Music and Piano Lessons in Southern Oregon
About Margie
Margie grew up in San Jose, California, in an Austro-Hungarian family. Her parents immigrated to this country in 1950 and, like most eastern-European families, music was a central part of her home. It was therefore natural for Margie to begin piano at the age of 8. Margie was (and is) an amazingly gifted student and graduated as valedictorian of her class in 1974. She was given many scholarships to Stanford and pursued her academic interests there including study in Vienna, and performance on the carillon. She maintained a triple major until her senior year (human biology, German, and music) and graduated from Stanford in 1978 with degrees in German studies and music. While she was at Stanford she conducted a campus performance of Cole Porter's "Kiss Me Kate." This was so well received (and fun) that Margie decided to pursue a career in conducting.
After college she honed her skills as rehearsal conductor for the renowned Palo Alto Chamber Orchestra and also with the San Francisco Girls Chorus. She conducted the Stanford Savoyards, Mozart's "Don Giovanni" at a junior college and taught music at a Catholic school.
Feeling a need for further study, she retreated to her beloved Sierra Nevada mountains to study orchestral scores, cello, and piano. It was there that she was invited to a bible study and shortly thereafter put her faith in Jesus, which changed the course of her life forever.
It was her band instructor at Stanford that suggested that she get a Master's Degree in conducting at Wichita State University. She eventually chose that school and wound up in Kansas in the summer of 1982. She was offered a graduate assistantship and was pointed by the dean to the public radio station on campus where she met Pat. She overcame her initial reluctance to being on the radio by learning that Pat was also a new believer in Christ, and that they both had a love for the late chamber music of Franz Schubert.
A long (and wonderful) story of courtship goes here but she did regale audiences in central Kansas with classical music, married Pat in December of 1983 and got her Master's degree in conducting in the summer of 1984. In addition to her studies and radio work, she was the music director and conductor of the McPhereson (KS) Orchestra, which she led for 2 years.
In July of 1986, Margie gave birth to her first son and it was time to move out of the upstairs garage where the family was living. In August of that year, she moved with the new family to Oregon where Pat was given a faculty position as Music Director of Jefferson Public Radio (then KSOR). God added Dan to the family in 1990 and Margie has given herself to motherhood and ministry ever since. Once the kids were in school she began teaching piano lessons to Rogue Valley youth and has continued through to today. In addition to her piano teaching, she has produced and directed musicals (for both children and adults) for various Rogue Valley churches, and accompanied the Rogue Valley Children's Chorus. Every year she also does promotion work for the Palo Alto Chamber Orchestra with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, and now also for Phoenix High School performing arts.
Margie is warm and encouraging and has mentored many children in their musical growth over the past 15 years. She is especially effective with beginners and intermediate students and focuses her energy on this set of pianists.