Dr. Joan B. Heels maintains a private voice and piano studio in Hamilton, Ontario, and is an active international vocal and choral adjudicator, as well as a Member of the College of Examiners of the Royal Conservatory of Music as a Voice Examiner since 1995.
Joan started her piano lessons at the age of 4, and began singing at a very young age - before the age of 5. She remembers that her first song that she sang while trick-or-treating on Halloween was "A Tisket, A Tasket". Her mother, Mary J. Heels, was a noted Hamilton Contralto soloist, and was a paid soloist in Hamilton Churches, and so naturally helped Joan with her early vocal studies. Years later, Joan remembers giving her Mother lessons in preparation for some Messiah solos in Church.
During her career, Dr. Joan Heels has studied and coached voice with many prestigious voice teachers and coaches in Canada, United States, and Austria at the American Institute of Music Studies (AIMS). Her principal voice teachers were Bernard Diamant, Madame Pauline Donalda, and Margaret Avard Wickett, but she also studied and/or coached with Pierre Bernac, Dr. Gladys Whitehead, Burton Garlinghouse, Helen Hodam, Martin Katz, Maurice Allard, Fritz Lehmann (brother of Lotte Lehmann), Gwendolyn Godolsky, Charlotte Martin, Udo Kasemets, Charles Reiner, Mado Roch, Flora Everett, and Jessie Gray, as well as many language coaches, often at the many Summer Schools she attended.
She taught Vocal, Choral and Instrumental (Band) Music for several years in the Educational Systems in Montreal and Hamilton in Elementary, Middle and High Schools. She especially liked working with the high school age students. During that time, her choirs and bands received top marks and medals in local and international competitions.
While in Montreal, Joan was a Soprano Soloist at Churches and Synagogues, including St. James United Church and Temple Emanu-El. Also, for several years, she was the Director of Children's Choirs of Mount Royal United Church.
Joan also performed on CBC as a Soloist, and sang with well-known choirs such as the Montreal Bach Choir, the Montreal Elgar Choir and the Montreal Symphony Choir.
In 1980, she began commuting between Montreal and Hamilton - teaching High School Music in Montreal from Monday to Friday, and teaching privately in her Hamilton studio on the weekends. Then in 1989, she was offered a position with the local school board, and returned to Hamilton to teach music (band and choral) in Dalewood Middle School, and continued her private teaching as well.
From 1990 to 2000, she conducted the well-known Hamilton community SATB choir, the Harlequin Singers, which specializes in performing Show tunes and Folk repertoire, as well as seasonal music.
She retired from teaching vocal and band music in schools in 1994, to concentrate on private teaching, adjudicating and examining. Dr. Heels has adjudicated many music festivals coast to coast, as well as the National Arts Festival in the Bahamas.
Joan belonged to her local Branch of the ORMTA in the early 50's, and joined again upon her return to Hamilton from Montreal in 1989. For several years, Joan was the Treasurer of the Hamilton/Halton Branch of ORMTA.
Dr. Heels' latest "claim to fame" is the writing and publishing of the two manuals "Sight Singing for Success, Volumes 1 and 2" which correlate with the Sight Singing requirements for both the Royal Conservatory of Music and Conservatory Canada Vocal examinations.
Joan is honoured to have been chosen by the Hamilton/Halton Branch as Teacher of the Year.
