As a toddler, Holly had lots of fun dancing and singing along with music. Her parents, wanting to encourage her talents, enrolled her in dance lessons, followed by piano lessons, and finally singing lessons. Holly enjoyed all of these, but after a few months, (fed up with the daily challenge of practicing) announced she was quitting piano. Fortunately, her parents persisted! For one long year it was an ongoing battle but, with the help of a supportive teacher, Holly continued piano lessons, and this pivotal action led to a career dedicated to enriching the lives of others through music.

After the first challenging year, piano practice became routine and enjoyable to the point that her father had to request she stop practicing scales while he was eating dinner! Holly continued to play, exploring her musical interests, acquiring one certification after another, traveling throughout the States and Europe to study with hand-picked teachers that fed her curiosity and desire to become a skilled pedagogue and musician.

Today, Holly is the founder and owner of two music schools—Champaign School of Music (founded 2001) and South Loop School of Music (founded 2013).

Springing from her own enthusiasm and extensive 22-year teaching background, and informed by listening to students and parents’ thoughtful suggestions and kudos, Holly has developed warm, welcoming, and flexible learning environments that enable students to:

• Love music making at every stage of life

• Become skillful and confident musicians

• Develop healthy, relaxed, light-hearted, and open mindsets to learning, performing, and making ‘mistakes’, enabling students to not only perform better at recitals but also be more comfortable taking tests, making presentations, and meeting new people!

• Utilize the process of learning an instrument to help develop habits of success academically, professionally, physically, and socially, such as perseverance, resilience, self-discipline, focus, patience, relaxation, and body awareness

For Holly, however, it is still most important that students have fun and smile A LOT while learning to play!

Holly holds certifications in Suzuki piano instruction, Music Learning Theory, and Music Together where she is a licensed director. She is the recipient of multiple grants from the Music Teachers National Association (MTNA) for advanced studies in Music Learning Theory and jazz improvisation and has taught workshops in Italy and the States. She has served as President and Vice President of multi-state MTNA chapters and holds memberships in various professional associations.