May 7th, 2013 - Lambda is proud to announce that Riney Chen (Piano student & Camp Counsellor at Lambda School of Music & Fine Arts / Student at Charlemagne College) took the initiative to organize a fund-raising campaigne for Leucan to help cancer patients. Riney and her supportive classmates took the challenge to shave their heads to donate their hair for cancer patients. With the support of friends, classmates and teachers, over $10,000 has been raised for Leucan. Bravo, Riney!
"Je suis en santé, j'ai plein de projets en tête, je n'ai pas peur de foncer. Tout le monde a le droit d'avoir des rêves et quelques cellules défectueuses ne devraient pas nous arrêter. Si je peux permettre à un enfant de plus d'être heureux, je le ferai. Je lui donne mes 40 cm de cheveux, je lui donne mon soutien. Supportez-moi, supportez cette cause, supportez les enfants malades. Ne serait-ce qu'un dollar, vous leur sauvez peut-être la vie.
I am healthy, I have goals, I'm not afraid of trying. Everyone has the right to have dreams and some disfunctional cells shouldn't stop us. If I can help a child being happy, I'll do it. I am giving him my 15 inches-long hair, I am giving him my support. Support me, support this cause, support the sick children. Even if it's just one dollar, it can make a whole difference in their lives."
23rd August, 2012 - Vice Director of Lambda, Dr. Wonny Song interviewed by the Spanish newspaper Oviedo
23rd August, 2012 - Vice Director of Lambda, Dr. Wonny Song interviewed by the Spanish newspaper Oviedo
3rd July 2012 - Congratulations to Daniel Luo, Sarah and Emily Oulousian, Rachel Ma - First prize winners of the 2012 Quebec Ontario Music Competition - having won first prize in piano solo and duet performance of their various age categories, and First prize winners for RCM Examination Grade 8, Grade 9, Grade 10, and ARCT level in the competition, and duet Open Category.
Congratulations to Gina and Tina Chou - Finalists of the 2012 CMC Piano (age 15 and under category). They just performed in Toronto on the 29th June, 2012.
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2 June 2012 - Congratulations to Lambda Students, Emily and Sarah Oulousian (Class of Dr. Angela Chan) First Prize Winners of the Armenian Embassy Music Competition (Piano Solo) and to Stephanie Benohanian (Flautist - Class of Prof. Sylvia Niedswiecka) - Recipient of Outstanding and Talented Young Performance Award
The Armenian Embassy Music Competition on the occasion of International Children’s Day under the patronage of Maria Yeganian, spouse of Ambassador.
Above: Sarah and Emily Oulousian with Adjudicator: Ms. John Sarkissian (composer) and Ms. Maria Andonian (pianist)
Photo taken at the Armenian Embassy, in Ottawa, Ontario.
Gina Chou, Sarah & Emily Oulousian, Daniel Luo - they all received First prizes (Gold Medal) at the QMEA 2012 Competition for Solo and Duo performances!
How to select the most suitable music and arts school for your child?
There are musical service providers everywhere. Yet, how do you find the best music teacher / music school for your child to ensure that you have made the right investment in your child’s potential and in time and money?
It can be a daunting task to find the right music school out there, particularly for parents without a musical background. How can you prevent unknowingly from putting your child in a “mass musical experiment” when you sign her up in a music course? What can you do to ensure that as a parent, you are choosing a school that provides the best possible education to your child?
These are the key questions to ask when you look for a music school for your child:
(1) Does the school focus its energy in teaching? Does the school help to locate the specific musical or artistic niche of the student in order to help your child develop his/her talent in the most effective and efficient manner? Does it have an artistic profile assessment that can help evaluate your child’s musical interests and proclivities? In case if you child turns out to be highly motivated and outstanding, does it have the resources and special fast-tracking programs to help your child soar exponentially to the next level?
(2) Verify teachers' credentials: All music schools claim that they have professional, enthusiastic and experienced teachers. How competent are they? What are their credentials? Do they have working knowledge of teaching, or they have a full understanding of the dynamics of education – with a thorough understanding of the psychology of learning, motivation, with a passion in teaching, but are also accomplished artists? It has been found that some schools and music academies (which are mostly music referral services) only provide first names of their teachers on their websites without revealing their true identity and credentials. A truly accomplished school takes pride in their faculty members – in their artistic accomplishments and what they have achieved in grooming students, hence are not afraid to reveal their true identities.
