Rachel Funk

Thanks for visiting my profile! I am teaching out of Funkytown Music Studio in Stanley Park (my home studio featured in the photos) as well as at Elizabeth's Music for Young Children and Piano studio in Doon. I am a MYCC teacher and an Education Assistant with 10+ years experience with the WRDSB. I completed the MYC program as a child and continued on with RCM and completed level 9 piano and level 5 theory exams  in 2003.

I grew up in rural Niagara on a vineyard. After many travels and adventures including living in Egypt for a year teaching English and attending University in Winnipeg, I eventually moved to the Waterloo Region to pursue a career in Social Servies. Fast foward to meeting my husband on a soccer team, getting married, having 3 children and rediscovering the MYC program as a parent and now as a teacher!

I love teaching music to young children as it feels a little like opening a musical toy box: sing it, tap it, play it, listen to it, change it, and—most importantly—have fun! The MYC program is so diverse and I appreciate all the different ways children are able to experience music through it:

• 🎤 Singing: The voice is the first instrument—and everyone gets one! Singing builds confidence, musical memory, expression, and the magical ability to make a room suddenly much louder.

• 👂 Listening: Good musicians have curious ears. We listen for high and low, loud and soft, fast and slow, beautiful and surprising. Listening is musical detective work: “Hmm… what did you just hear?”

• 🥁 Rhythm Ensembles: Rhythm is contagious! We clap, tap, stomp, echo, layer, and groove together. Ensembles teach children that music is not just about keeping time—it is about listening to one another and making something together.

• 🎹 Keyboard: The keyboard is a musical playground with patterns hiding everywhere. Children explore notes, chords, melodies, harmony, coordination, and the delicious feeling of discovering, “Hey—I made that!”

• ✏️ Composition: Every child is a composer in training. A strange sound, a silly rhythm, or three notes played in the wrong order might be the beginning of something wonderful. We encourage children to experiment, make choices, tell musical stories, and develop their own voice.

• 🏠 Homework: Homework should be small, achievable, and musical—not a weekly battle of wills. A little singing, listening, tapping and playing at home helps music become part of everyday life. We want practice to feel less like “I have to practise” and more like “I wonder what I can do today?”

Above all, I value curiosity over perfection, participation over performance, and joy over pressure.

A wrong note is not a disaster.
A funny rhythm is not a failure.
A wiggly child is not a broken metronome.

Music is a place to wonder, wiggle, listen, laugh, collaborate, and create.

Sing boldly. Listen closely. Tap enthusiastically. Play generously. Compose fearlessly. And always leave room for a little musical mischief.

The Stanley Park music studio is located:

-behind the Stanley Park Mall
-just off the Ottawa St. exit from the expressway.
-near the Ottawa and River intersection

The studio features:
- 5 keyboards, and one 1 acoustic upright piano 
- an assortment of rhythm instruments
- space for up to 6 children and their parents with space to perform songs with movement and rhythm, engage in music games and play at the keyboards!  

Elizabeth's Music Studio is located near the Homer Watson Art Gallery in Doon and features:
-1 acoustic upright piano and 5 keyboards.
- room for 6 children and their music helper
-enough space for movement in learning songs, playing games and playing their piano songs.