Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Tori Leppert. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Alright, Tori thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?
One project that meant a lot to me has to be the first time I coached a young artist. I’ve been working with kids my entire life, but I didn’t get into teaching young artists and singer/songwriters until I graduated college. My mom worked for the school board in our small town, so I was constantly surrounded by teachers and board members. I started teaching music, specifically violin and piano, during my junior year of high school to both my peers and younger students from the neighboring schools. I always knew that I was going to go into teaching or music, but I didn’t realize I wanted to teach young artists until I started working with a young student back in Chicago on her songwriting. Our lessons consisted of vocal, piano, and guitar accompaniment training, co-writing, and songwriting critique and practices. Watching her grow into an aspiring singer/songwriter was inspiring and such a privilege to be a part of. She was able to use her voice and words to create songs and projects that meant something to her and others, and it gave me the idea to start coaching songwriting consistently. After moving to LA, I worked for a middle school and taught songwriting to multiple classes, including in-classroom performances, talent shows, and positive feedback/critique. I now work for an incredible company that allows me to teach both in the classroom and private lessons to so many music and songwriting students.
Tori, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
H, I’m Tori! I’m a music teacher and folk/country singer/songwriter. My dad was a well-known guitarist in our town and my parents were always playing music around the house, no matter the occasion. I remember them playing Elton John, The Eagles, and Toto every time we had a cleaning day in attempt to make cleaning more fun. By watching my dad at all of his band’s shows and performances, I naturally picked up music and started playing piano. Because of my mom’s job on the school board, teaching was always a possibility of something I would go into. However, I didn’t want to only teach general music in the classroom. I wanted to combine my practice with songwriting and performing with my teaching and inspire other young songwriters to start their journey. Even though I love teaching music in all forms (private lessons for instruments, general music in classrooms, etc.), being able to teach and inspire other young songwriters is incredibly rewarding. Something I’ve noticed that sets me apart from other musicians/teachers is my want to make teaching songwriting my career. I love being an artist and performing, but coaching artists brings me so much happiness and I feel that I’m doing what I was meant to do. My former student, Clara, recently performed and sold out her first show at Hotel Cafe and it was surreal experience watching her perform songs and perform her passion in front of a huge audience. I can’t wait to move forward in coaching and inspiring young artists to follow their musical passions.
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
A lesson I had to learn during my teaching journey was how to teach/coach each student based on how they learn best. Especially in a classroom setting, it’s difficult to not approach each lesson plan with the same formula to teach for each class/student. There are students who learn best from visuals, hearing directions, examples, etc. I’m still working on discovering different techniques I can use that will be best for every student and what will benefit them the most, but I feel that learning different practices has been the biggest progression in developing a positive relationship with my students as well as guiding their journey in improvement. When students see their teachers actively making an effort to help them in a way that they makes sense to their learning style, those relationships improve. I’ve noticed even in private lessons with my songwriting students that they all use different methods. One of my students uses imagery by asking questions such as “What color and setting would this song be?” or “Where would I hear this song if it were on the radio somewhere?”, whereas another student creates long storylines and shortens the main ideas into a song. Another student loves to write lyrics but is hoping to improve on their chord progressions, so we usually spend our lessons coming up with multiple different chord progressions that they can use for the song we’re working on or future projects. As an artist myself, I’ve had to learn how to be authentic towards myself and my songwriting. The best learning approach for me is writing exactly how I feel, then going back and revising it. I felt that I’ve always ran from my “small-town” and “growing up on a sweet corn farm” feel, but when I moved to LA I found that self, are huge parts of my history and who I am. By deeply developing who I am as a person, I’ve found my authentic sound with acoustic instruments such as guitar, mandolin, banjo, etc. This process has helped me understand how to approach and coach students based on how they learn and on being the most authentic artist they can be.
Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?
The mission driving my creative journey is truly just watching my students work hard towards accomplishing their goals and becoming the artist they’re working hard to be. I’ve found that practicing and bettering my art and craft helps me as a teacher, so I’ve been actively still recording and performing. For example, I’m currently working on a country album that is incredibly raw, acoustic, and personal and I’ve found that by bettering my songwriting and working in the studio has given me more insight on how I can help students find their musical sound. I’m also currently working on getting a few students together with some of my songwriting friends and co-writing a song in order for my students to understand that artists can teach other artists, as well as artists can learn from other artists. I encourage my students to accomplish their goals by creating positive relationships in the community, staying true and authentic to who they are, playing live as much as possible, networking and working with other artists, and creating art and music that is something they’re passionate about rather than what they think the world wants to hear. I can’t wait to see my students accomplish their goals, whether that be as an artist, songwriter, teacher, and so much more!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://torileppert.wixsite.com/mysite
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/torileppertmusic/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/torileppertmusic/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ToriLeppert
Image Credits
Mira Horwitz Fede Petro – Open Folk
