ABOUT
MY STORY
GROWING UP
I have been fascinated with music my entire life. As a kid, my obsession with music was so strong that my mom signed me up for piano lessons at the age of four. Back then, I loved rock and blues music above all else, and was listening to the Beatles, Elton John, Stevie Wonder, Muddy Waters and Ray Charles non stop. In eighth grade, I got my first paying gig, and I haven’t stopped performing since.
When I got to highschool, my musical interests expanded to include Jazz and Classical music. I became so obsessed with the sounds of Herbie Hancock, Brad Mehldau, Oscar Peterson, Thelonius Monk, Chopin, Bach and Debussy, that I took two piano lessons a week (one classical and one jazz) so I could absorb as much music as possible. I attended New Trier High School and got the privilege to perform in the nationally acclaimed Jazz 1 Ensemble for two years. While performing in Jazz 1, I finished second in the IMEA (Illinois State Jazz piano competition) and won the Louis Armstrong award for excellence in Jazz Performance. Meanwhile, I was performing rock, blues, jazz and folk music after school and over the weekends at venues in my hometown of Evanston. I was thrilled beyond belief when I was granted a scholarship to study piano at the prestigious Frost School of Music at the University of Miami in 2005. After studying at Miami, I earned a degree in Sociology of Education from the University of Wisconsin, Madison.
AS AN EDUCATOR
I moved to Portland in 2009 for an Americorps reading specialist position.This was an amazing opportunity for me to develop my teaching skills through working with students of different ages, learning styles and backgrounds. During this two year period, I tutored reading and math in both one on one and group settings, functioned as an assistant teacher in 3rd, 4th and 5th grade classrooms, created and ran after school clubs (sci/fi book club and a music club), and planned all school literacy events. After I completed my service, I was offered a position as a literacy tutor at Durham Elementary School in Tualatin.
My time at Durham was instrumental to the development of my teaching skills. I had the opportunity to work with, and learn from, wonderful teachers.The mentorship that I received at Durham helped me learn how to work with students with learning disabilities and attention disorders, and that fostering positive relationships with students is essential to successful teaching. Further, I learned that there are many different ways to teach, and the ideal approach varies from student to student. Taking the time to develop and adjust how you teach students to best fit their learning needs is what makes a good teacher great.
While working at Durham, I was also teaching piano lessons. By 2011, My client list became so large that I left Durham and began teaching piano lessons full time. In 2014, I started my own piano teaching business and in 2018, I opened my own studio in Lake Oswego, where I still teach today. I have been teaching piano lessons full time for over 11 years. During this time, I have taught students varying in age from 3 to well into their 80’s. I have helped students get into high school bands and orchestras as well as top universities to study music. I have helped students compose full length albums, begin careers in the music industry, overcome physical injury to resume piano performance, and helped professional musicians develop their musical identity, increase their knowledge of music theory and overcome performance anxiety. Regardless of individual goals and skill level, I continue to focus on helping my students LOVE music.
AS A PERFORMER
After music school, I was very blessed for the opportunity to play with a plethora of great musicians in Chicago, Miami and Wisconsin. Since moving to Oregon, I have performed Jazz, Classical, Rock, Blues, R&B, Funk, Hip-Hop, Folk and Country music across the Northwest. I had the privilege of appearing on two full length albums and multiple EPs as a session musician, and have composed music in a variety of genres including some for local television commercials. On top of performing and recording for other musician’s projects, I have also formed, or helped form some of my own projects as well. Below are a few of my favorite projects over the last decade:
In 2010, I formed a funk-fusion ensemble called New Solution. We played all over Oregon and Washington for about seven years at venues ranging from bars, outdoor festivals and music clubs. In 2016, we recorded an EP which consisted of many of my own compositions.
From 2011-2015 I was a band member for a late night talk show in Portland, where I got to perform music from a variety of genres with many musical guests from the local music scene. I also got to use my improvisational skills to help create music for comedy sketches for the show. In addition to multiple weekly shows in Portland, we got to perform across the state from the Oregon coast, to the Columbia River Gorge.
In June of 2022, I recorded my first album as a solo artist. The album consists of solo piano performances of my original compositions, as well as jazz trio performances featuring my arrangements of jazz standards.