You can develop musical skills and musical understanding through lessons with an experienced and qualified teacher.
With expert guidance you can learn to play with ease and avoid the pitfalls of faulty technique.
Make your playing a joy to listen to using methods based on natural, scientific biomechanical principles for use of the hands, arms, and fingers.
Expressive playing comes from combining easy technique with an understanding and appreciation of the languages of music.
I still have some hair (2018)
Little by little children and adults learn the nuts and bolts: note names, intervals, scales, chords, rhythms, and more. Each concept on its own is simple but the combinations give you a huge variety of music you can explore.
Most students also want to learn to read musical notation, which I encourage. I became extremely fluent at reading music but that’s a long term project for most people. So there’s a little reading, and ear training, in each lesson.
What music do you want to play?
Over several decades my students have learnt a wide range of piano music in many different styles.
You can bring sheet music you like to the lesson to learn, or I can get recommended pieces and books for you. Choosing the right music to work on is an art in itself so we always discuss it, and we don’t try pieces you don’t want. There is no shortage of music to choose from.
I teach piano and theory from age 8 to 88, including complete beginners of any age. Lessons are in the students’ own homes or online.
Please contact me if you want lessons for yourself or a family member. Mobile: 0414 374 701. Email: m, followed by the ‘at’ symbol, followed by: mixmargaret.com (there is no ‘au’).
Other info: Fees and teaching areas in the Shire of Mundaring (Perth Hills). If we have another lockdown your lessons can continue as I also teach online. Old page about my piano teaching. I also teach singing (but only for students over 18 years). My musical qualifications and WWC Check.
On the day of its Inauguration the Biden Administration added the choice of a non-binary title, Mx., to the White House online contact form.
BTW, Mx is best pronounced ‘mix’ and, like other titles, is written in the US with a full stop.
Despite what some say, Mx does not hide anyone’s gender—the user is assumed to be proudly proclaiming their gender identity is in some broad sense non-binary, non-binary transgender, or agender.
January 24, 2020
The revamped White House site now allows for “Mr., Ms., Mrs., Dr., Mx., Other, or None.”
In a major article I wrote: “To avoid customers feeling pressured into making mistakes, these three: Mx, No title, and Other, should always appear together along with the usual titles.” So it’s nice to see the new Biden Administration is using almost exactly what I suggested five years ago.
November 2015
This 2015 article clarifies many issues about Mx and debunks the misleading definitions in some dictionaries. It’s a thorough resource for anyone wanting to use Mx for themself or add it to their forms.
DEFINITIONS
When Mx first started being used consistently around 2002 by a few individuals, including myself, it was used by people who were known as transgender and/or intersex. In those days transgender was an umbrella term which included what is now called non-binary, which has itself become an umbrella term.
To this day Mx is still best suited to non-binary transgender people, broadly defined to include agender, and the few intersex people who are also non-binary transgender.
Obviously, Mx is of no use to binary transgender people and cisgender (ie non-trans and non-intersex) people. Note that some non-binary people do not call themselves transgender.
A useful definition could be:
Mx noun An honorary title used by some non-binary, non-binary transgender, or agender people, who do not self-identify as exclusively male or female, to indicate their non-binary gender identity.(Margaret Jones, January 2021)
Unfortunately, when in May 2015 an online version of the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) became the first dictionary to include Mx, the OED stumbled over their definition, which may have had an unfortunate influence on other dictionaries. They used four real world examples but their definition didn’t match them. They now have nine examples including three of the originals (as at January 2021).
In 2015 they had these real world examples:
‘the bank is planning to introduce the honorific ‘Mx’ as an alternative for anyone who feels that they don’t, for reasons of undetermined gender, fit into being either a Mr, Mrs, Miss or a Ms.’
‘A council is to include the title ‘Mx’ on its official forms to be more accommodating to the trans-community.’
‘Brighton & Hove council adopted the trans-friendly Mx title in 2013, after an inclusivity panel made the recommendation.’
Since then the OED has dropped their fourth real-world example concerning one of the most well-known Mx users, Justin Vivian Bond:
‘To me, Mx Bond embodies the very best kind of girl a boy could ever grow up to become.’ (You can read more about Mx Bond in the main 2015 article.)
These are all non-binary transgender or intersex uses and not cisgender at all. They’re consistent with my experience and usage, and with my observations of how others have used Mx, but they quite clearly contradict the Oxford Dictionary’s own definition.
Mx noun A title used before a person’s surname or full name by those who wish to avoid specifying their gender or by those who prefer not to identify themselves as male or female. (As at January 25, 2021)
This is not even paying lip-service to the notion of non-binary gender identity and only serves to dismiss our reality. They blatantly ignored their own examples, in effect misleading their readers into thinking Mx could be used to hide one’s gender, which is not generally possible (though some may try, possibly influenced by the OED).
