Tunes with Tina

I began playing guitar at about the age of 9. I was one of those children that loved it. My mother didn't have to force me to practice!

I was invited to assist my guitar teacher, the lovely Tommy Kahi, at the age of about 12. I helped tune guitars, repositioned little and big fingers, glued in music and played along. I continued lessons and assistant teaching through high school and university.

An indie-rock 'girl band' called "Nettle" was the next venture, where I collaborated to create original music with two other women musicians in my late 20s. Our music mainly bounced off the walls of each others lounges and various baches about Banks Peninsular, where we refueled with tea and tiny cakes in between songs. Being similarly performance shy, we only ever played at two venues. Before disbanding because one member moved away for work, we recorded a 3 song CD with John Kelcher from Sneaky Feelings (had to name drop).

I completed a Certifcate in Jazz at Hagley High School in 1999 and moved away from Canterbury to Tasman in 2002. Music stayed in the back ground through the early years of child rearing with my new community not even knowing I played music. Finally at the tender age of 40 I decided I had to get over myself and push myself to play publicly, as I wanted a bit of the musical magic you get from performing and playing with others. It started with a song I wrote that I finally decided I could play for other people called "Mama Earth", which is a song about connecting to that mystical something that feeds me.

Next a new band emerged called 'Silverbeat' which gigged for a few years until band members went their separate ways, with a duo 'Lemongrass' forming a few years later. This morphed in to a four piece rock band. Alongside Lemongrass, a more acoustic trio, 'Teatree', was born. We played at local venues and vineyards further afield until this band also disbanded due to other commitments. 'Teatree', however, are currently recording a full CD of original indie folk rock tunes and plan to do a final CD release tour.

Now I am returning to teaching after 30 years, something which I am loving. I hope to inspire and help both little and bigger people on their musical journey like many fellow musicians have done for me.