To really learn about who I am as a teacher, I think it's important to know a little bit about my experience as a student because the two go together like peanut butter and jelly.

I started playing the flute when I was ten years old in group lessons with my school's band director. We'd meet once a week for thirty minutes and learn basic notes and rhythms. I was determined from the get-go and spent hours standing at my grandma's bathroom mirror after school just working on getting a consistent sound. 

It wasn't until my sophomore year of high school that my band director recommended I start taking private lessons. Coming from a nonmusical family, the concept of private lessons never occurred to my parents and I. Following his advice, I started taking lessons with Darlene, an elementary music teacher who's primary instrument was the flute in college. I learned so much very quickly from Darlene and my love for music and the flute continued to grow every lesson. I had weekly, thirty minute lessons that focused primarily on scales and whatever PMEA audition music I had at the time. I was practicing for hours every night and was getting top chairs at the PMEA festivals. Things were certainly going well for me but as the saying goes...

Both my high school flute teacher and band director (they're married!) after my senior recital at Slippery Rock University.

When I started taking lessons in college, I quickly started to realize that there was so many things I didn't understand about studying music in high school. There's a lot more to playing music than just trying to get the top chair at a festival and there are more effective ways to practice than playing the same piece on repeat until you eventually get it right.

I spent my undergraduate studies in the best environment I could have possibly been in, with a studio dynamic that constantly pushed me to be better than the previous day while also having fun and creating memories that would last a lifetime. ​

During my undergrad, I was encouraged to audition for summer opportunities and compete in competitions that allowed me to travel the country and attend both state and national conferences. The experiences I had in college would have been unfathomable to my high school self.

My flute professor at Slippery Rock University, Dr. Cassandra Eisenreich, was the best teacher and mentor I could have ever asked for as an 18 year old girl who had no idea what she wanted to do with her life and her flute. I not only learned more about musicality and the flute than I could have possibly imagined, I also gained perspective on what it means to be a compassionate and caring individual that strives to make a positive impact on those around you. With her guidance, I presented and performed at multiple National Flute Association conventions and attended festivals with students from universities and conservatories much larger than SRU. 

Dr. Eisenreich and I at the 2017 NFA convention in Minneapolis, MN.

Fast forward a few years and my next learning opportunity was as a graduate student at Oklahoma State University. I packed up my things (and my flute) and moved 1,000 miles away from home in the midst of a pandemic. I learned so much about myself and the flute while navigating life in middle America and working as a Graduate Teaching Assistant for the flute studio. My first opportunity to teach college students while also being a college student (all at the same time), I discovered similarities and differences in the studios at both universities and I got to help and connect with students as both a mentor and colleague in ways that I never imagined possible. I learned that some ideas for a successful studio work well and others really just don't. I even got to experience what it was like to run a private studio of 18 students. I taught a total of 20 different students in one year... a huge leap from one summer when I taught five students. I graduated from OSU in May 2022 with a masters degree in Flute Performance. Yay!

I learned a lot of things at OSU but I guess I also decided that it still wasn't enough school for me. I received a Graduate Teaching Assistantship to work toward a Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the University of Florida to study with Dr. Kristen Stoner and am currently in my first year there!

I'm currently studying for a terminal degree in music, and if there's any advice I could give to high school me, or anyone who plays a musical instrument, it would be to remember that

After spending many years taking notes on what makes a studio effective, I'm turning those ideas into reality. I want you to know all that I didn't know when I was in your shoes!

For more information about what lessons with me are like, click one of the links below!