Meet Ava Ducharme…

…owner of Featherstone M&PA Co. and lead piano, vocal, and KinderBop Company teacher. She began teaching in 2006 when she was 15 years old. In April 2015, she performed as the opening act for Canadian Broadway sensation Danielle Wade's 'No Place Like Home' homecoming concert at the Olde Walkerville Theatre. Shortly after, she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Music degree in 2016 and moved to Toronto where she taught professionally for two years at On the Off Beat Music School, one of Toronto’s top-rated music schools in Leslieville. She also accepted a teaching position at Rock This Way!, a top-rated pop/rock performance-based music school in Vaughan.

       Ava has a passion for early childhood music education and works within the Maria Montessori and Orff Schulwerk philosophies that encourage students to think both critically and creatively about music through the natural instinct of play. In 2017, she had the privilege of attending Doug Goodkin’s Music From Five Continents: An Orff Schulwerk Perspective workshop at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto.

       Ava believes that all students - of any age - should have fun in their lessons and she teaches with a student-centered approach. Aside from her Royal Conservatory of Music certificate training, she specializes in teaching piano and voice students through contemporary pop/rock styles and techniques. She has graciously accepted roles in the past as Vocal Director for Villanova High School’s theatrical productions of 'Hairspray' and 'We Will Rock You' and has also volunteered her time and talents in the past to the Windsor Light Music Theatre as the vocal workshop instructor for the summer camp programs.

Ava is thrilled to be back in Windsor!

About Our Name…

Featherstone Music & Performing Arts Company is named for owner Ava Ducharme’s grandmother, Jennie Brownell (nee Featherstone). Originally from Manchester, England, Jennie sang in local pubs with her sisters to provide for their family. During WWII, she met and fell in love with a Canadian soldier. She and her new husband began a new life in Canada where she would share and pass her musical talents on to her many children and grandchildren. She shared her ardor for singing and music with every person she met and Jennie’s passion and legacy lives on with Featherstone Music & Performing Arts Company, where music is valued and appreciated as an essential part of life.

       In 2011, Jennie succumbed to Alzheimer’s. Although her memories had disappeared, music remained in her life to the very end. Nothing could stop Jennie’s smile or hand from tapping as her daughter and granddaughter played music and sang by her bedside.

       Featherstone Music & Performing Arts Company allows Jennie to live infinitely through music. Pictured below is an edited photograph of Jennie’s handwriting from a letter to her daughter. It reads: “Remember me when I’m gone, just sing me a song”.

So, to all of our students: sing and play on.