LOGINAna Maria
Field(s) of study : Violin Born : Colombia Degrees : Technician in Musical Education and Violin, Superior School of Fine Arts (Colombia) Biography : Ms Ana Maria started her musical journey at the age of 7 in the School of Fine Arts in her hometown Cartagena (Colombia) with her principal instrument being the violin. At the institute, apart from the violin, she studied theory, piano and the guitar and was awarded the scholarship. With her sisters, Ms Ana Maria formed a trio where they represented their school in music festivals and ultimately emerged as champions. At the end of her music studies, Ms Ana Maria was invited to join the Youth Symphony of Colombia where she had to relocate to the capital of Bogota. Being with the orchestra gained her the opportunity to travel throughout the country and with their extensive performances, they were featured in radio and television programs in Colombia. Her first stint abroad was in Puerto Rico where she participated in the Festival of Orchestras of Americas held in 1983. Ms Ana Maria chose the vocation to teach in the School of the Symphony and was applauded for her excellence in teaching. After which she joined the prestigious French institute Refous where she taught for 7 years. There, she pioneered the violin program for preschool and primary school students benefitting over 300 children between 4 to 12 years old. In 1985, Ms Ana Maria travelled to Europe mainly to France and Germany on a month long tour playing chamber music with the chamber orchestra, ‘Promusica’. With her brothers, Ms Ana Maria created Latin music groups to perform in music schools and music festivals with the main objective of promoting their Colombian and South American culture. Fate brought her to Singapore where one of the groups travelled here to perform Latin music in 2006. She then joined Mandeville in 2008. To date, 90% of her students have achieved Merit and Distinction in the ABRSM examinations. Through her 50 years of experience with music, she has learnt that we must follow our heart and we need to feel music in order to understand the language. She muses that techniques and training helps to acquire skills but the most important aspect is the need to express our feelings through the arts by projecting it through our body by singing and dancing as this will emulate the musical flow when one is playing a musical instrument. Ms Ana Maria’s teaching style includes playing the percussions to produce the rhythmic facet and lots of singing to further reiterate that music is inside us and that everything is music. She holds firms the belief that love and passion are part of learning and teaching music. Faculty : Faculty since May 2008