Lifelong Music

Canadian Print Music Publisher since 2001

About Lifelong Music:

In 1995, Ken Piirtoniemi wrote A Superior! Fanfare and A Superior! Suite as a means of involving his music students in environmental issues about the Lake Superior Basin. These were performed at the First Bi-National Student Environmental Symposium on Lake Superior, held in Ashland, Wisconsin, and have been performed by concert bands at almost every symposium to date in Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota as well as Ontario. Since then, Ken has continued composing, and officially registered his publishing company, Lifelong Music, in 2001.

Ken has presented clinics and conducted rehearsals of his music at schools in North Bay and Sault Ste. Marie.

Since 1995, he has composed many works for concert band, ensembles, vocal and wind solos with piano accompaniment, numerous brass quartets, quintets, warm-ups and hundreds of brass studies. His “Limited Experience” pieces for beginning bands focus on meeting both student and teacher needs at this fundamental stage of musical development, particularly where the method books fall short.

Ken Piirtoniemi (b. 1951) Port Arthur, Ontario graduated from the University of Western Ontario at London (B. Mus. - Honours 1974 & B. Ed. 1976) Western Ontario Conservatory of Music at London (A. Mus. Performer’s Diploma - tuba 1974). His teachers included: Saville Shuttleworth, Charles Dalkert, Ralph Aldrich, Clifford Evens, and A.James Ford. Ken performed as principal tubist of the London Symphony Orchestra (Ontario), as tuba recitalist and as tubist of the London Brass Quintet, performing throughout Ontario. Ken was a low brass instructor for the Faculty of Music and the Conservatory of Western Ontario (now Conservatory Canada). He also performed for the Lakehead Symphony Orchestra and Sault Symphony. Currently, he plays tuba or trombone for the Steeltown Silver Band and trombone for the Sault Swing Band and Musical Comedy Guild.

For 30 years Ken taught grade 9 - 13 instrumental music including band, vocal, piano keyboard classes in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario at Korah, Bawating, and White Pines Collegiate & Vocational. He was one of 6 team members for the Lake Superior Basin project awarded the Reader’s Digest “National Outstanding Leaders in Education Award” in 1996. In 1997 he was awarded the OSSTF Leadership in Education Award.

Ken was a 5-year board member of Ontario Music Educators Association in charge of regional workshops. He was an instructor at the Ontario Music Leadership Camp at Lake Couchiching from 1980-84, and low brass instructor at Ontario Youth Music Camp in Beaverton, and Huntington Summer Music Camp in Sudbury.

Ken has been a brass instructor since 1998 at Algoma University and has also taught trumpet horn, trombone, tuba, clarinet, saxophone and percussion students at Algoma Conservatory since 1999.