Interview with Wendy Beardall-Norton, Pianist, Composer, Teacher

Wendy Edward’s Beardall-Norton was born in Toronto, Ontario, raised in Hamilton, Ontario, married and lived in Toronto and in Fredericton, New Brunswick, where she lived and taught music and was very involved with the musical life of the city for over 40 years, and where two of her sons, Gregory and Cameron and their families still live.  

In 2014, some 15 years after her first husband, Alan, died, Wendy was remarried to Christopher Norton, a man well known in educational, religious and entertainment-style music in many parts of the world. The couple settled in the U.K., Chris’s adopted country, in London, where Chris had lived for a number of years.  

In 2018 Wendy and Chris moved to Stratford, Ontario, Canada, (close to where youngest son, Jeffrey lives with his family in Toronto), where they continue to enjoy both the life-style, the people and the vibrant music community. They travelled pre-pandemic to much of Canada, the U.K., the U.S., Australia, New Zealand, Europe and Asia both to work and to visit with Chris’s three children, Daniel, Juliet and Isobel and their families in various parts of the U.K., and to visit close friends and relatives in France, NZ, Portugal, the Netherlands, the US, and other parts of the world.

Wendy has published three books of piano music, the first two with Debra Wanless Publishers (www.debrawanless.com), the third with 80dayspublishing.com. She has, with Christopher, created 31 MicroMusicals which are taught as part of the curriculum in a number of UK schools> Wendy writes story-lines, lyrics, and in some cases the melodies; she has also co-authored 10 books of songs from the Micromusicals, for use in vocal examinations and Festivals. Wendy has also written new melodies for 20 John Wesley Hymns which are being released as Eternal Depth by 80dayspublishing.com and as audio under the title Wesley Rediscovered. She is proud to say that her youngest son Jeffrey has been the sound engineer and also a musician on the last project and his daughter Riviera is one of the singers on the album! Finally, Memories, a book of songs with music and words by Wendy, is about to be published by 80dayspublishing.com.

You can find much more at https://wendyedwardsbeardall-norton.com

Top 5 Songs of Encouragement:
1) Fantasie Impromptu in C# minor by Chopin, performed by Jonah Ho
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQeC5i9c09M
2) Piano Concerto no 2 by Rachmaninoff, performed by Artur Rubinstein
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9QLiefnoDE
3) Crystal Silence by Chick Corea, performed by Return to Forever 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Epv4Zk6stQ
4) Skylark, Music: Hoagy Carmichael, words: Johnny Mercer performed by Hoagy Carmichael
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7HsGBJjilQ
5) Southern Serenade by Christopher Norton, performed by Marek
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2644uI135wU