I have been playing piano ever since I remember myself. I started formal piano lessons when I was 8 years old and started teaching piano to the children in my neighborhood at 16. I eventually went on to study Piano Performance and Piano Pedagogy at the University of Oregon School of Music, where I received a Bachelor of Music cum Laude. Since then, I have taught piano and music theory in schools and music studios, including my own private studios in Eugene, OR, Boston, MA and now in South Hadley, MA. In addition, I homeschooled my children, my greatest teachers, for 11 years- an experience which has profoundly and irrevocably influenced how I currently teach. I am also a certified Reiki Master and alternative health practitioner specializing in helping people recover and heal from performance injuries, creative blocks, performance and other music-related anxieties. In my own art, I am currently expanding my musical horizons from simply playing the music of others (both solo piano and chamber music) into free improvisation and composition. In the words of Michelangelo, at age 87, “Ancora Imparo- I am still learning”