A Bit About Me
I began my adventure as a piano teacher in 2010 after reluctantly accepting students from a friend. When I realized how much I enjoyed the lessons I decided to continue teaching and I have been instructing students young and old ever since.
I studied piano with Dr. Susan Tang and Dr. Nariaki Sugiura and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts and a Masters in Music in piano performance from the University of North Dakota. Studying with these great teachers helped me discover my love of teaching and my desire to pass on musical knowledge to others.
I am able to tailor my teaching approach to each individual and make lessons fun and low-pressure. To find out more about my lessons, please get in touch and I’ll be happy to give you more information or set up a meeting time and sample lesson.
Biography
Mrs. Colleen Hathaway, M.M. Piano Performance
Passionate in piano performance, Colleen has performed in various venues such as art museums, ND public schools, assisted living facilities, and shopping malls. Highlights of her performance include Gershwin’s Concerto in F in the “Dueling Pianos” at the Columbia Mall and Cowell’s “Tides of Mananaun” at the North Dakota Museum of Art. She took first place in the state division of the 2014 NDMTNA Young Artist Piano competition. She is also active as a collaborative pianist, and has performed in various groups of piano duo, piano duet, and piano trio. She served as an official staff accompanist for the 2014 ND ACDA Women’s Choir in Grand Forks and for the Grand Cities Children's Choir.
A native of Reynolds, ND, Colleen began studying piano at age seven. Throughout elementary school, she participated in the National Federation of Music Clubs Festival Program and received gold cups in the piano solo and duet categories. She was active in performing piano, and she enjoyed playing piano at schools, churches, weddings, and many other events.
Colleen earned her Bachelor of Arts in Music degree at the University of North Dakota studying piano performance and piano pedagogy under Dr. Susan Tang and Dr. Nariaki Sugiura, and her Masters of Music in Piano Performance under Dr. Sugiura. During her studies, she performed in master classes by prestigious musicians/pedagogues such as Mr. John Clodfelter, Dr. Lina Morita, Dr. Naoki Hakutani, and Steinway Artist Stefano Greco. In 2010, she participated in the NDMTA conference where she took a course in “How to teach improvisation to children”. Colleen has been a devoted piano instructor since 2010 and has been vital to the formation and management of UND’s Community Music program as well as the student organization Project 88.
Colleen was employed at St. Joseph's Catholic School as an elementary music teacher from 2016-2017 and also worked as a piano instructor and staff accompanist at Bismarck State College from 2017-2019.
Colleen currently teaches private piano lessons in her home and raises two small, rowdy, and (hopefully) future piano playing boys along with their new baby sister.