Education and Community Music Background

Background

Pia studied Jazz through voice for four years in New Park Music Centre Dublin and received an honours degree in Jazz Performance in 2009. Since that time, she has become a well-known improviser and vocalist in the Irish Jazz Scene.

She received a Music Network Certificate in Continuing Professional Development (2009) and took part in Create’s Mentoring Programme, who’s initiative it was to create a National framework for mentorship in collaborative arts practices. She was mentee to clarinettist Paul Roe from 2008-2009,  http://www.create-ireland.ie/connect-mentoring-programme.html  

Pia now has over 10 years experience as a music educator and community music facillitator, through singing, songwriting, improvising, piano and theory skills.

Projects and Experience

Pia was the Musician in Residence in St Michel’s Estate, Dublin 8 from 2009-2016. Developing her collaborative music practice through facilitating song-writing workshops with the community on a weekly basis. She started working with Common Ground’s Music For Me Project in 2007 originally working with young people aged 4-12 years and since becoming the Musician In Residence has worked with various age groups within the community. In September 2014 the song-writing groups performed for President Michael D Higgins at the opening of the new estate and throughout the last 6 years there have been numerous recording projects and local performances.

Pia joined the teaching faculty of The Dublin School of Music in 2012 as a singing and piano teacher, teaching contempory singing (Pop/Rock/R&B/Jazz and Musical Theatre), songwriting and jazz and classical piano through the RIAM syllabus.

In Spring 2012 Dunne wrote and delivered a 6 week programme for 11 and 12 year olds in St Michel’s Youth Project entitled an Introduction to Music For Me funded by Common Ground. This programme explored various genres including pop, jazz, electro and hip hop with weekly guest slots by visiting professional musicians who would play music for and with the young people. Many of these young people went on to take up an instrument or write songs.

Since then Pia has gone on to write and deliver many educational modules tailored for specific communities and projects.

Present

She also frequently gives workshops in performance and song-writing and has directed many recording projects and performances with young people. One example of this was her involvement in the Ground Control Project in Rialto (beginning in summer 2013). Which saw the writing and recording of an entirely original album of songs by the young women of Rialto Youth Project all the way through to it’s launch and performance in Dec 2014.

A more recent example was a a day of one off Popular Songwriting workshops with ages 5-7 and 8-12 year olds in The Ark as part of their Popular Music Week (26/10/15-30/10/15).

Since 2013 Pia is also the co-founder of the St Vincent De Paul School of Community Music in Ozanam House, Dublin 1 as well as the Musical Director for their Adult Choir. In November 2016 she began a youth community choir in Bluebell Youth Project, Dublin 8.

Pia is currently studying the Nordic Master in Global Music GLOMAS in RAMA Denmark and Sibelius Academy University of Arts Helsinki, Finland.