Bio

I didn't always love piano. I remember sitting on the piano bench in our dining room as a young girl, crying, while my mother called out "Tennnnnnnnn Mooooooooooore Minutes!!" from the kitchen.

I fell in love with piano as a young teen and a few years later I began composing music.

In 1997 I graduated summa cum laude from The Ohio State University where I studied piano, music theory, and composition. I was granted The Ohio State University Excellence in the Arts Award.

While at OSU I was research assistant to Ellie Hisama, Ph.D., and assisted her in her work on Gendering Musical Modernism, published by Cambridge University Press.

I began teaching in 1996, and continued when I moved to Northern Virginia to work for MENC: The National Association for Music Education. While at MENC I was a contributing editor to Exploring Careers in Music, Spotlight on Early Childhood Education, and the journals Teaching Music and Music Educator's Journal. In 2002 I left MENC to teach full time.