Biography

Janice was born in Kansas into a musical family. She comes from a long line of singers, poets, and piano players. Her dad, a jazz pianist and songwriter, was an early IBM research engineer and holds patents on many early computer devices (like the floppy drive). The oldest of three girls, she also remembers regularly gathering around the family piano to sing Broadway show-tunes with her mom at the piano.

Janice attributes her early music education inspiration to great teachers like Charlie Pyle and Don Bergstrom in the Campbell Union School District classroom music programs. In particular, Janice enjoyed the summer music camps, participating every summer for six years, learning violin, flute and clarinet and later becoming concert mistress of her school orchestras.

Janice did not start out with the intention of majoring in music, but majored first in psychology and natural science – not only because she loved these subjects, but largely because she thought they were more academic and challenging. Much to her surprise, after changing her major to music she discovered that it too was intensely academic in nature when studied in depth.

After completing her BA with honors, Janice's love for psychology, science, and music all came together while taking a multi-discipline graduate class at the University of Colorado Medical School. This class, Biology of Music Making, was key to her inspiration to combine child development, pyschology, and music education together in a way that would embrace the youngest learners in a fun and positive learning environment. As a Christian, Janice shares that it was God who inspired and helped her to found The Music Place and to develop its signature curriculum, Early Music Awareness (EMA). This was at a time in the early 1980s when few other American teachers were approaching music education for these youngest of kids.

Today Janice enjoys using her unique education and 40+ years of teaching experience to serve as the head of the Educational Placement Team at The Music Place, bringing valuable guidance to families about how to navigate the journey of music education. She and her husband Mike serve together as co-directors. They have 4 grown children and 10 grandchildren. Her favorite hobby is shopping at second-hand stores for furniture and decor and helping people beautify their home interiors on a budget.