Who is Mary-Lynn Brown?

After having been awarded a piano scholarship to Texas Tech University, I

spent my senior year in the high school library.  I was looking for a

career—any career but music!  How about psychology, or… no, oceanography!! 

Oh, I guess that wouldn’t work, I’m terrified of the ocean.  Ok, piano it is.

 That’s really the only thing I know how to do.  (I didn’t know why, but for

most of my childhood and young adult life, I had a love/hate relationship

with the piano).

Being a piano major was a rather unpleasant experience for me.  I apparently

had talent, but no matter how much I practiced, I seemed to get nowhere.  I

would end up crying at my lessons.  Everything also seemed so competitive—

“how fast can you play scales and arpeggios!?!?”   At some point during my

junior year it occurred to me, “what’s the point of music, if there is no fun

and joy involved?”  I decided to quit.

Ok, now what?  Music is still the only thing I know how to do.  I’d seen a

couple of bands in nightclubs and thought that looked fun.  Hey, I could

start singing and forget the piano altogether!  I knocked on every nightclub

door in the area asking if they needed a girl who could sing and play piano. 

A month later, I was auditioned for an opening in a country band (I was in

Texas after all!).  They brought some sheet music by Waylon Jennings and

Willie Nelson.  Now, I could sight read just about anything, and was hired on

the spot.  Imagine my surprise at the first rehearsal when the leader said:

“Cotton Eyed Joe in the key of A...  1-2-3-4" and off the band went.  I was

stunned, “where is the sheet music?”  My education in improvisation and

playing by ear had begun.  I earned my living for the next 17ish years

playing country, rock, pop and blues.  “Goodbye classical music!”

Somewhere during this time, I began missing classical piano, but now I was

married with four children and thought going back to school would be

impossible.   Miracles do happen and I found myself at ENMU in Portales, NM. 

It was there that I found the best piano instructor I’d ever had.  Music was

about love and joy.  My technique problems in the past were due in large part

to improper use of the body, improper understanding of practice and lack of

listening.  I now understood my love/hate relationship with the piano.

After finishing my bachelor degree in piano performance, it was with great

enthusiasm that I began to teach piano privately.  My diverse musical

background and personal struggles with the piano have made me very sensitive

to students’ needs.  I am a firm believer in individuality, musicality,

physicality and fun!!!