy of Production and Recording Arts program (APRA) in 2003 and works for KLM Backline as a fully qualified audio and recording engineer. He is also a professional backline tech, guitar tech and sound engineer.
His training has shown him music industry background and experience and he has the knowledge to execute all aspects of a live performance. Mike has been performing with his band, My Dear Watson, for four years, and is lead guitar and slide guitar in another local band.
Mike finds the most enjoyment from teaching when he sees the spark of enlightenment in a student’s eye, and sees that they actually understand something that they didn’t before. He loves the little epiphanies that pop up every week, every class. He also enjoys interacting with other musicians in a teaching environment.
He loves the feeling that you get from music— the feeling that it never ends and can never be completed. To him, it’s intimidating but at the same time refreshing and humbling.
Mike’s life is threaded into music. If he’s not teaching he’s writing, recording, or mixing live sounds. In his spare time, when off the clock, Mike builds and modifies used amplifiers.
Cameron Robinson
Cameron Robinson has an eclectic personality and listens to all genres of music—really anything with rhythm. It is this great attribute, combined with six years of teaching experience that he brings to his guitar students.
Cameron loves teaching, and has been teaching guitar at Cornerstone for about four years. For him, seeing the improvement of his students—especially one who starts out a little unsure of themselves and blossoms by the end of the semester— is truly rewarding.
He loves music for its ability to be an infinite hobby. To him, there is no limit to the things you can do with music, always growing with it.
Born in Texas, Cameron grew up in Vancouver and has been living in Calgary for the past 13 years. He has been playing music for 12 years, starting with the trombone in junior high. He has been playing guitar and bass for over a decade.
Cameron was involved in the band program throughout junior and senior high school playing guitar and bass, and was involved in numerous bands in and out of school. He has his Royal Conservatory Theory 2, and a general knowledge of jazz theory.
When he’s not teaching or working as an environmental consultant, Cameron likes spending as much time as he can outdoors. He also enjoys reading, rock climbing, and martial arts.
Chris Neville
Chris Neville believes that everybody needs to absorb music because there’s nothing else like it. And while it’s not something that everyone can understand or explain, it is something everyone can enjoy. To him, it’s out of this world.
Chris has been teaching for two years, both at Cornerstone, and has been playing piano since he was six. He likes the connection formed between student and teacher and their shared love for their instrument. For him, teaching is enlightening and you can learn a lot while you teach; about yourself, the students, the people, and the music.
Chris grew up in southern Ontario and moved to Calgary when he was 13. He has his grade 10 practical requirement for Royal Conservatory of Music (RCM) with first class honours. He started playing jazz and funk and popular music rather than the typical repertoire of RCM, and found musical satisfaction in something new.
He attended University of Calgary and obtained his Bachelor of Music with a focus in Secondary Education. Throughout his life, Chris has been in a several bands, both cover and original. He currently plays as the organist for local legends Von Zippers and has for four years.
Outside of music, Chris’ day job allows him lots of time outside, something he thoroughly enjoys. He likes to listen to music, hang out with friends, and live life to the fullest. When he can, he likes going to the mountains, playing sports, and just being physical.
To Chris, we don’t get old, we just grow.
Jaimee Lee-Baggley
Jaimee Lee-Baggley loves giving students a comfortable environment where they can take risks and be themselves. She believes that the creative mind needs to be developed and encouraged and loves sharing what she has learned with others. To Jaimee, the real gift is what she learns from her students.
Jaimee teaches voice, piano and acting/theatrical lessons at Cornerstone. She has been teaching for about a year and half and started at Cornerstone in October 2010. She has played music for 22 years.
Growing up in Calgary, AB, Jaimee started playing classical piano at age five, and joined the Youth Singers of Calgary’s show choir when she was eight. After eight years she moved on to private voice lessons with Sharon Brawn and dance lessons with Decidedly Jazz Dance works.
During school, Jaimee was interested in all the performing arts. At 19, after a three-year hiatus to focus on her academics, she began playing keyboards in a local band and her desire to perform was re-ignited.
