My Story

This is my story about how I became a professional violinist and violin teacher in Fort Worth, Texas

I began playing the violin at six years old, and I haven’t stopped since. Because of the dedicated teachers in my life, along with lots of hard work and practice, I’ve had many amazing opportunities. I’ve earned chaired principle positions in the Texas All-State and Regional Orchestras, won competitions, attended international music festivals on full scholarship, played solo, chamber, and orchestral music in the major concert halls of New York City, and worked with some of the industry’s greatest conductors and musicians from around the world.

From Oil City to New York City….and Back Again

Growing up in Oil City, Louisiana, I lived nearly an hour from a city large enough to offer music lessons, but my love and passion for music was motivation enough for my parents to make the sacrifice of driving the distance for lessons. When I was eight years old my dad lost his job, and due to financial reasons, I had to stop taking violin lessons for over a year. During this time I continued to play violin, and my appreciation for music teachers and what they do deepened considerably. Our situation improved and in the years following my family made even greater sacrifices for my music lessons. My mom drove me each week to Dallas, TX (an eight hour round trip!) so I could train in the violin studio of Dr. Chu Yunn Lee. At age 15, I moved with my older sister Alison to the DFW area; taking 4 hours of lessons each week with Dr. Lee, while also teaching and working as an apprentice in her studio. All the hard work and sacrifices paid off when I moved to New York City in 2014 to study violin performance at the Manhattan School Music. During my six years there, I was not only able to study with many great violin pedagogues, but also refine and cultivate my passion for teaching violin to students of all ages and abilities.

So how did I end up teaching violin lessons in Fort Worth, TX?

After graduating in 2020 with my Masters Degree from Manhattan School of Music during the pandemic, my job as a professional musician all but disappeared. I watched in horror along with my fellow musicians as music gigs ceased to exist, concert venues went dark, and in-person music lessons became a thing of the past. Realizing that music would be the very last thing to get going again after the pandemic was over, I made the difficult, but necessary decision to move from NYC back to my hometown of Oil City, Louisiana. Sounds depressing, right? But lucky for me, it was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. After spending a year teaching and performing in Louisiana, I received the opportunity relocate to DFW where I studied privately with Alexander Kerr, Concertmaster of the Dallas Symphony, got on the sub-list of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra ( playing my first concert with them in 2022) and was hired as Adjunct Violin Instructor at Texas Baptist College and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. As a private violin teacher in Fort Worth, TX, I maintain a thriving studio of students from the surrounding DFW areas, while also teaching students from across the country online via Zoom.

Find out more about private violin lessons with me in Fort Worth, TX or Online via Zoom HERE.