Dictionaries should restrict themselves to describing how words are really being used and should not venture into prescribing how they believe words ought to be used. It seems the OED in 2015 could not find examples of Mx usage to demonstrate their view of gender as always binary but, nonetheless, defined Mx their own way, contrary to how Mx was being used. They failed us in this respect and other dictionaries seem to have followed their lead, thus tending to negate the real world experience and even existence of non-binary people.
As I wrote in the major article of November 2015, any cisgender person (ie non-transgender or non-intersex) using Mx to refer to themself will be considered by others to be transgender or intersex, which is certainly not what they’re wanting. Using it to avoid specifying one’s gender is not going to work and like posting nude selfies on the internet it may be impossible to completely undo. Mx will inevitably continue to refer to an atypical gender identity, and that will be a gender which is not exclusively male or female.
Some cisgender individuals, and other dictionaries, may have been unduly influenced by the OED’s very misleading definition. Just because some cisgender people have been using or experimenting with Mx to somehow hide their gender does not mean it will work for that purpose, and does not mean such use will persist in the long run.
Of course, using Mx should be optional and not at all compulsory. Many transgender or intersex people will not want to use it. Mx doesn’t suit all people with an unusual gender identity so it is important that no-one assumes a non-binary transgender or intersex person wishes to be known by this title.
I am very heartened to see the new Biden Administration has implemented a very good way of using Mx in their online contact form, right from the very first day. That’s progress!
The Benefits of House Sitting in the Shire of Mundaring.
[This was first posted as a ‘page’ a few days ago by mistake.]
I type while a small bird in a cage at the other end of the table entertains me as I try to whistle in duet. At my feet is a lovely old dog. Rimsky-Korsakov is on the radio (yeah, I should probably stop writing and listen carefully).
I’ve finished the morning feeding & watering. Cows, goats, chooks, pasture for feed, some veggies, hanging plants and seedlings. Now the day is mine until the afternoon routine, which is less. With some other house sits there is almost nothing to do.
Selfie used with permission of the property owners
It’s almost idyllic. I get all the enjoyment of living with all sorts of critters and often in very nice homes and on fabulous properties, surrounded by forest, with almost no responsibility except to tend to them and keep an eye on how they are faring. No big vet bills, fencing repair costs or council rates for me! No complex decisions. Sometimes there’s a bit of troubleshooting or problem solving but I enjoy that so that’s actually a bonus.
In some places it’s like playing at being a subsistence farmer but it still allows me lots of time to work on my music (in between Facebook or writing articles). Which is good because I compose and write lyrics slowly.
Coming up in 2021 will be the tenth anniversary of when I began my house sitting lifestyle, although I did get the idea a few years before that when I was asked to look after a house in Karratha. That was such a great experience so, while living in the Flatlands after returning to Perth, I developed a plan to become a continuous house sitter in a forested area where I wanted to live but could not otherwise afford.
The plan worked like a treat: I took a long-term booking to house sit in Parkerville from May 2011. What a great start, Parky is where I grew up and where I longed to be. In anticipation of permanently house sitting up in the Hills, in the Shire of Mundaring, I took on lots of music students in the area from early that year. This meant a long drive each day to teach them for several months, but it was worth it in the long run.
Paid house sitting is a win-win-win: good for me, good for the home owners, and good for the environment. For the first six years there was one less house required on the planet because I didn’t have a home base.
Selfie used with permission of the property owners
There are some downsides. The frequent moving is a hassle and sometimes there are gaps or overlaps. In one three-month period some years ago I had about four long bookings cancelled at short notice (each for a different reason). Some of the cancellers were able to put me up for a while, which was very kind of them.
In the early days if there were gaps I would stay with my mother in her rented unit near Midland Gate. There wasn’t quite enough room to swing a …, er, better not say it as I often have felines to look after. If my brother needed a room for a week or two either he or I had to find somewhere else. Mum is now 87 and doing well in a nursing home, she’s the brightest one there. She loves seeing Facebook pics on my laptop of Dog Rock in Albany, near which she grew up.
These days I have my own home base as a boarder in a lovely place in Hovea so gaps are not a problem.
Of course, in early 2020 most of my bookings for the whole year were cancelled because of the coronavirus. Western Australia, the second largest state on the planet (ca. 3.5 times the size of Texas) also had regional border closures so for some months home owners couldn’t even take a long drive for a holiday. Eventually, this all changed and now I house sit for people taking caravan holidays or having working trips all over WA. Almost no-one is flying yet, which is partly why the virus is almost non-existent here.
Many years ago I taught piano, singing, music theory and vocal health full-time in my home studio in Claremont or Nedlands, 6 hours per day, about 36 hours per week. At noon I would do an hour’s piano practice, and another five hours from 10pm to 3am. Not recommended.
For the last ten years while house sitting I’ve had a much healthier teaching load and I mostly drive to the students’ homes or teach online. But even this was hit by the coronavirus pandemic. I have my fingers crossed it will also bounce back.
Meanwhile, I have lots of time to compose and record. I count my many blessings frequently.
