Margaret Burr is a Nationally Certified Teacher of Music (NCTM) and member of the Music Teachers National Association.   She has taught piano professionally for 16 years in Utah and Maryland.  Margaret began piano lessons at age 6 in California, where her teachers included Vicky Hasara, Gloria Jones, and Geraldine Simonds.  She studied piano at Brigham Young University with Marlene Bachelder while completing a degree in French, and holds a degree from Utah Valley University in Piano Performance.  While at UVU, she studied with Dr. Hsiang Tu, Dr. Koji Atwood, Dr. Hilary Demske, and Kurt Reeder (jazz piano). 

 

Margaret is an accomplished collaborator and accompanist.  She has worked with violin students across Maryland in recitals, competitions, and Suzuki festivals.  While at Utah Valley University, she collaborated with the Women’s Choir, and accompanied the vocal studio of Dr. Melissa Heath.  Though she is classically trained, she loves playing and teaching jazz piano and improv and was part of a jazz quartet at UVU.

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She currently teaches a 55-student studio in her home in Orem, and is a member of Encore, a local piano teacher organization which hosts performing events throughout the year.  Her students have received superior ratings and won prizes in the group's festivals and recitals.  She enjoys teaching students of all ages, levels, and personalities.

 

She has made a special study of understanding the causes of performance anxiety and methods of overcoming it, and uses these methods in her teaching.  She strives to always be supportive and understanding of her students, yet expects them to do their best and reach their full potential as pianists and musicians.  Her goal is to instill in her students a lifelong love of the piano and to discover their own unique musical gifts.