I was introduced to the joys of music singing at church choir and Girl Scouts while growing up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and West Palm Beach, Florida.
I begged for piano lessons for many years, and finally my grandmother bought me a piano and I began to take lessons when I was 12 years old. Fortunately, I progressed quickly and a few years later I had the opportunity to take lessons from Edith Sorin in Hollywood, Florida. Mrs. Sorin graduated from the Julliard School, and she was fantastic. Every Saturday, my parents would make the hour drive to Hollywood, wait an hour for my lesson, and then drive an hour home, and for this they paid $25 per week, which in the early 80’s was a lot of money! During high school, I studied piano and sang in the choir for 2 summers at Brevard Music Center, I was heavily involved as accompanist and singer in the Concert Choir and Show Choir at Forest Hill High School, and I was an accompanist for the children’s choir at the Methodist Church in Wellington, FL. I even got to play the piano and sing with my chorus in the White House and the National Cathedral in 1983!
In 1989, I graduated summa cum laude with a degree in Music Education from University of Florida. My concentrations were in piano and choral conducting. I spent the first few years after college teaching elementary school music in Bradenton. When I moved to Tampa, I began teaching piano lessons in the evening, and when my music studio grew large enough, I stopped the long commute to Bradenton and taught music classes at several pre-schools instead. Over the years, I have taught regular preschool and been the children’s choir director at church. I taught in the FishHawk Ranch area from 2002-2016 and then moved my studio (and home) to Bracken Lane in Brandon, FL. In addition, my husband Eric Blomquist and I have raised four wonderful children: John aged 19 (at FAU), Lauren aged 22 (about to graduate from USF and planning a career at Southeastern Guide Dogs), Jared who is 25 and is an environmental engineer, and Kathryn aged 27 who is a biomedical engineer.
I love to read and do crafts and home projects in my spare time. I also sing “tenor” and am assistant director for a women’s barbershop chorus here in Brandon called Southern Company Chorus. I also love to hike and do SCUBA and meet interesting people all over the world. My absolute favorite activity is travel, and I have been on some great trips, but I have a huge bucket list of travel plans for the future!
I look forward to meeting you and your child and help you all meet your musical goals.
