Irena is a multilingual music teacher with 10+ years of music teaching experience in
Macedonia and New Zealand in primary, secondary, tertiary, and community settings. She has
performed extensively as a chorister, pianist and conductor across Europe and New Zealand.
Irena is currently pursuing her doctoral research at The University of Auckland, focusing on
cultural diversity in/through music education.
Irena believes music is for everyone and focuses on inclusion, learning and understanding
through music sharing in her lessons. Her priority is to form a good relationship and mutual
trust with her students, which will encourage a safe space for trying out new performance
techniques, collaborations, discussions, and approaches to developing their musicianship.
Her pedagogical practice is underpinned by culturally responsive teaching, empowering
students to engage with music intellectually, emotionally, and socially by acknowledging
various viewpoints and perspectives. This pedagogy acknowledges students as members of
multiple cultural contexts and encourages them to develop and nurture artistic imagination and
creativity.
Keyboard
Mr. Visha Bhakhavan
Visha teaches keyboard on Saturday mornings at Marshall Laing Music School. He aims to inspire students to improve their musical understanding by providing a variety of learning opportunities. Visha studied music throughout high school whilst playing in numerous music groups, including concert band, big band and saxophone quartet. He holds ABRSM grade 8 in piano and guitar, alongside Trinity College grade 8 in saxophone.
Mr Ben White
Ben currently teaches Keyboard on Saturday mornings at Marshall Laing.
He has been playing the piano for 20+ years, and has been teaching for 4+ years.
During his musical journey, Ben has been involved in solo and group performances around Auckland, and in high school belonged to the Jazz Combo, playing at assembly’s and battle of the bands competitions.
Ben holds a grade 8 in both classical and Jazz Music Performance through Trinity College and Australian New Zealand Cultural Arts respectively.
He is committed to bringing a fun, rewarding learning experience to all his students
Daniel White
Keyboard Teacher
Daniel has been playing the piano for 20+ years and has been teaching for 10+ years having taught all ages from 3 to over 60 years old.
He is an expert in Jazz, Classical, Contemporary and Music Theory holding multiple performance Diplomas with Trinity College of London and Australian New Zealand Cultural Arts.