Passion & Purpose
To a true artist, music is much more than another hobby, discipline, or extracurricular activity. It’s a creative process, a catalyst for inspiration and a vehicle for hope.
When MaryClaire began taking piano lessons in 2010, one thing kept her coming back to the instrument. It wasn’t her practice book with familiar melodies and funny character illustrations to explain music theory. It wasn’t the fast-paced exercises, music note flashcards, or even the stickers she received for learning a new song. And it definitely wasn’t the obnoxious click of the metronome. What she loved about the piano was what she could do when all of that was stripped away and her fingers could float across the keys, producing melodies that resembled those she’d heard before but were entirely new at the same time. Yet without the aforementioned learning components, she never would have gained the skills necessary to compose her own music.
As a teacher, her mission is to offer more to her students than mere technical instruction. While good practice habits are vital to developing any skill, another crucial element to shaping a musical talent is assisting the student in discovering their own individual sound. From the very first lesson, she invites her students to explore what they already love about music (genres, periods, settings, etc.) and provides them with a foundation of theory and technique upon which they can construct their own artistic expression.
About the Teacher
After just a couple of years in piano lessons, a church pianist took notice of MaryClaire’s passion for the instrument and gave her an introduction to chord charts. She first put that new knowledge to use by playing worship music alongside her dad for the Bible study group that met in their home. Soon after, she began writing her own worship songs. In 2018, as a senior in high school, she auditioned for the music program at a prospective university with an original worship song entitled “Forward.” That audition earned her a scholarship offer which eventually motivated her to change her major to music, fully devoting her life to an art that once served as a mere creative outlet.
As a college sophomore in 2019, she earned a place as an alto for the Mississippi College Singers, the university’s premier choral group. At the time, singing was hardly more than an accessory to her piano playing, but she enjoyed the art and was excited for an opportunity to become more proficient in it. That first year with the MC Singers prepared her to serve as a vocalist at Celebration Church during a summer internship in 2020. She remained a member of the MC Singers until graduating in 2022 with a Bachelor of Arts in Music. Her main concentration was piano, with two supporting emphases in voice and music composition. Her final semester, she was invited to a student composers’ symposium where she had the opportunity to hear the Mississippi Symphony Orchestra perform “Planetarium,” one of her own compositions. The following summer, she served as the worship leader at Lake Forest Ranch. She taught piano lessons throughout 2023 before moving to Baldwin County at the end of that year. Since 2024, she has served on the worship team at The Table Church in Foley as a vocalist and keyboardist while continuing to teach private lessons in both piano and voice.