Christine Donkin is a Canadian composer who was born in 1976. She writes for choirs, orchestras, and small groups, and she writes a great deal of music for students. More than 100 of her pieces and arrangements are in the Royal Conservatory’s books. A child who takes piano or violin lessons in Canada has a good chance of playing her music. The best first piece is “Crafty Card Tricks,” a Level 1 piano piece.
Quick facts
- Born: 1976, in northwest Alberta
- Era: Living composer
- Has taught: composition and theory, at the Victoria Conservatory of Music in British Columbia
- Known for: pieces for students, and music for choir and orchestra
The life in short
Donkin was born into a musical family in northwest Alberta. She heard many kinds of music as a child: folk tunes, fiddle music, jazz, and classical.
She studied composition at the University of Alberta and at the University of British Columbia.
She composes, teaches, and visits schools and festivals as a judge and a guest speaker. Her concert music has been performed at Carnegie Hall in New York, at the Moscow Conservatory, and in Mumbai, India.
At the Victoria Conservatory, she has run composition clubs, where young students write music together and hear it played.
What the music sounds like
Donkin’s titles tell a child what to listen for: card tricks, trucks, and falling snow.
Her writing draws on the styles she heard as a child: folk, fiddle, jazz, and classical.
The student pieces are short, and each one has a clear character.
Pieces to play first
“Crafty Card Tricks.” A Level 1 piano piece. Ask your child what in the music sounds like a trick.
“Monster Trucks.” Ask your child to guess, before you play it, whether the music will be high or low.
“Snow Falling in Lamplight.” Listen for the snow.
“Peace Country Hoedown.” A hoedown is a lively country dance. The Peace Country is a region of northwest Alberta and northeast British Columbia.
Things to do together
Guess the title. Play one of her pieces without saying its name. Ask your child what it is about. Then give the title.
Flip it. Read a title first and ask your child to describe the music before hearing it. Fast or slow? High or low? Loud or soft?
Write your own. Pick a title of your own, such as “Sleepy Cat” or “Bike Race.” At a piano, find three or four notes that fit. That is how a composer starts.
Find the Peace Country. Look at the northwest corner of Alberta on a map. The Peace River runs through it.
For students and teachers
Donkin’s music is in the Royal Conservatory books for piano, voice, violin, viola, cello, clarinet, saxophone, and trumpet. Her pieces also appear in exam books in England and Australia.
Because she is alive and working, new pieces by her keep appearing. A teacher can help a child find the newest ones.
Why a living composer matters
Children often think composers lived long ago and far away. Donkin lives in Canada, teaches children, and writes about monster trucks. A child who plays her music learns that composing is a job people do now.
Print and play
Fill in a composer study notebook page for Christine Donkin. Read about more composers in Canadian composers for kids and living composers kids can hear today. For the exam system that prints her pieces, see RCM levels explained and RCM Level 1 piano.
For more composers by era, see classical composers for kids.
Sources
Checked in November 2026.
- Cypress Choral Music. Christine Donkin.
- EduArts. Christine Donkin.
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This article is part of Classical composers for kids: a guide by era, from Vivaldi to Britten.
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Use it with your kids
Print a listening page, a practice chart, or a composer fact sheet. Or try a tool, such as the composer timeline or the piece picker.