About Mrs. Talley
Kristy Talley enjoys nurturing the musical development of children. She is certified to teach vocal and instrumental music for grades K-12. She has earned a Master of Music in Music Education from Michigan State University and a Bachelor of Science in Music Education from Missouri Southern State University. She has taught elementary music, beginning band, and middle school vocal music in Kansas, Michigan, and Oklahoma. She also has additional credentialing and education through the Gordon Institute for Music Learning, through which she has completed certification in Music Learning Theory: Early Childhood and Elementary General Music, Levels 1 & 2. Mrs. Talley enjoys reading, cooking, scrapbooking, working in the yard, playing racquetball, hiking, and swimming. She also enjoys bicycling with her husband Keith, who is a music professor and Director of Jazz at Southwestern Oklahoma State University. Mrs. Talley loves to sing and play the piano and French horn and is just beginning to learn to play the acoustic guitar as well.
Mrs. Talley with her husband in front of frozen Lake Michigan.
Mrs. Talley’s Philosophy of Music Teaching
Mrs. Talley believes that all students should be provided the chance to achieve musically. She uses the basic principles of Music Learning Theory to individualize her instruction to meet the needs of her students. Music Learning Theory promotes the development of the student’s ability to audiate, or hear and comprehend music in the mind, which informs student musicianship. This is accomplished through classroom activities with highly sequential music instruction. Mrs. Talley also applies the sequencing of Music Learning Theory to the learning and playing of classroom instruments through Orff instruction.