A truly reputable music school of quality and care helps you locate the best teacher for your child – through matching personality, level and developmental goals. It is also important for the school to ensure that the child receives quality instruction from the early stages. It will be counter-productive if the student acquires bad habits or performance ailments in the learning process and that one needs to waste time to unlearn in the future.
Also, verify if the school has a reputable teaching faculty panel. What are the credentials of the teachers of the school? Can they actually perform proficiently on their instruments to inspire their students? Do they offer an artist in residence program so that students can have first-hand interaction with outstanding artists since an early age?
(3) Check out the website of the school: Many music schools have websites that may look elaborate, claiming that they are the biggest / largest music school in town, with a large number of students, with experienced and professional teachers. However, as one examines in greater detail, we realize that there is a lot of distortion of information. Let's examine how certain claims can be downright misleading.
(4) Bigger does not equate better - Many schools claim to be the largest music school in town? Claims as such are not verifable and has little correlation with credibility or quality. What does the “largest school” actually mean? Is it in terms of size of venue? Student population? And does that include student turn over? Does having a large student population necessarily mean that a school is of high quality?
(5) When one examines a music school – the first important question to ask is: who operates the school? Is it a “one man show”? Or is the school simply operated as a “teaching assembly line” or a teacher referral service? Or is it directed by a team of truly caring educators with professional experience, appropriate credentials and international stature as concert artists – who actually have the capacity and resources of helping students maximize their potential? Is the school modulated by a panel of expert advisors who constantly infuse the school with dynamics that can enhance quality learning for each and every student?
(6) Concert preparation process - almost all music schools offer end of year concerts for students. But what goes on before the concert? Is there any coaching towards concert preparation so that students develop familiarity with the concert stage before their performance to help them develop a sense of stage and to prevent performance anxiety? Are students coached to develop confidence on stage? Besides an annual or biannual recital - does the school provide students with other performance, masterclass and competition opportunities? Does the school open up career paths for students who wish to further their musical pursuit?
(7) When one carefully examines the school venue – many music school are located in shopping centers with a few teaching modules. Students generally attend lessons in small modules with upright pianos. Check whether the school has facilities to enable the artistic development of the student – does it have a concert hall for regular practice, rehearsal and performance experiences? Does it provide a professional recording studio to offer recording facilities for feedback and audition demonstration as well as for audio and video demo preparation?
(8) In the survey of websites of music schools, it has been found that many music schools use stock photos in their website. It is indisputable that stock photos enhance the overall aesthetics of the website. However, using stock photos with the intention to deliberately mislead readers is another thing. Verify that pictures presented as the school venue on the website are indeed representative of the school venue. Certain pictures in music school websites can be misleading to the client.
(9) Many music schools try to imitate outstanding music schools but copying the exact color scheme, style and presentation of their websites, to the extent of plagiarizing their motto, mission statements, or services. The problem is that, to the undiscerning eye – they all look the remarkably similar. It becomes exceedingly difficult to judge quality for the inexperienced consumer. One sure fire way to check out services that appear too good to be true will indeed be delivered as promised, is to ask to speak to the director of the school. Make sure that they can substantiate the program with knowledgeable information, and offer tangible solutions to assist your child’s musical progress.
(10) Another useful way to evaluate music schools through browsing their websites is to look for quality content. Most website are inundated with superfluous words such as “experienced teachers”, “preparing students for examinations”, “offering annual concerts”… Basically they gloss over the website with keywords, but does not explain in detail what they do. What are the details of their programs, approaches, methodologies, or student accomplishments?
More important is to evaluate whether the website offer any quality content? A content rich website that aims to educate the public and showcase their track record of accomplishments are signs of credibility.
(12) As a consumer, one needs to be even more careful when one sees official logos of major institutions being embedded in music school websites (for instance, the RCM logo). Lately, there has been a lot of misleading and illegitimate use of the RCM logo in the market and also illegitimate claims to be affiliates of the RCM. Some schools put up the RCM logo on their websites simply because they offer lessons using the RCM Examination books or that they send students for RCM examinations.The truth is that anyone can teach the RCM program and send candidates for RCM examinations. Beware of illegitimate use of these endorsements and affiliation logos. This is NOT an affiliation or endorsement, and presenting this in such a manner is misleading. An RCM examination center run by official RCM center representatives offering RCM examinations by examiners from the RCM College of examiners, or and a center where RCM pedagogy workshops are regularly conducted is indeed a true affiliate of RCM. When in doubt, verify with the principal organization.
