I have loved making music ever since my feet first dangled off the piano bench and my fingers stretched to reach the keys. Practice was my “fun”, and I expanded my interests to band woodwinds and to the violin when I was 12. As a child, I aspired to teach either music or art, my other joy.

After graduating, I attended a music conservatory in Canada where I studied violin with Bill Marshall, a 21 year Assistant Concertmaster of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Pops; voice with Ethelwyn (Smith) Davison, a vocalist with the MET Philadelphia, and piano with Vinny Samarco, a fabulous improviser with both a classical and rich jazz background. I was honored to teach along side these mentors for years, and then moved to the States and established an arts program in an underserved rural community. During that time, I worked with pre-school through adults, teaching, conducting small orchestras, vocal and handbell choirs, working as a church music director, and arranging music as needed to meet the wide variety of skill levels. I also got to teach a lot of art! During those years, I returned to college and earned my 2nd bachelor’s degree in Music and Child Psychology, as my Canadian schooling was not recognized in the States.

I later moved to Klamath Falls, OR where I directed all music activities at a private K-12 school, creating my own curriculum for each class; strings groups, bands, competitive high school choir, as well as after school lessons.

More recently, I spent 3 years working with the Albany Youth Orchestra in Albany, OR where I taught pre-school music, group piano, and instructed and directed beginning through advancing string orchestra programs.

Feeling the need to upgrade my violin playing about 6 years ago, I began studying with Kevin Lefohn, violin educator at Pacific University, Portland and who maintains a studio supporting students all around the world. Under his tutelage, I have received an invaluable system of checking and expanding the quality of a student’s foundation and technical skills. Although it is a highly structured and sequential method, it is also extremely adaptable to the needs of individual students. I have also become a more reflective musician, and more conscious of the processes involved in learning, which of course, informs my instruction.

Today, I bring all my experience and tools to my studio for the benefit of each student that I am privileged to work with. My studio has been utilizing live video lessons since 2018 to teach students from Alaska to California. Now, I welcome students to my in-person studio in Dallas, Oregon as well. Lessons are available in both English and Spanish.