About

Welcome to Kessinger Music Studios! I am a musician, educator, and teacher-author from Charleston, West Virginia. After serving as a choral director, band director, and elementary music teacher in various West Virginia public schools for six years, I accepted the position of Professor of Music Education at West Virginia State University. My experience in the public school system has allowed me to pass real-world knowledge, teaching strategies, and management techniques on to my students, who will train the next generation of young musicians.

My path to becoming a music educator was not a conventional one. After completing my Bachelor of Fine Arts degree and beginning my Master of Arts degree in Music Performance at Marshall University, I began to explore the world of education and expand my ideas of what music-making could be. While working on my master's I entered into Marshall's Post-Baccalaureate Certification program, where I studied music education and earned my PreK-Adult teaching certification. This journey was not an easy one, presenting me with several major obstacles that had me researching alternate career paths more than once. Even after I was certified and in my own classroom, I only learned where the landmines were because I seemed to step on every single one of them. But now that I have the benefit of retrospection, I would not change or eliminate a single one of these experiences. They made me the teacher that I am today, and now I have the opportunity to pass that knowledge and experience on to future music educators.

My time in public schools also led me to a path that I never imaged I would tread - becoming a teacher-author for TeachersPayTeachers.com. There were many times when I couldn't find the resource that was just right for my classroom, so I endeavored to make them myself. After receiving positive feedback from both collogues and students, I decided to start posting them on TPT in the hopes that others could benefit from them. My store is now over 120 products strong, and growing weekly! Words can't express how grateful I am for each and every purchase that I receive. 

Follow me on Instagram @KessingerMusicStudios, on Facebook @KessingerMusicStudios, and on TPT at Kessinger Music Studios.