Head of a mouse Edmonton teacher charts her own path as a trombone player and band leader
Shari Narine
Freelance Contributor
FOR ONE WEEKEND in March of last year, Edmonton music teacher Audrey Ochoa traded her music room at St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic School for Rogers Arena in Vancouver, the site of the 2025 JUNO Awards. Her fourth album The Head of a Mouse was nomin- ated for Solo Jazz Album of the Year. “You're in a room full of your peers and it was this enormous event. But I was very anxious because I thought, ‘Well, I kind of wanted to win’,” she said. She didn’t win, but she did achieve a personal milestone. “My goal was always to be a good trombone player. So award, no award…I think I’ve checked that off my list now.” Getting started in music and teaching Music and teaching run in Ochoa’s blood. Her parents were big on the Edmonton music scene, her father Romeo playing trumpet and her mother Phyllis the accordion. Both mostly “gigged around town,” said Ochoa. Romeo was also a band teacher. “The concept of a working musician was in my household already, and so both of them encouraged all three of us (kids) to take music lessons. Because of the family element, we took it seriously, this notion of wanting to be good at it as a matter of family pride,” said Ochoa. With her sisters choosing saxophone and flute, and not wanting to be compared to her father’s trumpet prowess, Ochoa settled on the trombone stashed
away in the family basement. Thanks to school and city enrichment programs, it didn’t take her long to master her instrument. By Grade 12, she was being called to perform in bands, and paid $100 per gig. “I really wanted to be a musician, but…my dad's logic…and my mom's logic was, ‘If you want to play something, no one’s stopping you from playing, but could you also get a degree?’” recalled Ochoa. “It just worked out. It was a perfect program where I would end up with an education degree and could still study music.” Ochoa was already giving private lessons and teaching music at Alberta College while she was earning a bachelor of education degree from the When Ochoa began her teaching career 15 years ago, she taught part time so she could pursue her career as a trombone player. She was granted unpaid leave to perform on numerous occasions and “was able to make it work.” Last school year, after seven years of teaching band, elementary music choral, ukelele and recorder at Father Michael Mireau school, Ochoa left to con- duct a string orchestra at St. Thomas Aquinas. It was a unique opportunity to venture away from the usual woodwind, brass and percussion bands. To help with the switch, Ochoa took violin lessons and joined a small community adult orchestra. “I think I could speak a little more clearly to University of Alberta. It was a natural fit. Balancing performing and teaching
ATA Magazine Fall 2026
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