Taken from the Regional Editorial & Opinions, December 2010
Dear Editor,
What a beautiful community you have!! I actually don’t live here… I live in Stouffville, but I have been visiting Bolton once or twice a week for the past 5 years. When my son entered high school several years ago, he was determined to pursue his love and passion for music. We searched and searched and there was nothing available to us, at least not for the level of education that we were looking for.
We kept looking back at Tisho’s Music Academy, which seemed to be the only school offering what we were looking for. There was no”hype”, no pretence and no sales pitches. But my goodness, all that driving was going to be a pain. My other concern was that my son (being a typical teenager) may not take this commitment seriously, and we would end up with a huge waste of time and money. After much discussion, we met with Tisho for consultation, and away we went.
Isn’t it devastating when a parent realizes just how lazy their children are when it comes to hard work and commitment? But Tisho would have none of this attitude and he spelled it out to my son just exactly what is expected of him. To this day, I don’t know if it was fear, respect, or a bit of both, that motivated my son. But to sum it all up, five years later, he had mastered the drums and the entire percussion family, achieved Grade 8 RCM level in Percussion and Grade 10 RCM in piano.
Last summer his dream came true. He auditioned for Juliard in New York and was accepted into the Music program. I am the proudest mom in the world, and I owe it all to Tisho Balinov, who never gave up on my son, even though we all did at some point. I don’t know where my son would be today without the discipline he received from this amazing teacher who took no nonsense and no excuses. During our weekly visits, I had a lot of time to kill during my son’s lessons, so I ventured out into the community and made a habit for doing my shopping in Bolton while I waited for my son’s lesson to be over. I loved Garden Foods and all the specialized small local stores you have in your town. Now that my son is off to New York, my husband and I are”empty nesters” as we say; we have sold our family home in Stouffville and bought a small house in Bolton. So many thanks to Tisho Balinov and all the wonderful business owners for all that you have done to shape our family’s future.
Sincerely,
Mona Cheltingham,
Stouffville, Ontario