She went back to study piano and achieved her grade 8 Royal Conservatory of Music. After transferring from University of Calgary to Concordia University in Montreal, she completed her Bachelor's of Performing Art in Integrative Music Studies.
While getting her degree in Montreal, Jaimee focused on composition studies and was the singer songwriter of two different bands. That's where she learned the ropes of being a musician and her classical studies fused into her own unique musical style. In those four years, she learned the most of her extensive knowledge about the craft of singing.
After her degree was completed she moved back to Calgary in 2009 and has continued to perform both solo and with her self-titled band. She has also continued in the acting world, working as the Art Coordinator for the Calgary film Lloyd the Conqueror. She was also background for Heartland and has been in some student films and productions.
When she’s not involving herself in music Jaimee likes to give her brain a break, pursuing interests in politics, culture, and snowboarding—but only when no one’s watching.
Jim Johnston
Jim Johnston teaches drums at Cornerstone music and loves figuring out the best way to explain something to someone, because not all students learn the same.
He likes passing on the tradition, history and function of music, especially for the drums, which are a young instrument. Jim believes there are a lot of crazy things in the future for drums, and he wants to give students a sense of where the instrument comes from so they can watch where it’s going to go.
Jim has been teaching drums on and off for 10 years at Cornerstone, and has 15 years of teaching experience.
He grew up in Calgary, AB., and started playing drums when he was 13. He played throughout junior and senior high school, and after graduating, attended programs for jazz at Mount Royal and University of Calgary.
Jim moved to Toronto to attend Humber College and after completing his Performance Diploma he moved back to Calgary.
Jim is involved in many local projects like Urban Divide and Kirby Sewell Band, and plays with many local performers. He has performed at several blues, jazz and art festivals.
Jim loves the performance aspect of music and the constant study of his craft. He thrives on the energy he gets from publically performing for people.
When Jim isn’t teaching or gigging locally with the many projects he’s involved in, he tries to squeeze in as much food, coffee, yoga, and science fiction as he can.
Keith Watson
When trying to pin point a specific reason to love music, Keith Watson has no words. For him, it’s not just one thing that draws him to music—it’s everything.
Keith plays various instruments, like the didgeridoo, ukulele, piano and mandolin, but specializes in guitar and bass.
He has been teaching those two instruments at Cornerstone music for 10 years and has been teaching music in general for 31.
Keith loves to see the progression of a student’s skills and the enjoyment that comes from learning an instrument.
He grew up in Calgary and started playing piano when he was seven, guitar when he was 15, and started teaching a short two years later at 17. He has his Royal Conservatory in Classic Guitar, and during the day, works in the IT department of a company.
For the past three years, Keith has been one of the organizers of the private music festival Parkland Summerfest, which has booked many successful artists like Bedouin Soundclash and Jim Cuddy.
Throughout his life, Keith has been involved in various local musical projects. When he’s not gigging around town with his band Big Willy, Keith likes to play lots of sports. He has competed in the Scottish Highland Games for 15 years.
Kristine Gray
Kristine Gray teaches classical guitar and saxophone at Cornerstone Music. While this is her first year with the studio, she has been teaching music for 15 years.
Kristine loves to share the repertoire of music with colleagues and students. She specializes in a classical and new form of saxophone playing which is unlike the typical jazz format. It is these unknown aspects of the saxophone that Kristine loves to teach.
Kristine grew up in Winnipeg and started by playing the organ. As a child, she began playing classical guitar within the school system and continued when her family moved to Calgary. When she was 16, in grade 11, she taught herself to play the saxophone and joined Lord Beaverbrook High School’s concert band.
It was then she knew she wanted to make music her life and career. She studied under Jeremy Brown at the University of Calgary for her undergrad, and completed the Bachelor of Education program.
Kristine has recently moved back to Calgary after spending time out east, teaching music in the Toronto educational system, and attending the Boston Conservatory where she received her Masters. She is currently in her fourth and final year of her Doctorate in Classical New Music Performance at the University of Boston.
