Sonja

Certified Tutor

Hi everyone! I'm happy to meet you. My name is Sonja and I teach a broad selection of subjects including essay writing and editing, English, music theory, French, public speaking, music history, European history, adult literacy, and piano. Currently, I am a PhD candidate in music history at Western University. I also hold a master's degree in music history and performance from York University, a bachelor's degree in music (piano) from Western University, and an advanced teaching certificate from Western University. As for French, I lived in France for almost two years where I communicated and worked in French on a daily basis and studied French at the Alliance Francais in Lyon, France.

In total, I have 18 years of teaching experience. I have worked as a university professor at McMaster University where I taught music history. This role required that I teach my students about the history of Western classical music as well as essay writing, editing, and public speaking (by means of conference-style paper presentations). I have also worked as an instructor at Western University where I taught essay writing, music theory, and music history to undergraduate students.

Prior to university teaching, I worked as a piano and music theory teacher at the Merriam School of Music in Oakville, Ontario where I taught students of all ages (my youngest student was 5 years old and I also had many adult and teenage students). At Merriam, I received a teaching award for an outstanding customer satisfaction rating of 93%.

As a professor and PhD candidate, essay writing (and academic writing in general) and public speaking are two of my strengths and passions and I would love to help you in your own essay or assignment planning, editing, or public speaking journeys. I can help you to get your work in the best shape possible regardless of your topic. Having taught at universities, I am also available to help with university or college preparation materials such as admissions essays.

Additionally, I have a lot of professional experience in writing and publishing articles and reviews. I have written musicology articles for several international history magazines and a review for a scholarly journal in Australia. As for public speaking, in addition to teaching lectures multiple times per week, I have presented my research at domestic and international academic conferences, the most recent of which was in Spain at the University of Lleida.

Last but not least, as a musician (I play piano and harpsichord) and music historian, I love music theory, teaching piano, and history and would love to help you with your own studies in those disciplines as well. I am also available for audition preparation.

For the time being, I've chosen to take a break from university teaching while I focus on finishing my PhD dissertation; however, I love teaching too much to stop completely and that is exactly why I chose to begin teaching here at Varsity Tutors!

Thank you for taking the time to read my information. I'm looking forward to meeting you.

See you soon!
Sonja