Few people come along in your music education journey that inspire, influence, and love teaching as much as Mrs. Jordan. Cochrane has been blessed to have this gem of a teacher for the past number of years. Mrs. Jordan announced her retirement after 40 years of piano teaching for May 31.
Being born and raised on a farm in Missouri she started piano lessons in 1959. The cost was 75 cents a week. Jana was delighted to have been given a box of quarters to put toward her music lessons for her birthday.
Jana started teaching piano at age 15. She immigrated to Canada where she successfully taught decades of piano in both B.C. and Alberta. She has taught up to 60 students per week!
I had the absolute pleasure of meeting Jana in 2011 when I started recruiting piano teachers. The concept was to teach students in their homes, providing a convenient alternative to parents and students, while getting the best possible music teachers to do deliver the lessons. She was the first teacher I ever contracted to work with me and the exact teacher I was looking for to pilot this project. Jana is and continues to be energetic, musically educated (ARCT from Royal Conservatory, the highest possible level of piano education), flexible and most of all fun. My daughter loved Mrs. Jordan as a teacher, as all of her other students did. I loved watching her light up as Mrs. Jordan showed her the meaning of different notes and musical styles, while more importantly teaching her life lessons of compassion, passion for the arts and friendship.
In Jana’s own words she “teaches people and not a method.”
What separates Mrs. Jordan, or Jana Piana, as we affectionately call her, is her deep care and interest for her students. If students were ever not themselves she would take the time to make sure they were okay. She would often share how her students inspired her or if she had a concern about them. It could be phone call, visit or email, but her passion, empathy and willingness to encourage was very evident. She wants to leave all students with fun, happy memories of piano lessons.
As she says goodbye, I wanted to say “Thank you” to my piano teaching colleague, and friend. She will be very missed by her students and the Cochrane music community.
Thank you Mrs. Jordan.
With love,
Miss Mozart
(Shelley Steele-Gittel)
