Music has been one of the most defining parts of my life since I was very young, growing up in the Seattle area. I began piano lessons at the age of six, and studied with several teachers, including Darelyn Neeley, Sheri Erickson, and Ida Erler. I also began playing the violin at the age of ten, and by age thirteen had joined the Cascade Youth Symphony, under the direction of Gerry Jon Marsh, who was firm and somewhat formidable in his expectations of excellence, as well as my high school orchestra, taught by Judd Aetzel, a greatly respected teacher with a reputation for extracting the best from his students while developing strong leadership skills. I also studied violin with the late Kent Coleman at the Coleman Violin Studio. Mr. Coleman was one of the most highly regarded violin teachers in Washington state, and I am honored to have been one of his students.
Post high school, I majored in Music Education at George Fox University, in Newberg, OR, where I studied piano with Dr. Peggy Dougherty, and played the violin with the Chehalem Symphony Orchestra and the George Fox String Ensemble. After leaving George Fox in 1998, I moved to Spokane, WA, and returned to teaching piano lessons. In 2004, I returned to Oregon, this time to the Eugene/Springfield area, where I met and married my husband Robert, also a musician, and we adopted our three children. In 2013, we moved back to Spokane, where I have continued teaching piano and violin lessons in the West Plains area and have expanded to include students in viola and guitar.