Artist-pianist Educator Piano Teacher
Kay Etheridge is professionally a classical artist-pianist, music educator, piano instructor, and adjudicator in San Diego. She is a noted artist with diverse interests and background and has performed as vocalist as well as pianist with some of San Diego’s finest jazz musicians. A native of Dallas, Kay began her piano studies at age six with the celebrated and distinguished teacher, Eugenia Nicks O’Reilly. During these pre college years, she maintained an active performance schedule and was the recipient of many awards in her home cities of Dallas, then Phoenix.
Education
Kay received her BM in piano performance and MM in piano performance from Arizona State University School of Music where she studied piano with James Ruccolo and chamber music with Jean Barr. While working on her master’s degree, she was a teaching assistant in piano and class piano. It was at the University of North Texas College of Music where she received her DMA in piano performance studying piano with Leventritt winner (1965) and artist-in-residence, Tong-il Han. At North Texas, she was a teaching fellow for 3 years and Coordinator of Accompanying for one year. Dr. Etheridge gives credit to her magnificent piano and chamber music teachers who taught her how to practice, how to perform, how to play expressively, and finally how to become an artist! Her greatest joy now is teaching her own piano students what she learned from her own teachers.
Work
In 1982, Point Loma Nazarene University recruited her to accept a position as assistant professor of music, she taught there for five enjoyable years. Following her time at PLNU, she coached chamber music at La Jolla High School, taught piano and music theory at the Sweetwater District School for Creative and Performing Arts, and founded/directed “Keyboard Encounters”, a group piano program for a church day-care center. There she taught groups of 4-5 year olds and 6-9 year olds. In 1991, she joined the music faculty at the University of San Diego where she remained until her retirement in 2022. At USD, she taught piano and lecture courses in the department of music, and was Program Director of the Liberal Studies Program for 10 of those years. Since retiring she has focused on her private studio teaching. She has also enjoyed and continues to enjoy giving back to support all San Diego area music students and future artists! Kay has been chair of the MTAC-San Diego Concerto Competition for over 30 years, and in 2022, was elected President of the Musical Merit Foundation.
Kay has a distinguished list of former students who went on to study at prestigious music schools such as San Francisco Conservatory, MIT, NYU, Wellesley, Yale, USC, UNT, UCSB, UMKC and University of the Pacific. 2 former students completed their
DMA in piano performance, and even more completed their bachelor’s and/or master’s degree in music. At least 3 or more former students are now professional piano teachers, and more than 6 are professional performers representing various styles of music. Two former students are professional composers! You can read many of their words of gratitude in
the testimonials.
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Kay is a very active member of the CAPMT California Association of Professional Music Teachers (MTNA affiliate) and previously served as District I Coordinator, editor of the Communiqué newsletter, and subsequently served on the state board as VP of Student Programs. She is equally involved as a member of the MTAC Music Teachers Association of California where she has chaired the Concerto Competition for over 30 years.
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A frequent adjudicator in the southwest region, she has previously judged for the San Diego Symphony “Hot Shots” Competition, the San Diego Youth Symphony Concerto Competition, the Arizona Young Artist Piano Festival in Tempe, Arizona, preliminaries of the Virginia Waring Piano Competition, the H.B. Goodlin Scholarship Auditions, the Musical Merit Auditions, and various competitions sponsored by MTAC and CAPMT. At the 2002 CAPMT State Convention, she joined distinguished teachers Walter Ponce (UCLA) and Louise Lepley (Colburn school) for a panel presentation entitled “What Adjudicators are Looking For.”
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Recordings & Reviews
Kay has recorded and produced 3 CDs on her own record label, Equipoise Records. Her first CD was A Return to Hymns and continues to be her best-selling album.
REVIEWS of A Return to Hymns
“…the more exuberant tunes Kay has decked out in their Sunday best, with brilliant fanfares and colorful harmonies. She has imbued the more intimate hymns with the reflective glow of heartfelt emotion and conviction. Anyone who loves these gems of faith will enjoy Kay’s spirited, refreshing revival, not to mention her fleeting keyboard technique and inviting vocal style..”
- Ken Herman, San Diego organist and music-critic.
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Real Life features Kay’s arrangements of songs written by singer-songwriter extraordinaire Peggy Watson. Kay sings on this album and is joined by a stellar cast of musicians featuring solos by Peter Sprague, David Beldock and Peter Pendras on guitar, Holly Hofmann on flute, Sue Palmer and Stephen “Hoops” Snyder on piano, and Ken Dow on bass.
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REVIEWS of Real Life
“..Kay Etheridge is a gutsy musician. She can tackle a page full of complicated notes and tame them into beautiful music. She can live in the detailed world of classical music and be calm amidst the storm. And then she can chameleon over to the microphone and sing earthy folk songs like she’s lived that reality all of her life. She’s a wonderful person and a brilliant musician..”
- Peter Sprague, world-class jazz guitarist who co-produced this album.
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“..Kay’s musical agility is obvious through Real Life. She gracefully glides through her
various fortes and discovers a few new ones along the way.”
- Lance Vargas, The La Jolla Light
“it was amazing that a wonderful classical pianist like Kay had such a feel for pop music;
she has a terrific feel for jazz playing, and I’ve told her she should do more
improvisation”
- Holly Hofmann, Internationally-acclaimed jazz flutist
NOTE: Kay and Holly have performed together in concert at the University of San Diego, the Athenaeum Music and Arts Library in La Jolla, the First Unitarian-Universalist Church of San Diego, the Chula Vista Public Library and in Santa Maria at the Allan Hancock College where they premiered “Resonations” by composer Marcus Engelmann. Their programs consisted of classical music with a few jazz-style compositions included.
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LIVE IN CONCERT is a solo piano recital that was recorded live in Shiley Theatre at USD. This album showcases some of her classical repertoire. She performs Mozart’s Sonata in Bb Major, K.281, Beethoven’s Bagatelles Op.126, Liszt’s Transcendental Etude in F Minor, and Ginastera’s Sonata No.1, Op.22.
REVIEW of LIVE IN CONCERT
“..I enjoyed the recording very much! Every phrase was beautifully shaped, full of life and contrast. Kay Etheridge is an outstanding artist!”
- Dr. Scott McBride Smith, Cordelia Brown Murphy Professor of Piano Pedagogy and Piano Area Coordinator at University of Kansas School of Music.
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