My Story

Ms. Johnston grew up in Highlands Ranch, CO, and is a local musician and music educator with a passion for music in all forms, though particularly classical and church music. She started piano lessons at the age of six and went on to received her BA in Music with a focus in classical piano from the University of Denver’s Lamont School of Music, studying under Dr. Stephanie Shi-Yu Cheng. She is currently pursuing a Graduate Certificate in Piano Pedagogy from the same institution, under the direction of Dr. Emily Book McGree. Ms. Johnston is one of the founding officers of Lamont’s DU-MTNA, a local chapter of MTNA devoted to establishing a community and education enrichment space for music teachers. In 2022, she was one of three national recipients of the MarySue Harris Studio Teacher Fellowship Award from MTNA.

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Ms. Johnston believes good teaching should inspire joy through creativity and expression, build supportive habits through regular discipline, and establish a partnership with parents in the music-making process. She teaches from curriculums such as Piano Safari, Celebrate Piano! by RCM, and Piano Pronto. She asks her students, in addition to their repertoire, to regularly engage with such skills as scales and technique, sight reading, aural skills, improvisation, and theory. She aims to teach students a variety of practice techniques, institute accountability structures, set attainable goals, and give appropriate practice assignments in order to equip her students for successful habits at the piano.

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In addition to teaching piano, Ms. Johnston works as a church accompanist for a catholic church and has a large amount of experience as a contemporary church worship leader. She uses the many skills from these experiences to diversify her teaching and prepare students for the wide context that involves playing the piano.