Piano, Voice, Guitar, Ukulele, Flute
Emily Wienand began pursuing music at the young age of 6. Her family was and still is very musical, and this helped Emily to find love and passion for music very early on in her life.
By age 9, Emily was taking lessons at the Cleveland Institute of Art with college-level professors. When her family moved to Kent, Ohio, she began her studies with the wife of the famous Hugh Glauser (of the Hugh A. Glauser School of Music). She performed in regular recitals at Kent State University, where she would later earn her Bachelor of Music degree in Piano Performance.
Emily has always been adept at playing classical piano, but also enjoys more modern songs. During her auditions for the undergraduate program at Kent State, Emily was required to perform pieces from several different musical eras. She chose Bach, Mozart, and Shubert. Given her choice of an additional piece to play in any style, Emily performed the theme music to Jurassic Park. Most other performers participating in the auditions chose to play another piece by a famous classical composer, but Emily wanted to show her future professors her love of the fun side of music.
In keeping with her eclectic taste and fun-loving approach to music, one of Emily's favorite styles is ragtime. When she first proposed the idea of an all-ragtime recital, her professors from Juilliard did not initially approve of her choice. However, after three years of successful studies, and with the backing of her jazz professor, she was permitted to finally perform her dream recital. The audience loved it, and to this day Emily is the only performance major in Kent State history to stomp her feet while playing on stage.
During her undergraduate studies, Emily was chosen by the jazz department to perform as a guest accompanist with Diana Crawl. She also served as the lead musician for several musicals.
Emily began teaching piano while in college and quickly found that she enjoyed making the experience for her students fun and exciting. An early highlight of her career was the first time that one of her early students auditioned and was accepted as a piano major at the college of her choice. As she grew in her musicianship, Emily learned to master more instruments, and soon began teaching voice, guitar, flute, and even ukulele.
Emily believes in teaching the classical techniques in order to establish a solid foundation in the fundamentals, but she also encourages her students to choose music that they enjoy listening to. She believes that music should be both challenging and fun to play.
Emily teaches piano to students of all ages and skill levels, and guitar, flute, ukulele, and voice to students at the beginner through intermediate levels. She also plays the steel drums, most percussion instruments, saxophone, clarinet, and cello.