Betty Patnude Piano Studio

The South Hill Piano Teacher Whose Students Keep Winning Jazz Seats and Music Scholarships

Betty Patnude has been teaching piano in the South Hill area of Puyallup, Washington for 45 years. That number alone is worth pausing on — but what makes her studio stand out in local search results isn't the tenure, it's the paper trail of student outcomes she's documented over the years: high school jazz band selections, college music scholarships, band department awards, and a student currently touring Australia with a university instrumental ensemble.

Her teaching philosophy runs against the grain of conventional method-book instruction. Rather than working through a published curriculum page by page, Patnude uses what she calls 'Directive Education' — a lesson-by-lesson approach built around individual plans for each student. She doesn't wait for a textbook to introduce a concept; if a student is ready to understand something in the middle of a piece they're already working on, she teaches it then. Her own method, which she calls 'Piano Power,' covers keyboard orientation, music notation, counting, tempo, and rhythm as a foundation, with sight reading and theory layered in as the student's ability develops.

The results show up in specific places. Two former students, Maria and Keigan, both started piano lessons with Patnude at age six and studied with her for six years before moving on to band instruments. By their senior and sophomore years of high school, both had received their school's 'Most Inspirational' band award. Maria went on to PLU in Tacoma as a music education and percussion major; Keigan earned scholarships in French horn, piano, and composition. A third student, Abby, became the jazz pianist at her middle school and — as a freshman — was the only first-year student selected for the Sumner High School jazz ensemble, stepping into a seat vacated by a graduating senior.

Patnude serves students from age five through senior citizens, and she's deliberate about the reasoning behind that range. She believes the first teacher a student has is the most consequential, because early technical and conceptual habits are difficult to undo later. She's equally clear that adult beginners and returning students are genuinely welcome — not as an afterthought, but as a distinct focus. Adult student Nancy Jo, who came looking specifically for a classical foundation, wrote that she found in Patnude someone who could 'teach me the way I wanted to learn,' noting appreciation for the teacher's seriousness about the work.

Her professional background includes long-term membership in both MTNA (Music Teachers National Association) and the Washington State Music Teachers Association, through which she participated in workshops, student recitals, and chapter governance — including serving as chapter president twice and holding various committee chairmanships. She holds a motto borrowed from John Dewey: 'Education is more than preparation for life, it is life itself' — and applies it directly to music study, treating piano lessons not as extracurricular enrichment but as a serious developmental experience with lasting social, emotional, and intellectual dimensions.

Students and parents across multiple families describe lessons that feel personal rather than procedural. Dan McMillan from Fife wrote in 2009 that his lessons were 'one of the best, if not the best time of my week,' and that he always left the studio smiling. Kim Pangan Shoup, writing in 2014, kept it brief: 'Thank you for the gift of music you give to my daughter, and our household.' For a studio that has been running for four and a half decades, the consistency of that tone across reviews spanning years is its own kind of credential.

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