Play-based music classes for kids
Leslie Wilson
Leslie Wilson believes that music has the power to transform lives. With over 25 years of performing and teaching across the US, Leslie has built a strong foundation and skillset in clarinet, piano and music education. Her passion for music and care in teaching is evident in her daily work as a certified teacher of the Let’s Play Music curriculum and as a clarinet instructor. Over time, she has watched her students become strong, expressive, talented musicians.
As a performer, Leslie benefited from childhood piano and clarinet lessons from many skilled teachers and professors. Leslie received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Music, emphasis in clarinet performance, from Brigham Young University (2011). She has held many symphonic clarinet positions. Currently, she is the principal clarinetist with The Ensign Symphony and Chorus, and has held principal positions previously with Canada's Vancouver Pops Symphony and Millennial Choir and Orchestra of Salt Lake City. While living in Utah she performed with Millennial Choir and Orchestra, Utah Valley Symphony, Nebo Philharmonic, and Timpanogos Symphony Orchestra. Highlights include touring as principal clarinetist with the Vancouver Pops Symphony to Carnegie Hall in 2015, and solo clarinet recitals in Louisiana in 2016 and 2019. She currently serves as pianist for her church choir, performs regularly in church on both clarinet and piano, and sings in the choir.
As a mother, Leslie wanted high-quality musical education for her own children. After researching, she discovered a local teacher for Let's Play Music, a curriculum that incorporates play into fundamental music theory. Over the next 3 years, two of her four children completed the Let’s Play Music program. Inspired by their success, Leslie became a certified Let’s Play Music teacher in 2016, to guide her youngest son through the curriculum. From then until now, Leslie has brought Let’s Play Music to families in Louisiana, Florida, and now her area of Washington.
As a teacher, Leslie has taught private clarinet and piano over the last 2.5 decades, to children ranging in age from 5-18 years. As a certified Let’s Play Music teacher, she has taught the Let’s Play Music curricula for the last 9 years (ages 0-13 yrs). She established Lily Pad Music Academy in 2016 while living in Louisiana, opening her first Let’s Play Music classes. The academy flourished, even as Leslie moved to southern Florida, opening new doors and classes there. During the pandemic Leslie continued to share music teaching Let’s Play Music classes online, even as she moved to her current location in Snohomish WA. In 2021, she and her family extended their home to include a dedicated music studio, where Lily Pad Music Academy now offers several classes and clarinet lessons.
Leslie welcomes opportunities to grow as a music teacher. She makes a dedicated effort to attend the Let's Play Music Symposium and trainings every year to work on professional development. She attends local business networking groups, and is striving to become an active member in her community’s chapter of the Music Teachers National Association.