About the Teacher

Christine Taylor, M.M.

Welcome to ‘Flourishing Foundations,’ my flute and piano studio! After many years of teaching in various settings, I decided to establish Flourishing Foundations Music Studio, LLC to provide the most tailored learning experience to my flute and piano students! The studio name, ‘Flourishing Foundations,’ reflects two important components that form a foundation for musical flourishing. First, all musicians need a solid foundation of fundamental musical skills, but for overall flourishing in all aspects of music and life they also need to learn how to have a balanced and wholistic view of progress, set appropriate goals, and avoid some of the negatives that can diminish playing music creatively and for the joy of it, such as a misplaced focus on talent, comparison, or achievement. My aim is to equip students with both the musical tools and the inner skills needed to enjoy playing music on the flute or piano for life.

I found my passion and joy for instrumental music at a young age, initially inspired by the colorful sounds and depth of expression that I heard in live performances and in the background music of cartoons and movies.

After begging my parents for piano lessons, I began my formal study of music at the age of 7 with a piano teacher in the Clintonville neighborhood of Columbus, OH. Since then, music has taken me across the country and even allowed me to make connections abroad. My love of the piano would lead me to take lessons through most of my childhood and through my time as a student at The Ohio State University, where I took lessons with graduate students of pianist Dr. Caroline Hong.

It wasn’t until I was a student at Whetstone High School and my band director noticed my potential on the flute, that I began to take my flute studies more seriously. In late high school I began to take flute lessons from the professor at The Ohio State University, and decided to pursue music in college as a Flute Performance Major, rather than veterinary medicine (I was in Vet Explorer’s Post in high school)!

Despite having natural talent for music and having taken some private lessons, after my first ensemble audition on the flute at OSU, I placed next to last chair in the lowest level band for music majors. My earlier musical studies did not provide adequate training in foundational skills to play at the same level as my peers. I worked hard to overcome those deficiencies. By my junior year at OSU, through passion, hard work, careful and inquisitive study, and by God’s grace, I moved up to hold first chair flute in the Wind Ensemble (the top band), and played in the orchestra alongside master’s and Ph.D. students.

While I love music, I am also a well-rounded individual with various interests. During my time in college, I experienced several life-altering tragic events on a personal, local, and broader-level (including 9/11) that grew in me a greater awareness of the fragility of our lives, as well as brought in a deepening compassion and desire to be someone who helps to meet the needs of others. As I faced more than one heart-breaking event, I wondered if I would continue on towards my goal of teaching music at the college-level. Nearing the end of my college studies, I received sincere encouragement about my musical abilities from the late ‘flute legend’ Julius Baker, on faculty at Julliard. I performed for him at a master class in Connecticut and based on his feedback, I decided to continue on to graduate studies in flute performance. I then won a full-ride scholarship to the University of Minnesota, where I studied with a flutist who had trained at Julliard under Mr. Baker. I gained great insight into flute tone, breathing, and my playing became much more free and artistically effective. I rounded out my understanding of the flute and musical artistry with additional group and private lessons in the Alexander Technique, learning to play with freedom and ease.

After graduate school, I first achieved my goal of teaching college full-time at the age of 26. I have now taught a variety of classes at three universities (including flute and piano classes for music majors), and enjoyed teaching numerous wonderful students at public and private schools, private students at a commercial music and recording studio, and in my own private studio. I have also enjoyed some amazing experiences as a performer, filling in as Principal Flute in the Fort Smith Symphony for concerts that included a Mozart concerto with piano prodigy Poony Poon, Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite, and Celtic Christmas among others. I was thrilled to place as First Alternate in a National Flute Association Master Class competition. I have adjudicated for both flute and piano events, and used the piano to accompany students for Solo and Ensemble Contest, and more.

My music students benefit from my experience of starting college-level music study with a lack of mastery of essential fundamentals in music. I am sympathetic to the challenges beginner music students face when learning a complex skill. I seek to make the process as easy, effortless, and joyful as possible, while remaining watchful to equip my students with the foundational skills from which to grow musical excellence, whatever goals they choose to pursue. In recent years, I have discovered that I have a passion for working with beginner and intermediate students who are truly excited about music. Everything is new to them! I am also really enjoying being part of a larger movement in my generation of teachers, to provide a more well-rounded approach to lessons than many of us experienced as kids. I am excited about new pedagogy that is ‘outside-the-box’ from what we had growing up! I also still grow as a teacher and person with every lesson that I teach.

Whether in or out of music, I have had a passion to serve others to the best of my ability in every place I find myself, and to continually grow in all areas of life. For me, my passion and call to serve and love others is rooted in my Christian faith in the good news of the love, hope and mercy of Christ to us. Throughout my life I have sought to contribute positively to the lives of others —learning, creating, and contributing to the community in a variety of ways. My interests and passions have taken me from doing design and plant care as a professional gardener for the Walton Arts Center during the time of the ‘Stickart’ installation by Patrick Doherty, to mentoring at-risk youth; from earning a trainee license in real estate appraisal and working on projects from shopping malls and stadiums to vet clinics and funeral homes, to coaching rock climbing and outdoor skills, summiting 14ers with teens as a wilderness guide at a remote youth camp in Colorado.

I have been blessed and learned from opportunities that I have had to visit those in need and living in humble circumstances in Central America and Asia—from children living on the hillsides of Tegucigalpa, Honduras to those who have been at-risk to be trafficked in SE Asia. I have been astounded and moved to tears by the beauty of love in the face of lepers who are living isolated lives high in the remote mountains of Asia in a condition no person should have to face, and spent time in the jungle with refugees from the genocide in Myanmar—I believe all people are deeply valued and deeply loved, and that we are all able to help one another flourish in life. As a musician, I have learned that music is a deeply unifying and powerfully healing gift that anyone can benefit from, enjoy, and flourish with. I truly enjoy the the musical time that I spend with my students and I care about my music students as whole people. I enjoy seeing my students grow and flourish in many ways.

Scroll down for selections from my Curriculum Vitae.