Bina A. John

Concurrent Teacher Education Program (CTEP) Coordinator
Music Education

BMus (Piano Performance, Alberta), B Ed (Elementary, Alberta), MMus, PhD (Music Education, Toronto)
e-mail: bina.john@utoronto.ca

Bina John teaches courses in Child and Adolescent Development in Music Education, Keyboard Skills, and Foundations of Music Education (Psychology of Music) at the undergraduate and graduate levels at the Faculty of Music, University of Toronto.  Dr. John is the Concurrent Teacher Education Program Coordinator at the Faculty of Music in partnership with the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education.

Bina John’s research interest is in Music and Emotions, Early Childhood Music Education and Consciousness Studies. Bina John was a guest speaker at the Youth Music Early Years Zone Conference:  “Innately Musical:  Keeping the Box Unlocked”, in Great Yarmouth, England, on March 17, 2005 and the Association of British Choral Directors, Newcastle, England, August 2006.

Publications include a conference paper, “Intersections between Music and Consciousness” at the 2003 Third International Music Education Conference at the University of Exeter, a conference paper, “Musical Roots of Empathy” at the 2004 ECME/ISME Conference in Barcelona, a chapter on “Affect and Music” in Volume II of the CMEA Biennial Series Book: Questioning the Music Education Paradigm and the article, “The Healing Ritual of Choral Singing: Planting Seeds of Compassion” in Music Time, Fall 2006.

Dr. John has taught choral performance programs from kindergarten to high school across Canada. She has served as a Judge for the Canadian JUNO awards. Bina John has directed award-winning children’s choirs in Winnipeg and Toronto and she recently toured in Paris, France, Montreal, Halifax, and Chicago with her auditioned choir, “The Montcrest Singers.”

VITA
     Bina John holds degrees in Piano Performance (First Class Honours) and Elementary Education (Distinction) from the University of Alberta (B. Mus., B. Ed.), a Masters in Music Education (Mus.M.) and a Doctor of Philosophy (Music Education) from the University of Toronto.  She holds teacher certification in Orff  (University of Alberta) and Kodaly (Royal Conservatory of Music, Toronto, Alberta College of Music).  She has also studied Karnatic Music and Classical Indian Dance.