Piano Lessons in Addison, IL

Instruments: Piano Guitar Voice Trumpet Trombone Clarinet Drums Bass Guitar Ukulele Mandolin Recorder Euphonium Music Keyboard Electric Guitar Acoustic Guitar

Does music run in your family? Tell us a little about your musical family members.
My mother knew piano at one point but I have never seen her play. My father can't even clap in time to the Friends theme song. Some of my siblings were in band in high school, but none have pursued music outside of school. I am hoping that I can have a stronger influence on their children than I did on them. The exception here is my stepdad. The first trumpet I ever played was his, and I had to learn guitar on his guitar before my parents agreed to buy me my own. He doesn't play often, but he understands the joy of it. Lately he has found pleasure in building his own instruments, which I think meshes better with his brain (he is an engineer).

When did you decide to become a professional musician? Was it a gradual decision or was there a defining moment for you?
I wasn't very good at anything else. So the decision was kind of made for me in that respect. "Music" is a very broad field and can manifest in many different ways, so it can appeal to most kinds of people, if they can choose their own path, and not be forced down the path somebody else wants for them.

If you have a Music Degree, what is it in (Performance, Education, Musicology, Theory, Composition, etc) and why did you choose that degree?
I have a Bachelor's Degree in Music Education (also known as a BME). When I was near the end of high school, I knew that the only thing I wanted to do was music. Music Education seemed like the most straightforward path to accomplish that. The process of teaching other and watching them learn and love the art of music as I have has brought me a type of joy I would not have thought possible when I was just starting out.

What is your dream piece to perform and why?
I don't have dream "pieces" to perform, I think many pieces could be fantastic or miserable depending on the people you're playing the piece with. Some of my favorite performances have included playing a piece that started off as a joke, but the people I was with made it amazing.

If you weren't a musician what do you think you'd be doing instead?
The reason I'm here is because I don't have an answer to that question. I have been in public education for 9 years, and while I need to leave that environment, it's not because I don't love what I do. So you could say I quit being a Music Teacher so that I could teach music.

What is your favorite style/genre of music to play and why?
In general, I dislike questions about "favorites." Music has a vibe and an emotion and a story and an entire world can exist inside a single song. What I like and what I want to play varies with my mood and changes by the day and I would never want to limit anybody to any one style.

If you play more than one instrument, how did you decide to start playing the second? (Or 3rd, 4th, 5th, etc)!
I first learned trumpet, which I was taught in school. Later, I taught myself guitar. While shopping for a guitar, I saw a combo pack that had an acoustic guitar and a mandolin. That seemed interesting, so I bought it. I found the similarities between guitar and mandolin interesting, and enjoyed how two things so similar could sound so different. This led me to other string instruments like bass and cello. After switching to euphonium for college, I realized that, like string instruments, all brass instruments had shared qualities also. As part of my degree, I had to learn piano and woodwind instruments as well, and the more instruments I learned, the more my mind understood the similarities between them. Once that is discovered, learning a new instrument is just a matter of applying what you already know to a new shape. To this day I'm still picking up and learning new instruments on a regular basis.

What does a normal practice session look like for you?
I don't believe there's such a thing as a "normal" practice session. Certainly, if a teacher has limited expectations and requirements for a lesson, then you can have lessons that conform to those parameters. But "normal" is boring and music should never be boring.

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