Welcome to my Studio!

Meet Studio 88.

My baby, my life, my dream, my passion, oh yeah, it’s also my place of work!

I GET to come here every day.

I remember my undergrad professors telling us repeatedly that being in this profession is amazing because we don’t just get to do a job; we get to “do” our art, which happens to be our profession.

How did I come to where I am today?

A brief (well, not really) history

I’ve been playing the piano since I was 7. For the first year, I practiced at my neighbor’s house miles away until Mom and Dad could confirm that it was worth spending money on a piano.

Practicing was always a chore, as it is for many children, but I kept going. My high school teacher tried to encourage me to go to Taylor University since they offered a pedagogy minor. However, I wasn’t interested in pursuing piano at the time.

In 2003, I graduated from Huntington University with a Bachelor of Music in Music Education K-12, with a Choral emphasis and piano as my major instrument. I took voice lessons but did not earn it as a minor.

This should have been my first clue that although I loved choir, had been active in show choir in high school, and was basically the teaching assistant (since I could play the piano and thus teach parts), I didn’t enjoy singing as much as playing piano. This fact truly did not dawn on me until years later.

Right out of school, I landed a job with Bluffton-Harrison MSD as the middle school and high school choral director. I taught a 7th-grade choir, an 8th-grade choir, a high school women’s choir, and a small mixed show choir.

Through that time, I taught piano on the side, always having around eight students I taught from my home. During these years, I was discovering how to be a piano teacher and began reading Natalie Wickham’s Music Matters Blog. I was frustrated with many avenues of teaching in both arenas and knew I had a lot to learn. I began dreaming of opening a more professional studio.

I applied to begin my master’s work at Ball State University. Still, after three years in the public schools, my husband had an opportunity to work with his (then) company in Melbourne, Australia. Dream traveler and adventurer I was. I jumped on board with no question, knowing deep down that I was unsure about my chosen career.

While in Oz, I considered working on my master’s degree, but The University of Melbourne only offered a Piano Performance degree. I knew that wasn’t what I wanted and was still trying to figure things out.

I continued to teach 8-10 students out of our home while working as a temporary relief worker for various businesses and engrossing myself in more piano teaching blogs.

We returned home after nearly three years abroad, right amid the economic crash of 2009.

Still unsure about my direction, especially with the economic turn, I received a surprise call from Ball State University’s Music Department asking if I was still interested in proceeding with my previous application.

Apparently, they had a graduate assistantship job available, and it just so happened to be with a Creative Arts Council in my hometown teaching piano (contracted through the university). What an answer to prayer!

In 2009, I graduated with a Master of Music in Piano Pedagogy and Performance from Ball State, where I studied with the wonderful Dr. Lori Rhoden.

In 2011, my husband and I moved back to the town we had lived in before we moved to Australia and opened Studio 88. Although Bluffton is an hour away from our hometowns, the community has come to feel like home. Of course, it helped me to have previous personal connections in the community when starting my new business. I did get lucky, though, that in 2015, Bluffton was named the Best Place to Start a Business in Indiana!

Today, in 2016, I’m nearly five years into my business, teaching 35-40 students weekly from preschool through adulthood.

What a blessing it is to make a difference in the lives of each of these children face-to-face, one-on-one, weekly!