Music Teachers' Association
of New South Wales

Fiona Stephens

Jane Cottee

Jane is a qualified Music Educator with over thirty years experience teaching in Primary and Secondary schools in both the Public and Private sectors of Education, NSW. She is qualified as a Proficient Teacher with the NSW Education Standards Authority and is registered as a Creative Kids Provider with Service NSW 

She provides piano tuition in a safe and welcoming environment from her studio in Hamilton East. 

Kay Lane OAM

Kay Lane holds a Diploma of Music Education, AMusA Piano, ATCL and LTCL Piano Teaching, Kodaly Level 3 Teacher Training.

She taught for several years as a High School Music Specialist before training with the Kodaly Music Institute of Australia. Kay taught at Newcastle Conservatorium/University for 15 years in the Early Childhood Music Kodaly Programme, where she formed the Conservatorium Childrens’ Choir.

Kay then taught for ten years at the Junior School of Newcastle Grammar School where she developed three choirs in addition to implementing a Kodaly classroom programme.

Kay has directed many community choirs and is currently director of Under Construction Mental Health Choir in Newcastle.

Throughout this time Kay has continued teaching the piano in her private studio, preparing students for examinations, eisteddfods, auditions, HSC performance, competitions and concerts. Many students have gone on to careers in the field of music. Kay strongly believes in the importance of developing skills in musicianship and aural training, as this informs the artistic decisions of performance.

She is an active committee member  the Newcastle Music Teachers’ Association

Kay enjoys teaching students of every age and level of skill and hopes that each student will develop a lifelong love of music, the discipline to master the technical requirements and the artistry to express the essence of the music.

Kay continues to find inspiration through her students and colleagues.

“Looking back over my years of teaching I am grateful to the many young talents entrusted to me for I have learnt so much from them”.

Amanda-Jane Yeomans

Bernadette Talese

Bernadette completed the Associate Diploma in Music Teaching at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music (University of Sydney) and both the Early Childhood and Primary Certificates in Music Education from the Kodaly Music Education Institute of Australia. Bernadette is an accredited teacher of piano, musicianship, theory and developmental music with over forty years’ experience. A nationally accredited do-re-mi Music for Children teacher and affiliated with KMEIA, Bernadette has taught individuals and groups in schools, pre-schools, community halls and her own studio at Burwood in Sydney where she currently teaches.

In her business, Allegro Childrens Music (www.allegrochildrensmusic.com.au), Bernadette teaches all ages and levels from babies to adults. Purposes include developmental and recreational, as well as preparation for exams, auditions and eisteddfods. Developmental music classes involve singing, movement, dance, percussion instruments and various sequential learning activities.

Bernadette enjoys a capella singing and was an enthusiastic member of Aurora Australis Chorus (Sweet Adelines Australia) for many years. She has been a regular member and also a section leader, participating in many performances and competitions, both local and national.

In more recent years, Bernadette has trained as a group piano teacher, upgrading both her own skills and studio equipment to embrace the challenges of music education in the 21^st century. She continues to teach private piano lessons as well as small group classes.

Bernadette believes that music is a gift to be valued and shared by all, having the capacity to benefit everyone in many ways.

Patricia Johnson

Nita Lawrie

Annette Anderson

Zeljko Bedic OAM

Examiner 50

ASA TDip, MOAA, MMTA, MASME, MISME, MUMT, MAATA, MASA

Zeljko Bedic OAM commenced piano and violin studies in Croatia, Europe and subsequently continued with his professional music studies in Sydney, Australia on piano, pedagogy and music theory under the baton of Dr Margaret Brandman, and on accordion, with Maestro Dante Simonelli and Mr Ross Lombardo.

Mr Bedic was included on the Australia Day 2019 Honours List and presented with the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for distinguished services to humanity in Australian and global communities and the performing arts, particularly through music.

He is a university academic (successfully prepared students for their Bachelor of Music Degrees and AMEB Performance Diplomas), and a Sydney Conservatorium of Music and Music Teachers’ Association (NSW) accredited professional music teacher in piano, accordion and theory.

Mr Bedic is the founder, and has been the Owner / Director, of Bedic Music Studio, now Paddington Music Studio for over 35 years. He has over 40 years of professional teaching experience and has been an AMEB Examiner for over 30 years. He was awarded his Teacher’s Diploma in 1983 and received his AMEB Examiner 25 Year Service Award Shield in 2016.

He has successfully prepared and trained numerous music teachers to become AMEB examiners and has written, reviewed and edited AMEB syllabi for many years. Most recently, he led and collaborated with other examiners, on a comprehensive and extensive syllabus review / rewrite which was successfully submitted to the AMEB for publishing.

Mr Bedic has delivered solo and duet performances at the Concert Hall of the Sydney Opera House, at the Sydney Entertainment Centre and at the Sydney Town Hall. He is a former first prize recipient of the ASA NSW state championships and the City of Sydney Eisteddfod. He was also a former recipient of the second and third prizes in the ASA Australasian Championships. Mr Bedic has adjudicated at international, national and state championships, and the City of Sydney and St. George Eisteddfods on many occasions.

His students have won International, Australasian, Australian National and NSW State Solo Championships. One of his students was selected by the NSW Board of Studies to perform at the Sydney Opera House Concert Hall, HSC ENCORE Concert. Another one of his students has won the prestigious Music Teachers’ Association (MTA) – Margaret Chalmers Memorial Scholarship and received an invitation to perform as a soloist at the MTA’s Centenary Celebration at Parliament House in Sydney in 2012.

He was the Musical Director and Orchestra Leader of the Koleda and Dubrovnik Croatian folkloric ensembles and the Musical Director of the Klapa Koleda a capella ensemble and choir. Mr Bedic recorded an album at the Sydney Opera House in the capacity of Musical Director / Orchestra Leader with the Koleda ensemble and a studio album with the Dante Simonelli Orchestra and Choir at EMI Studios.

Mr Bedic was the Australian National Coordinator, promoter, manager and publicist for two highly successful charity recordings / CDs, ‘Side by Side – Song for Port Arthur’ and ‘Stop the War in Croatia’. Both were highly successfully on the Coca Cola ARIA Charts (10 weeks in the Top 10), with extensive national television, radio and print media coverage, and raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for charity, but more importantly, provided moral support for the victims’ families. At the time, he received letters of commendation and support from the Prime Minister of Australia, The Hon. Mr. John Howard MP and Premier of NSW, The Hon. Mr. Bob Carr MP and numerous prominent senators.