When she isn’t teaching or studying she likes to go to the park with her two dogs, and now that she’s back in Alberta is looking forward to spending more time exploring the outdoors.
Russell Cayzer
Russell Cayzer’s favourite aspects of music are the rhythm and the frequency of vibrations that are the energy of life.
Russell has been teaching the fundamentals of guitar strumming at Cornerstone music for the past three years. He helps bass guitar players understand their role in music and guides rock bands by teaching them about blending their instrument tones. He provides students with stage tips and advice learned first-hand from years as a performing musician.
Russell’s musical aptitude doesn’t stop there. He’s a talented vocalist and plays a few percussion instruments, like the tabla, simple synthesizer parts, and can hold a steady beat on a drum kit.
When Russell isn’t teaching at Cornerstone he is actively involved in the locally performing DivaPop and old school hip hop band called REWAVE. As the bassist and musical director he creates high quality drum tracks on his laptop and has a small number of original songs that he’s performed in singer/songwriter style around Calgary.
Russell grew up around the world before settling in Calgary with his family in 1980. It was here he began his 28-year musical journey by learning the electric guitar.
He has a diploma in Computer Engineering from SAIT and was a student in the Mount Royal College department of Jazz in the early 90s. He was also a student of Jazz at Capilano College in Vancouver in the mid-nineties.
In his spare time, Russell takes in as many musical forays as he can and is interested in local and international politics, art, dance, healthy eating, gardening, and various styles of yoga.
Sarah Vann
Sarah Vann teaches, in her opinion, the best class at Cornerstone Music—Munchkin Music.
Sarah has worked with children in various aspects for over 15 years and loves the energy and creativity they bring to any situation. She taught piano in high school, volunteered with kids with disabilities in university, and nowadays can always be found among the children at a party. Nothing makes her day more than an exhilarating game of Hokey Pokey.
Sarah enjoys the universal accessibility of music. She has been teaching music for one year and has been a music therapist for four. She works at the Alberta Children's Hospital and privately for JB Music Therapy Inc. She performs locally and has recorded an album of original songs, Deafened, a body of work so diverse it cannot be categorized.
But her talents don’t stop there. Vann has been playing music- in many forms- for 25 years. She plays guitar, piano, accordion, harmonica, ocean drum, maracas, kalimba, and boomwhackers.
Sarah started with classical music lessons in small town Vermilion, Alberta. She has had wide-world meanderings and big city adventures as a music therapist by day and performer by night. Sarah completed her Grade 10 Royal Conservatory in piano and finished a Bachelor of Music Therapy degree at Acadia University in 2007. She began on a 12" violin and now favours a Taylor 314.
When she’s not teaching at Cornerstone or performing around town, Sarah loves to travel, meet people, hang out with kids, and rollerblade. She loves eating chocolate, taking clothes off a clothesline, and whistling with crab grass.
Andrew Row
When Andrew Row is teaching, he loves the a-ha moment; a moment when he sees a student accomplish something, finish off a piece of work, or learn a new technique.
It’s seeing the same love and joy that he gets out of music in the faces of his students that is really gratifying. That feeling that you really taught someone to do something.
Andrew has been teaching piano at Cornerstone for four years. He is one of the coordinators for the Cornerstone Rock Camp, which has been running for three years. As the structural leader of the Rock Camp, Andrew teaches students the fundamentals of how to run a band.
Andrew has been teaching music for eight or nine years, and is a full time school teacher, teaching grades 3 and 4 within the Calgary Board of Education.
Growing up the small rural farming town of Merlin, ON, Andrew started piano lessons when he was six. When he got to high school he increased his involvement with more instrumental work. He played all the saxophones in his high school band, and travelled to various places, from New Orleans to Nova Scotia.
He graduated from the University of Winsor, where he did his undergraduate degree, and has a double major in Music and Communications Studies. He was involved in the chamber choir, and has performed in Carnegie Hall in NYC. Andrew went to teaching college at Medaille Community College in Buffalo, NY, and received his masters in Science and Education. He also has his grade 9 Royal Conservatory Provincials.
