Naomi Garrett
Naomi Garrett is a violinist studying in the concurrent Music Education program at McGill University. As a teenager, she was extremely inspired by the artistry, joy and musicality demonstrated by the young members of the Venezuelan El Sistema Orchestra when she had a chance to see them perform live in Toronto. Since that experience, she has been a violinist in many orchestras including the Kingston Symphony Orchestra, the McGill Symphony Orchestra, and the National Youth Orchestra of Canada. From her pre-school days, Naomi has also been creating hand-made jewellery and crafts, a hobby which developed alongside her musical training, often resulting in musically themed designs. Throughout her crafting career, creating apparel has always remained her favourite area of design, and many items in her wardrobe including dresses, necklaces and earrings are hand-made items she created for herself. She has been making violin peg and bridge necklaces since 2008, when she stumbled upon an old peg and bridge in her high school music classroom, and designed the first necklace that evening after school. It still remains the design that she uses for the necklaces you see today. Now an active member in the music education community in Montreal as a teacher with the McGill Conservatory and the Vice President of Academic Affairs on the Music Education Undergraduate Student Association of McGill, Naomi has teamed up with the Quebec Music Educators Association to fundraise for their Viva!Sistema program in selling her originally designed violin peg and bridge necklaces for this worthy cause. Each necklace sold will be hand-crafted and signed by Naomi, with proceeds going to the Viva!Sistema program to provide under-privileged children in Montreal an opportunity to receive quality musical training, free of charge.