top of page

 Our Teachers 

  Magdalena Melax 

Meet Magdalena

 

Hi!  I'm Magdalena Melax (also known as Maggie or Agnes).  I am proud to be the owner and director of the Leduc School of Music!  My intent is to make quality music instruction available to students of all ages in the Leduc area. I believe that a musical education is crucial in developing a society of whole, well-rounded, and cultured young people. I also believe that learning to play an instrument is about more than just playing notes, rather it is about learning to engage the heart, the mind and the imagination.


I have chosen the teachers who work with me because they agree with this philosophy. A common thread that links all of the teachers at the Leduc School of Music, is that we have each had a solid training in our respective disciplines, and we all love sharing what we have learned with our students!

Owner and Director

arrow&v

Leanne Snellen

Art

Leanne Snellen is an artist from Leduc County. She graduated from MacEwan University with a Fine Art Diploma in 2011 and then received a Bachelor of Fine Art with distinction in 2015. Keenly interested in art education, Leanne is excited about helping others to learn the classical steps of drawing and painting in a new Beginner Art Series developed for the Leduc School of Music, called "Look, then See". As well as being an artist and art teacher, Leanne works as a registered nurse, is a nursing instructor at Grant MacEwan College, and is a dairy farm wife, mother, and grandmother.

Scott Bergevin

Guitar, Bass, Drums

Scott grew up in Leduc, where he studied piano, guitar and drums locally. He completed a Music Diploma from Grant MacEwan, majoring in recording. Scott maintains a home recording studio, and has recorded a number of local bands and musicians. Scott regularly jams and creates music with friends. Scott has been teaching guitar and drums at the Leduc School of Music since 2010.

Randy Rink

Guitar, Bass, Ukulele, Mandolin, Banjo

As a young man, Randy was a touring professional guitarist for countless rock, country and blues bands all throughout the 1980's and 1990's. As such, he likes to say that he survived the 80's Rock & Roll scene. To date, he has played every major rock and country festival throughout Canada. As a lead guitarist hired by numerous bands and solo artists, he has appeared in CMT videos, has played in Las Vegas, and has played on television live from Parliament Hill on Canada Day in 2011. He still maintains a busy performing schedule as guitarist for various solo acts, and is currently the lead guitarist for the band Sweet Tequila. Randy teaches guitar, bass, mandolin and ukulele and Rock Band Classes at the Leduc School of Music.

Magdalena Melax

Music for Young Children

Magdalena "Maggie" has been a Music for Young Children teacher since 2002, and has a designation of MYCCT (MYC Certified Teacher), which is a designation given to MYC's most experienced teachers. She thoroughly enjoys watching her students progress the way they do in this fun and engaging method of learning! Magdalena loves the deep foundation in musical literacy, composition and listening skills that Music for Young Children provides for its students. Magdalena carefully balances her time between being the owner of the Leduc School of Music, plus teaching Music for Young Children and private voice students and Musical Theatre and Sunrise.

Carla Thompson

Music for Young Children

Carla has been an MYC teacher since 2000, and she is an MYC Certified Teacher (MYCCT) which is a special designation given by MYC to its most experienced teachers. She began her own music studies at the age of 2 and 1/2 in a Yamaha music program, and this is likely the root of her great love for teaching group music classes. She is very passionate about the MYC program, and having taught hundreds of children in the program to date, she sees the high level of music knowledge that the children finish with, and is proud to have played a role in their learning. An annual highlight for Carla is the Composition Festival, and Carla's students typically place well in this national competition. Carla brings a depth of music knowledge to her classes, and she is currently our main MYC teacher and teaches most of our classes.

Lois Green

Piano

Lois is a patient and encouraging piano teacher with decades of experience. She is the only original teacher who has been with the Leduc School of Music since it was founded in 1987!! As such, she sometimes finds herself teaching the children or grandchildren of her former piano students. Lois is also a substitute Education Assistant with the Black Gold School Division, and she is the accompanist for the Leduc Junior High School choir. She is also a church pianist for three different congregations in the Leduc area.

Kaija Meetsma

Piano

Kaija is a talented young pianist who is in her final year of a Piano Performance degree at King's University College. While she was a teenager, Kaija performed in the local music festival each year, and has occasionally represented Leduc in the Provincial Music Festival Senior Piano category. She was also a recipient of the Leduc Foundation Scholarship in 2015 as a pianist. Kaija has studied Piano Pedagogy with Carla Thompson, and has been teaching her own students at the Leduc School of Music since 2017. She is also employed as a Church pianist at Peace Lutheran Church.

Yolanda Kakoschke

Piano

Yolanda is from Wetaskiwin. She has studied with Gayle Anderson for many years, and now studies with Inna Luzanac of Augustana University College. Before becoming a piano teacher, she achieved the highest mark Alberta-wide for Conservatory Canada for her own piano exams in grades 6, 7 and 8; and then achieved the highest mark Canada-wide for the Grade 9 Conservatory Canada piano exam! Yolanda has recently completed her Associate Diploma in piano with Conservatory Canada, and a recital of her pieces for this exam are found on Leduc School of Music’s YouTube channel.

Debbie Regehr

Piano

Debbie is a well-loved and respected teacher who has been teaching in the Leduc area for many years. Debbie most often teaches intermediate and senior students, and her students all seem to absorb Debbie's own artistry and beauty in playing. Debbie is the accompanist for Leduc's Piatta Forma Community Choir, and the accompanist for the Leduc High School choir. Debbie is the very capable president of the Leduc Music Festival Association. Besides working at the Leduc School of Music, Debbie maintains a home piano studio at her rural Leduc sheep farm. She also very much enjoys spending with her very young grandchildren.

Carla Thompson

Piano

Carla has been teaching piano for over 30 years. Many of those years were spent teaching in Camrose, and she later joined the Leduc School of Music faculty in 2011. A keen musician from an early age, she began her own music studies at the age of 2 and 1/2, and by the age of 16 had completed a Grade 10 Piano Certificate with the Western Board of Music. She has studied with Marlene Nepstad, Joy Berg and Annika Roos, and has studied pedagogy with Dr. Anne Burrows in Edmonton. Since beginning to teach, she has prepared her students for exams and local and provincial festivals, where they typically do well, as Carla always strives to instill and excellence in performance and technique in her students at any age.

Magdalena Melax

Preschool Music "Sunrise" Class

Magdalena loves to play games of imagination with her preschoolers - from visits with the Maiden in the Tower, the Dragon, the Knight and the Frog; to splashing in the rain with a Teddy Bear Band! She also thinks it's fun to develop personas for Buzz the Fly and Mellow the Dog and many other silly characters. Magdalena carefully balances her time between teaching the Sunrise preschool program and the Music for Young Children program, teaching private voice students, being the owner and director of the Leduc School of Music, being a church music director, a singer and being present for her own family.

Darrell Soetaert

Violin, Viola, Fiddle

Darrel has a Bachelor of Music degree from the U of A, where he first majored in the violin and later moved to the viola. Darrell is currently the principal violist for the Concordia Symphony. Darrell founded the Wildrose String Quartet in 2008, and he continues to be the manager, violist and arranger for this group. The success of the Wildrose Quartet as a steadily booked ensemble, is largely due to its repertoire, which Darrell writes for the group. He takes popular music (Coldplay, Bruno Mars, Beatles, etc.) and arranges it for string quartet. In addition Darrell teaches violin, viola and fiddle in Edmonton and at the Leduc School of Music, where he has been teaching since 2007.

bottom of page