I started learning the flute in fifth grade in my public school band program. The first time I ever tried it, I couldn't even make a sound! (More on that story here on my Instagram.) I cared a lot about flute, but I used to get really nervous - so nervous that I cried after my first NYSSMA solo (even though I did well)!

 

In middle school, I still really liked playing the flute, and made All-County each year. However, it eventually came to the point where I needed more personal instruction to advance my playing. There were no professional musicians in my family, so my parents really didn't know how necessary things like private lessons were, and I was busy with academics, sports, and extracurricular clubs.

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By the time high school came around, I was able to convince my parents to let me take private lessons with a local teacher. Thanks to this, I was able to score perfect scores on my NYSSMA solo my junior and senior years, and was a featured performer with my high school band. I was also lucky to have a youth orchestra nearby, and during my senior year my private teacher convinced me to audition for the orchestra's concerto competition. At first, I really didn't want to and was so nervous because I had never performed something from memory before. In the end, I'm glad he did because I won and it was an incredible learning experience!

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When it came time to consider colleges, I knew that I wanted to seriously study music, and was inspired by the teachers in my life. So, I decided to attend the Crane School of Music and major in music education. This was where I learned how to teach from one of the best music education programs in the U.S. While I was there, I met some of my best friends who were great people, teachers, and musicians. I also met my significant other, who is also a music teacher! During my student teaching, I taught elementary general music, high school band, and even AP music theory.

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I still loved playing, and the more I learned about music and the flute, the more I wanted to keep learning. I added a performance major and graduated a double major in 2017.  I then substitute taught while preparing for graduate school auditions. This allowed me to work with a great variety of students and further honed my teaching skills.

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Then, it was time for my Master's program! I chose to study flute performance at West Virginia University and was offered a teaching assistantship position there. I taught lessons to several talented undergraduate flute majors and minors, conducted flute choir, lead masterclasses and workshops, organized guest artist masterclasses and studio recitals, assistant directed a flute festival, tutored music theory, and much more!

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Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, I've taught and taken several online lessons, masterclasses, and workshops and have seen what works and what doesn't work and how to make online learning valuable to students. Students in online lessons have worked on recordings and mixing to produce duets, improvising with prerecorded videos, and more!

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