Melody Payne - Music for a Lifetime

There is music in every child, and it is my absolute pleasure to help each child I teach fall in love with music! I have a PhD in music with emphases in music education and piano pedagogy, and it is such a joy to create educational resources for music teachers and students! I've been teaching private piano lessons since 1990, blogging since March 2012, and creating digital resources since May 2013. Besides teaching piano lessons and creating resources for music teachers and students, I accompany choirs at our local high school and middle school, and play piano and keyboard at my church. In short, I love being a musician!

As a teacher, I consider my style to be encouraging, patient, and kind, I meet students where they are and provide them with relevant tools and information to help them reach their potential. I ask lots of questions and expect only the best from my students. They are awesome!

Mississippi College awarded me with the Distinguished Young Faculty award in 2009 for excellence in teaching, and for opening, directing, and growing their new music preparatory department. In 2007, I became a Nationally Certified Teacher of Music in Piano through the Music Teachers National Association, and in 2017 I became permanently professionally certified. My work has been featured on a few different sites, and it has been an honor to collaborate with many amazing musicians over the past several years. “The Top Influential Piano Blogs You Should Be Reading” at Digital Piano Review Guide “7 Piano Experts Share Their Business Growing Tips” at Tim Topham “TTTV 052: Teaching Skype Lessons with Melody Payne” Podcast Interview at Tim Topham “Problem solved! Seeking solutions online. Part 1: Blogs” by Karen Thickstun, Cara Haxo, Abigail Huston, and Joanna Reinhardt in Clavier Companion Magazine, July/August 2015. My original Plucky Pianista blog was listed as number 3 of 20 music teaching blogs that resonated with college piano pedagogy majors, according to their evaluation rubric. “Choosing a Life in Music” at Musical-U.com (scroll down to the last section of the post)

My degrees include a Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance from William Carey University in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, and a Master of Music in Piano Pedagogy and Doctor of Philosophy in Music with emphases in music education and piano pedagogy from Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge. I am a member of the Music Teachers National Association and the Virginia Music Teachers Association.

I am a classically trained pianist and I enjoy teaching custom piano lessons to children and adults of all ages and abilities. I have taught at Louisiana State University (while in graduate school), Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Sterling College in Sterling, Kansas, Mississippi College in Clinton, Mississippi, and Emory and Henry College in Emory, Virginia. I enjoy blogging at my website at MelodyPayne.com and operating my online business on TpT. My incredible and supportive husband Greg and I live in a small town nestled in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains.