Amy Gruen

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Amy is a pianist, violinist, and violist. She holds a bachelor of music degree from Lawrence University, and their training is in classical, American folk, and Celtic folk genres. Amy has experience performing solo as well as with orchestral and folk music ensembles, and they have been teaching for over five years.

Amy finds that students learn best when they are having fun. Therefore, she welcomes students’ interests into the learning space and is happy to tailor lessons to be the best fit possible. Amy also believes that playing an instrument can and should be pain-free, and she has received training in Alexander Technique, a method of approaching movement and posture that has helped herself and many others to prevent and recover from playing injuries. They are passionate about injury prevention and holistic teaching, and they always put their students’ wellbeing first.

Amy is also experienced at teaching music theory, music history, ear training, and musical composition, and incorporates those into their lessons depending on students’ interests.

In addition to their musical career, Amy is pursuing a master’s degree in clinical mental health counseling from Northwestern University. It is their hope to one day become trained in music therapy, and Amy believes that being able to express oneself musically is an important skill for emotional wellbeing.

Amy affirms the diversity present in our community, and is committed to working to end the oppression of people based on race, gender, sexuality, socioeconomic status, disability, or any other identity. They welcome students who are neurodivergent, and are more than happy to use teaching methods and styles that are best suited to each student’s needs.

"The musician who inspires me the most is my father. He is a jazz guitarist and bluegrass banjoist, among other things, and I grew up surrounded by music from day one. When he agreed to begin teaching me to play banjo (which I am starting to learn), I was over the moon. One of my favorite pastimes is to discuss music theory with him, since we’re both musicians but we come from different musical backgrounds so we each pick up on different details in the music."