While pursuing his education, Andrew was exposed to many different forms of music and was taught to find an appreciation in everything he heard. He finds the fact that there are that many different forms of music touching.
He moved to Calgary in 2007 and when he isn’t teaching, he enjoys reading and spending time with his dog.
Angela Strand
Angela Strand enjoys the creativity, joy and unity that music brings to families, communities and cultures. To her, music is sometimes the only language that can explain how we feel.
Angela teaches voice and piano at Cornerstone, and has dabbled in musical theatre classes and the cherub classes. She has been teaching for nine years, two and a half at Cornerstone.
Angela finds teaching very rewarding because every step a student takes in their musical journey is exciting and challenging. She loves to walk alongside each student, sometimes asking, sometimes nudging, and sometimes daring them to take the next step. She finds singing is a very personal experience and feels privileged to be trusted with a student’s voice.
Angela grew up in central Alberta, and began her musical career early, singing and performing for audiences with her family at the young age of three. When she was four, she started piano and musical instruction.
She plays many traditional band instruments and sings in many styles. She is trained in Musical Theatre from Grant MacEwan College in Edmonton.
Outside of her work at Cornerstone, Angela sings in a chorus, directs a youth choir, has a solo gospel CD, and has been commissioned to write theme songs. When not involved in musical projects she enjoys playing soccer, and baking and decorating fabulous cakes.
Mike Mackenzie
Mike is a guitar instructor and performer in Calgary with several years of teaching experience and a musical background spanning most of his life.
After starting the guitar at a young age, his interest and ability grew exponentially throughout his teenage years when he began forming his musical identity and playing in bands. He took lessons and then taught himself, gathering a wide repertoire of styles, songs and techniques under his belt and began teaching professionally during his high school years.
Continuing to teach upon the completion of high school, he auditioned and was accepted into the Mount Royal College Jazz Performance program, where he graduated with honors.
Currently teaching out of a couple music studios in Calgary, Mike continues to advance musically and progress with his teaching methods. He is a flexible teacher with an appreciation for most styles of music but maintains a particular enthusiasm for rock, blues, jazz and progressive. Having the understanding that each student is different in terms of interests and needs, he has developed an approach to teaching that includes the essentials but also caters to each student individually. A student can expect to receive knowledge of theory, technique, reading, song playing, song writing, improvisation and more during their studies with Mike and he always strives for a balanced curriculum and enjoyable atmosphere.
He is currently part of the Calgary band Sapphire Haze as well as his solo project The Mike MacKenzie Band.
Barbara Rose Olorenshaw
Barb has been playing the violin since the age of five and got her first training in fiddle and performance with the Calgary Fiddlers organization. At eighteen she teamed up with Chris to start the Celtic roots band ClanTerra. She spent 6 years playing and touring North America and the UK with ClanTerra, which included performances at Walt Disney World and a variety of festivals throughout Canada.
Barb has completed her Bachelors of Music and Master of Teaching degree from the University of Calgary. She is currently playing with a Contemporary Celtic Trio called Seancara - www.seancara.com.
Jason Kendall
Jason Kendall enjoys the creative, self expressive and improvisational aspects of music. It is through teaching that he is able to share this enjoyment with others.
Jason has been teaching guitar at Cornerstone Music for four years, and has 20 years professional teaching experience. He has been playing music for 25, and aside from his guitar, he plays 5 string banjo, electric bass, and mandolin.
Jason has instruction and performance expertise in many styles including jazz, fusion, R&B, blues, country, metal and also finger style nylon string.
Born in England, Jason and his family moved to Canada at age five. He began playing the guitar when he was 15. He studied music at Mount Royal College.
Outside of his work at Cornerstone, Jason teaches from his fully equipped studio. He also performs with a few local bands, MX Missile, Urban divide, and The Jason Kendall Trio. The bands are an eclectic group of jazz fusion, R&B, funk, rock, acid jazz, and trance fusion. He also does freelance and studio work.
When Jason isn’t involved in musical projects, work or recreational, he enjoys composition, cooking, reading and playing with his five year old.