Dr. Jill O’Toole is a third-generation educator who loves teaching and sharing the gift of music. She has taught early childhood music and piano for over twenty years.
Dr. Jill O’Toole has earned a Bachelor of Arts degree and a psychology minor at Louisiana Tech University in Ruston, Louisiana. While attending Louisiana Tech, she studied piano with Dr. Sue Holder and teacher assisted music appreciation class and group piano class for non-piano majors. She also received the Music Teachers National Association Student Achievement Recognition Award and the Outstanding Student Award from the School of Performing Arts at Louisiana Tech.
After receiving her degree, Dr. O’Toole opened her piano studio and has maintained a studio of over 40 students for the past twenty years. These students participate in the Hymn Festival, Sonatina Tournament, and Rally. She teaches private lessons, partner lessons, and group piano classes. The curriculum consists of music theory, technique, repertoire, and sight reading. Musical styles that are taught include classical, pop, traditional hymns, and Contemporary Christian Music.
In 2001, Dr. O’Toole became a certified Kindermusik teacher. She taught Kindermusik classes at Calvary Conservatory of Music including Village (baby class), Our Time (toddler class), Imagine That! (three to four-year-old class), and Young Child (five-year-old class). In these classes, Dr. O’Toole taught students how to read rhythm, notes, play the dulcimer, recorder, and the xylophone. During this time, Dr. Jill taught early childhood music classes at St. James Episcopal Day School. She was also the director of music for chapel and holiday programs at St. James. She later became a certified Musikgarten teacher.
Dr. O’Toole received a master of music in performance pedagogy at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, where she studied with Dr. Chan Kiat Lim. While there, she presented a session titled “You Are Not Alone: Building a Professional Community of Independent Studio Teachers Through Blogs“ at the MTNA Collegiate Chapters Piano Pedagogy Symposium at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music.
After receiving her master’s degree, Dr. O’Toole earned a Doctor of Musical Arts in Church Music at the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary in New Orleans, Louisiana. During her years there, she attended the Classical Music Festival in Eisenstadt, Austria. At the festival, she attended lectures by Jane Magrath, Carolyn True, and other presenters about Haydn’s music and other classical music topics. She also attended the Sing! Getty Music Worship Conference for several years, where she explored topics of the importance of music in the Christian worship service. Her dissertation included a case study of traditional hymn playing and contemporary Christian music skills in the pre-collegiate piano studio.
Dr. O’Toole has served locally as Sonatina Tournament chair and District Rally chair. She has also served as Vice President of the Cenla Music Teachers Association that is affiliated with the Music Teachers National Association. Currently, she is serving on the Louisiana Music Teachers Association state executive board as VP of publicity.
She has adjudicated Hymn Festival events on the district and state level. Dr. O’Toole has adjudicated other piano performance events throughout the state, including Technique Festivals, Federation, Solo Festivals, and district LMTA rally events. She has also been a church pianist for many years.