Teacher Background
Hello! I'm Sara, owner and teacher at Primo Piano Studio in Carver, Minnesota. Here is the long story of how I unintentionally became a music major and how it came to be that I now own my own piano studio.
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ELEMENTARY and MIDDLE SCHOOL- My first organized music experience was in 2nd grade when I was part of the children's choir at my church. I liked it so much that when I turned 9, my parents signed me up to begin piano lessons with a local teacher. When I was 10, I competed in my first MMTA contest and I won! Shortly after, I won a Young Composer's contest sponsored by MMTA. After that, I was completely hooked on music!
In fifth grade, I added clarinet as a second instrument. In junior high, I was selected to be part of the southwest honors band which made me feel so proud and encouraged my development on the clarinet. Throughout middle school, I played keyboard in the school's jazz band and often played prelude music for my school's church services and Christmas concerts.
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HIGH SCHOOL: I was heavily involved in the arts, including music, all through high school. I auditioned for and was accepted into numerous performing ensembles. I competed in many Minnesota State High School League music events in solo voice, vocal ensemble, and clarinet. I played clarinet in the school Marching band and pep band. I was selected as one of the lead roles (Sister Hubert) in my high school's production of the musical "Nunsense." I played clarinet in the pit orchestra for the community theatre production of "South Pacific" and played clarinet in the summer as a member of the city band. I played in the handbell choir at my church. I even worked at the local music store- Music Street- repairing woodwinds and selling instruments and sheet music. I spent a lot of my high school summers playing piano for hours on end and won several MMTA contests throughout high school. I loved music so much that I decided to take AP Music Theory my senior year and scored the highest possible mark on the AP music theory exam. With all my involvement in music, many people assumed I would consider being a music major but I had other plans.
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COLLEGE- I began college at the University of Minnesota, Morris in 2003. I always knew I wanted to teach so I declared a major in Communication Arts and Literature with a secondary education licensure (i.e. I wanted to teach high school English and speech comm.) I immediately joined the college concert band and concert choir and got settled into making music with these new ensembles. I told myself I was participating in band and choir "for fun" and these ensembles were only a "hobby." When I found out I could take music theory to meet my gen. ed. math requirement and music history to meet my gen. ed. history requirement, I added them to my freshman year course list. By the time spring semester rolled around, I had decided to add piano lessons because that was an important part of my life. I began studying with Kay Carlson. Pretty soon, I was spending 5+ hours a day in the music building despite being an English major! I even snagged myself a job at the local music store, Sarlette's Music, where I repaired woodwinds and got the privilege of listening to owner Del's extensive, curated CD collection.
This continued on until fall of my junior year when I visited with my college counselor to make sure I was on track to graduate and the first words out of her mouth were, "So, you're a music major?" I quickly corrected her and let her know I was in fact an English/Secondary Ed major and she confirmed that I was on track to get both majors in 4 years. That day, I added "Music Major: Piano Performance" as a second major. I continued to take my full course load of English classes while taking the full course load of music classes. I was very busy, but the music courses never really felt like work to me! My favorite college memories involve music in some way. A few of my favorites include: singing on choir tour in Canada, playing clarinet at Pearl Harbor when the band toured in Hawaii, accompanying my music friends when they sang for music showcase nights and talent shows, late night rehearsals in the music building, having the honor of being the pianist for a piano concerto performance alongside the symphonic winds ensemble, playing duets on the 9-ft concert grands with my fellow piano performance peers, and singing live on the Garrison Keilor radio show. Perhaps my most impactful college music experience was getting to perform a Chopin Nocturne in front of Valentina Lisitsa during a masterclass. She is a world-renowned pianist, known primarily for her Chopin interpretations. What a privilege!
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After graduating college, I took a position teaching high school English and being the coach for the speech team in a rural Minnesota community. Word spread that a piano teacher had moved to the area and before I knew it, I had nine students! I was engaged and about to be married so, I had to move to start my new life and leave my first piano students after only one school year. After the wedding, I moved to the Twin Cities and then I took a job as a college admissions recruiter for a few years. Following that, I had a seven year stint in the printing industry, providing customer service and account management for some big retail names. During this time, I also became a mom to my two boys so there was very little time to devote to music. In fact, the only playing I did was for a few family weddings. In 2017, the demands of family life made me want to take a step back so I resigned from my account manager position and spent more time at home with my kids while teaching online part time. My part-time schedule allowed me a lot more time to play piano and I often found myself de-stressing at the keyboard after long days of parenting. It was balm to my soul. Playing piano fulfilled a part of me that nothing else could. I continued working part-time online until both my boys were old enough to be in school full-time and then I knew it was the right time to open my own piano studio. In 2020, I got to work setting everything up and I opened Primo Piano Studio in fall of 2021.
And that's the long story of how my "hobby" turned into my job!