Valerie has over 30 years of piano teaching experience with the past 10 years being right here at Music World.   Valerie began her own musical career by singing at a very young age. At 6 years old, she began her instruction on the piano. Interestingly enough, she hated piano lessons as a young child, most likely because her teacher was old and cranky and didn’t really seem to like kids. It took 8 long years for Valerie to discover that she actually loved playing the piano! In middle school she began accompanying the school choir as well as playing at church. In high school, she took lessons by choice and continued through college. She studied under the Royal Conservatory of Music at a small college in Alberta, Canada where she received her minor in Music.  Valerie’s intent was to be a middle school math teacher so she attended Portland State University where she received her BS in Mathematics. During this time she began teaching piano lessons and discovered she could use her love of music and her training in Education to work one-on-one with her students.  Because of her own early, unpleasant lesson experience, she has made it a goal to make lessons FUN, using rewards and contests to motivate when practicing seems like a chore. Every lesson is tailored to the individual student and their style of learning. She has had students go on to major in Music, become church musicians or piano teachers or just play for their own enjoyment. However they use their music, it is her goal to create students who will become pianists for the rest of their lives!