Humans of St. Norbert:

“I’ve been playing piano since my early teens. All through school I played flute, but my heart was always with piano. … I just really dabbled in teaching it a little bit for a couple years and just built up through word of mouth. I got a few more students and now I teach on Monday and Tuesday nights after work.

“My favorite part about playing myself is that it’s my stress reliever. I don’t like to perform because that really stresses me out. I think it’s because I didn’t perform too much when I was learning so I try to find performance opportunities for my students so they don’t [have the same experience]. Having to model and play confidently for my students has helped me. I think challenging my students has made me a better player because I’ve had to go find music for them. … I enjoy getting to know the kids. I feel like I’m walking through life with them and also seeing their skills progress.

“My piano teacher believes that she is the reason that my husband and I are married. … We took piano lessons from the same teacher and we did a duet in high school. We did 'Pachelbel’s Canon' at a music festival, and then we ended up having that at our wedding. Our oldest daughter, Megan, graduated from [St. Norbert College] in music education and she is a band teacher in New Holstein now.” – Cathy Lau, Residential Education and Housing student services coordinator and business analyst