Why I teach.
For me, playing the piano is more about feelings than sounds. When your fingers hit the keys to form melodies, it can transport you to a different world. Suddenly, you’re no longer sitting on your piano bench. You’re by a serene lake, sipping coffee and listening to birds sing. You’re rushing down an intense trail in the thickly-forested woods. You’re chatting away with old friends at a beautiful park. Through the piano, you can be wherever you want to be.
I’ve always felt that by playing music, I’m creating my own personal interactive movie where I can feel the twists and turns of the plot as the piece unfolds. Every song’s story is different and by playing, you experience every single step of the journey.
I teach so that I can share this magic with others. I love seeing the look on my student’s faces when they’ve just discovered a new world through music.
My background.
Little six-year-old me begged my mother for piano lessons. My mother went against the norm (she started my other siblings at age 8) and signed me up early. It’s been a lifelong passion ever since.
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I grew up spending hours a week slinging tunes on the piano and the flute. I happily took part in a number of group ensembles during those formative years and truly loved making music. As my siblings can attest, “Will you play duets with me?” was an ever present question in our household.
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I continued my music education through college by completing a minor in Music Studies at Westminster College in Salt Lake City, Utah.
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With a major in Graphic Design and Marketing, I set out, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, into the world of Corporate America.
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A few years into my career, I felt like something was missing - music. My parents gave me the ol’ family piano and I thought, “Maybe I can teach!”
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Seven years later and my passion is now my full-time career.
My style.
My teaching style is the perfect mix of old school structure with new school passion.
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I’m a stickler for the fundamentals. I believe students are best set up for success when they learn a solid foundation of music at the very beginning of their piano journey. This includes note recognition, beat structure, finger strength, and most importantly, learning from the soul.
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I love to keep lessons upbeat and often find myself singing along with scales, finger exercises, and melodies.
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My goal is to help my students learn to play whatever it is that interests them. Whether that’s classical, pop, movie scores, video game scores (didn’t even realize that was a thing until recently!), Jazz, modern composers, or something different, I’ll teach students to play something they enjoy.
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I find joy in the journey with each new student. My heart literally swells with pride after every success--big and small--and whenever milestones are achieved.
Learning to play the piano is a lot like riding a bike. The upfront work can feel like an incredible challenge, but once you break it down to the fundamentals and learn how to do it step-by-step, you can enjoy it for life.