About Michelle
Michelle Li received her Bachelor of Humanities and Arts with emphases in piano performance and psychology and her Certificate in Piano Pedagogy from Carnegie Mellon University, earning university honors. She graduated summa cum laude from Georgia State University, earning a Master of Music in piano pedagogy. While at Carnegie Mellon University, she studied under Hanna Wu Li. Michelle studied under Dr. Geoffrey Haydon for performance while at Georgia State and, for pedagogy, studied under Dr. Sergio Gallo.
A native of New York and New Jersey, Michelle's childhood piano education was shaped by the great teachers in the Princeton area. She studied principally with Andrea Huang and Yining Wang, with additional teaching from Ingrid Clarfield and Phyllis Lehrer.
Though teaching is her passion, Michelle is no stranger to the concert stage. Michelle made her Carnegie Hall debut at the age of fourteen after winning the Cecilian Club Young Artists competition and has performed around the US and Europe.
Michelle's twenty-five-year teaching career has seen her teach both group and private piano at Carnegie Mellon and Georgia State University. While at Georgia State, she became a contributor to Keyboard Musicianship: Piano for Adults, a college-level textbook for music majors. Her students have won awards for both performance and composition and have earned the highest distinctions at NFMC festivals, the Piano Guild, and ABRSM exams. She is also the only educator certified by the Institut Jaques-Dalcroze to teach Dalcroze eurhythmics in the entire state of Georgia. Since earning her certificate, she has taught at Interlochen Arts Camp, the Reinhardt Piano Festival, and, most recently, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra's VIVO Summer Strings Institute.
Michelle's teaching philosophy is interdisciplinary. She believes good pianists are also good overall musicians and places emphasis on all the core principles of musicianship, including eurhythmics, improvisation, composition, solfège, and history. She also believes in constantly learning new things with the hope that the knowledge will expand understanding at the piano. It is not uncommon to find Michelle in a lesson talking about physics, anatomy, psychology, English literature, writing, history, memes, or even video games (especially video games).
When not at the piano, Michelle walks the interdisciplinary walk as a professional photographer, developmental editor, copyeditor, proofreader, and novelist whose books have earned starred reviews from Publisher's Weekly and BookList, as well as stellar reviews at the New York Times, Washington Post, Reactor, and many others. Books she's edited have hit every major list, and she takes special pride in her authors' accomplishments.
Michelle lives in Decatur with her husband, two children, her cat Portia, her dog Puddles, and about thirty orchids. Her home piano is a Baldwin R.
A native of New York and New Jersey, Michelle's childhood piano education was shaped by the great teachers in the Princeton area. She studied principally with Andrea Huang and Yining Wang, with additional teaching from Ingrid Clarfield and Phyllis Lehrer.
Though teaching is her passion, Michelle is no stranger to the concert stage. Michelle made her Carnegie Hall debut at the age of fourteen after winning the Cecilian Club Young Artists competition and has performed around the US and Europe.
Michelle's twenty-five-year teaching career has seen her teach both group and private piano at Carnegie Mellon and Georgia State University. While at Georgia State, she became a contributor to Keyboard Musicianship: Piano for Adults, a college-level textbook for music majors. Her students have won awards for both performance and composition and have earned the highest distinctions at NFMC festivals, the Piano Guild, and ABRSM exams. She is also the only educator certified by the Institut Jaques-Dalcroze to teach Dalcroze eurhythmics in the entire state of Georgia. Since earning her certificate, she has taught at Interlochen Arts Camp, the Reinhardt Piano Festival, and, most recently, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra's VIVO Summer Strings Institute.
Michelle's teaching philosophy is interdisciplinary. She believes good pianists are also good overall musicians and places emphasis on all the core principles of musicianship, including eurhythmics, improvisation, composition, solfège, and history. She also believes in constantly learning new things with the hope that the knowledge will expand understanding at the piano. It is not uncommon to find Michelle in a lesson talking about physics, anatomy, psychology, English literature, writing, history, memes, or even video games (especially video games).
When not at the piano, Michelle walks the interdisciplinary walk as a professional photographer, developmental editor, copyeditor, proofreader, and novelist whose books have earned starred reviews from Publisher's Weekly and BookList, as well as stellar reviews at the New York Times, Washington Post, Reactor, and many others. Books she's edited have hit every major list, and she takes special pride in her authors' accomplishments.
Michelle lives in Decatur with her husband, two children, her cat Portia, her dog Puddles, and about thirty orchids. Her home piano is a Baldwin R.