BIO
Although all my 9 siblings (one older, 8 younger) also took piano lessons, mom says that I couldn’t walk through the living room without playing something on the piano! I clearly remember being excited when my mom started teaching me to play when I was probably 6 or 7. I may have had a natural inclination towards music, but I give my mom 100% of the credit for whatever musical talent I developed until I was 18 since she lovingly insisted that I practice every day… Well, every day except Sundays and my lesson day! I can guarantee that I wouldn’t have had the diligence and discipline all those days for all those years!
About the same time that I started piano, mom signed me up for a couple of community choirs. At 10 years old, I started violin with a few friends in a before-school orchestra at our elementary school. I continued to play in school and community orchestras through junior high and high school.
When I was in 9 th grade, mom took me to the junior high choir teacher to audition to accompany the choir, and I continued to accompany school choirs, as well as friends’ vocal and instrumental performances through high school. It was when I was about 16 that my local piano teacher sent me to BYU to study piano with Dr. Robert Smith. When I went to Ricks College, it really became my deliberate choice to study piano performance (with Dr. Brent Jones) and to accompany choirs! As a music major, I was required to take an organ class, and added that skill to my bag of tricks.
While serving an LDS mission to Houston, Texas, I gained a new skill that has ended up being one of the greatest sources of joy in my life: I learned Spanish, and have learned to love the Hispanic culture, foods, dances, language, and people! For thirteen years, I have volunteered with the LDS Church-sponsored event, “Luz de las Naciones,” which puts on one big performance each year in the Tabernacle or Conference Center on Temple Square involving a 350-voice choir and 500 or more dancers. I mainly work with the choir—creating the sheet music (on Sibelius software), directing and accompanying choir rehearsals, playing the piano and recording vocals for rehearsal CDs, assisting in recordings, and doing anything else that I can help with!
Although I graduated from BYU in Elementary Education (with the intent to pursue a master’s in Teaching English as a Second Language), I returned to music when I was 30, getting a second bachelor’s degree—in Piano Performance—at the University of Utah and then continuing there to obtain a master’s degree in Collaborative Piano, studying with Jeffrey Price and Dr. Vedrana Subotic.
While studying at the UofU, I started teaching piano on the side. My business grew, and I’ve been teaching piano now since 2003, maintaining a student load of about 60 for the past 20 years or so. My students participate each year in the Utah Federation of Music Clubs solo festival and concerto festival, as well as in studio recitals.
In my spare time, I love time with my large family, adventures with friends, traveling, doodling/lettering, kayaking, hiking, movies, cooking, swimming, biking, reading, journaling, running and cross-country skiing.
RESUME
KIMBERLY BAKER
BravoMusicStudio.MusicTeachersHelper.com
801-891-9929
WORK EXPERIENCE
2003 – present Full-Time Piano Instructor (self-employed)
2001 – present Vocal Accompanist
Accompany vocal students of Dr. Marion Miller, Faye Munz, Shauna Gottfredson, and others
2000 – 2001 Elementary Education Teacher (3 rd Grade)
Westfield Elementary, Highland, UT
1996 – 2000 Bi-Lingual (Spanish) Secretary, Benson Institute at Brigham Young University
Education
2007 Masters in Music—Collaborative Piano
University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah
Studied piano with Dr. Vedrana Subotic
Taught group piano classes for non-piano music majors
2004 Bachelor’s Degree—Piano Performance
University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah
Studied piano with Jeffrey Price and Ning Lu
1996 Bachelor’s Degree—Elementary Education; Minor in TESL (Teaching English as a Second Language)
Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah
1991 Two-Year Piano Performance Major
Ricks College, Rexburg, Idaho
Studied piano with Brent Jones
Accompanied Concert Chorale, directed by Clyde Luke
1989 High School Diploma
Orem High School, Orem, Utah
Active in high school orchestra all three years
Accompanist for and singer in A’capella and Show and Chamber choirs
Studied piano with Margaret Brown (Orem) and Dr. Robert Smith at Brigham Young University
Volunteer Experience
2006 – present Accompanist & Music Director of “Luz de las Naciones” (LDS Spanish choir)
2004 – present Utah Federation of Music Clubs (UFMC), Salt Lake Chapter & Utah State
2015 – present Utah Music Teachers Association (UMTA), member & chapter recital chair
2014 – present LDS Primary President
2003 – 2007 LDS Young Women Counselor and President
1992 – 1993 LDS Full-Time Missionary in Texas, Houston, Spanish-Speaking Mission
1991-92, 1993-94 Sing alto in Mormon Youth Chorus
Interests and Hobbies
Family, reading, learning, history, traveling, piano, violin, singing, organ, guitar, Spanish (fluent), cooking, hiking, biking, running, swimming, kayaking, cross-country skiing, doodling/lettering, camping, knitting, crocheting, movies, attending the symphony and opera, family history, journaling