06/13/2026
This week I had my final “goodbye” lesson. My student picked these beautiful flowers for me and brought a card. It was so bittersweet!
A few months ago I made the decision to stop teaching lessons to focus on my own practice and performance. I’m calling it a sabbatical, I do hope to have time for both someday. I had 7 students, ages 7-17 and I absolutely adored teaching each and every single one of them! They were learning guitar, viola, and piano. Most were doing weekly private lessons, with the occasional group lesson. A few times we did group jams where students wrote their own songs and I came up with parts for the others to play based on their current skill set and goals. Derek Jr joined and played cajon for those sessions, A fun beat really kept everyone together! I’m incredibly thankful for all of my students. Watching them learn was so rewarding and I grew as a teacher in many ways.
At the last lesson this week, my student showed me what she’s learning, now from Ryan Groff , and we had an absolute blast playing along together and relating her new work to her musical journey thus far. She also wanted to hear about the shows I’ve been playing and songs I’ve been writing! It was so special and I’m so thankful that our Champaign Urbana music community offers so much inspiration I can point my students towards. Girls Rock! Champaign-Urbana might have a stellar participant at their door in the next year or two!
