Piano with Ozzie J.

I am a pianist and a passionate teacher of pianists of all shapes and sizes. The joy of playing the piano is one that my skills as a teacher help me infuse into my students. I also find it to be quite a positive feedback loop for me: teaching makes me want to hone my own skills and playing well gives me the desire to share the wonders of music with others. I am currently on faculty teaching piano at Valley City State University in North Dakota. I received my Doctorate in Piano Performance at Ball State University in 2023. Before Ball State, I earned my Master's in Piano Performance and Pedagogy at Ohio University in 2016 and my Bachelor's in Piano Performance at Wheaton College in 2011. In between Wheaton and OU, I acquired three valuable years of experience teaching piano lessons in various capacities, both privately and at Bellas Artes School of Music in Glen Ellyn, IL. In that time, I taught up to 40 students per week of all ages and backgrounds, implementing various teaching methods. I loved every minute of it, but I knew I needed to grow as a teacher and a pianist, so I made the decision to go to grad school. At OU, I continued teaching private lessons, but only about 10 at a time. My studies focused heavily on piano pedagogy, which were pivotal in my development as a teacher. I also enjoyed working on my own pianistic prowess, which is continuing to this day (and, I hope, long into the future). At Ball State, my focus shifted from teaching to really honing my pianism, so I taught drastically fewer private piano lessons, but my graduate assistantship duties gave me the opportunity to gain experience in classroom teaching in music theory, ear training, and group piano. I have also been developing my compositional side - to that end, my dissertation was a composition for solo piano. My initial goal in the first lessons with a student is to discern their unique learning style - that fun mix of modalities that makes everyone approach the same task in their own, wonderful way. Once I learn the person, teaching that person becomes a fun journey toward discovering their potential in whatever goals we set. I am also happy helping students achieve a wide variety of goals, as learning to play the piano is not just about practicing scales and playing Beethoven (although, those certainly are worthy aspirations). Beyond the fundamentals of technique and reading music, piano lessons with me include focusing any amount of the following: classical, improvisation, composition, theory, jazz, popular styles, hymns, and beyond.