Dr. Jill O’Toole is a
third-generation educator who loves teaching and sharing the gift of music. She
has taught early childhood music and piano for over twenty years.
Dr. Jill O’Toole has earned a
Bachelor of Arts degree and a psychology minor at Louisiana Tech University in
Ruston, Louisiana. While attending Louisiana Tech, she studied piano with Dr.
Sue Holder and teacher assisted music appreciation class and group piano class
for non-piano majors. She also received the Music Teachers National Association
Student Achievement Recognition Award and the Outstanding Student Award from
the School of Performing Arts at Louisiana Tech.
After receiving her degree, Dr.
O’Toole opened her piano studio and has maintained a studio of over 40 students
for the past twenty years. Her students participate in the Hymn Festival,
Sonatina Tournament, and Rally. She teaches private lessons, partner lessons,
and group piano classes, and the curriculum consists of music theory,
technique, repertoire, and sight-reading. Musical styles that are taught
include classical, pop, traditional hymns, and Contemporary Christian Music.
In 2001, Dr. O’Toole became a
certified Kindermusik teacher. She taught Kindermusik classes at Calvary
Conservatory of Music including Village (baby class), Our Time (toddler class),
Imagine That! (three to four-year-old class), and Young Child (five-year-old
class). In these classes, Dr. O’Toole taught students how to read rhythm,
notes, play the dulcimer, recorder, and the xylophone. During this time,
Dr. Jill taught early childhood music classes at St. James Episcopal Day
School. She was also the director of music for chapel and holiday programs at
St. James. She later became a certified Musikgarten teacher.
Dr. O’Toole received a master
of music in performance pedagogy at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette,
where she studied with Dr. Chan Kiat Lim. While there, she presented a session
titled “You Are Not Alone: Building a Professional Community of
Independent Studio Teachers Through Blogs “at the MTNA Collegiate Chapters
Piano Pedagogy Symposium at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music.
After receiving her master’s
degree, Dr. O’Toole earned a Doctor of Musical Arts in Church Music at the New
Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary in New Orleans, Louisiana. During her
years there, she attended the Classical Music Festival in Eisenstadt, Austria.
At the festival, she attended lectures by Jane Magrath, Carolyn True, and other
presenters about Haydn’s music and other classical music topics. She also
attended the Sing! Getty Music Worship Conference for several years, where she
explored topics of the importance of music in the Christian worship service.
Her dissertation included a case study of traditional hymn playing and
contemporary Christian music skills in the pre-collegiate piano studio.
Dr. O’Toole has served locally
as Sonatina Tournament chair and District Rally chair. She has also served as
Vice President of the Cenla Music Teachers Association that is affiliated with
the Music Teachers National Association. Currently, she is serving on the
Louisiana Music Teachers Association state executive board as VP of publicity.
She has adjudicated Hymn
Festival events on the district and state levels. Dr. O’Toole has adjudicated
other piano performance events throughout the state, including Technique
Festivals, Federation, Solo Festivals, and district LMTA rally events, and has
been a church pianist for many years.