(13) Is it really a school or just a teacher referral service - Some music schools or music academies are teacher referral services. There is no administration staff, no school location – they simply collect tuition fees and refer the student to study with a teacher in a private studio. This is outright misleading, as the parents believe that they have signed up their child for a specific music program offered by a school, yet the school does not provide the infrastructure necessary to enhance the optimal develop of the student.
(14) Claiming to deliver excellence - Excellence is a very high order. Certain music academies claim excellence in service and rates. Let's examine that critically. Good service is a must for all businesses to survive nowadays. And what does excellence in rates mean? Good prices? That sounds attractive, however, are they able to offer excellence in education? Isn't the ultimate aim to offer quality education to aspiring learners? Objectively, "excellence" is a state of mind and bears little value when it is claimed by an institution. Excellence is an attitude and a culture that a community shares and upholds. Evidently, we can all perceive quality and excellence when we are exposed to it.
(15) Evaluate Content in Websites Critically: As you evaluate a music school's credibility and reputation, the best way is to look for substantial content. Are there articles of interest to parents, teachers and students? How is the quality of their articles? Are they helpful and insightful? In this age of information, quality content is key. Does the website offer any quality evidence of their accomplishments? Do they offer any quality video of their student or teachers’ performances that they take pride in presenting?
(16) Evaluate quality of performance in videos: If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a video is worth a million… With the popularity of incorporating videos in websites, many schools put up videos of their schools. As potential customers, evaluate video content carefully. See if the school takes take pride in showing its students’ performances? Are there any videos of the teachers’ performances? What is the standard and quality of the performances posted? Many videos just presented short clips of instructors teaching or students playing at an instrument with a voice over – in other words, one cannot really hear the quality of the performance.
The simplest way to evaluate is, just ask this question: Would you ever want your child to play like this?
Student achievements are evident. A video clip of student performances of the school demonstrates the degree of quality and care dedicated to teaching. This goes way beyond any testimonial or textual description can deliver. Based on the factual information provided above, and guided with your instincts - best of luck to your search of a musical institution of quality and care for your child!
Candidates must submit their scholarship application and a letter of intent directly to Lambda School of Music and Fine Arts. Applications can be submitted by email or my mail. No telephone applications will be accepted. Application deadline: 30th May 2012. No late applications will be accepted.
Selection critieria are based upon academic merit, artistic and musical achievement, and interview performance.
We are proud to announce that Ms. Olivia Chow MP (wife of Jack Layton) agrees to be the Honorary Spokesperson for our upcoming joint Lambda Concert Gala with Musicians of the World Symphony Orchestra forthcoming on the 18th November, 2012 at Place des Arts. The goal of this gala concert is to raise funds for full scholarships for deserving students to study musical performance at Lambda School of Music and Fine Arts.
There are musical service providers everywhere. Yet, how do you find the best music teacher / music school for your child to ensure that you have made the right investment in your child’s potential and in time and money? 
teaching, or they have a full understanding of the dynamics of education – with a thorough understanding of the psychology of learning, motivation, with a passion in teaching, but are also accomplished artists? It has been found that some schools and music academies (which are mostly music referral services) only provide first names of their teachers on their websites without revealing their true identity and credentials. A truly accomplished school takes pride in their faculty members – in their artistic accomplishments and what they have achieved in grooming students, hence are not afraid to reveal their true identities. 
and professional teachers. However, as one examines in greater detail, we realize that there is a lot of distortion of information. Let's examine how certain claims can be downright misleading.
familiarity with the concert stage before their performance to help them develop a sense of stage and to prevent performance anxiety? Are students coached to develop confidence on stage? Besides an annual or biannual recital - does the school provide students with other performance, masterclass and competition opportunities? Does the school open up career paths for students who wish to further their musical pursuit?
The problem is that, to the undiscerning eye – they all look the remarkably similar. It becomes exceedingly difficult to judge quality for the inexperienced consumer. One sure fire way to check out services that appear too good to be true will indeed be delivered as promised, is to ask to speak to the director of the school. Make sure that they can substantiate the program with knowledgeable information, and offer tangible solutions to assist your child’s musical progress.
at the results? 
fees and refer the student to study with a teacher in a private studio. This is outright misleading, as the parents believe that they have signed up their child for a specific music program offered by a school, yet the school does not provide the infrastructure necessary to enhance the optimal develop of the student.
schools. As potential customers, evaluate video content carefully. See if the school takes take pride in showing its students’ performances? Are there any videos of the teachers’ performances? What is the standard and quality of the performances posted? Many videos just presented short clips of instructors teaching or students playing at an instrument with a voice over – in other words, one cannot really hear the quality of the performance. 
