Brandy Held's Music Studio
★★★★★ 5 · 9 student reviews
Brandy Held has been playing piano since age four — longer than most of her students have been alive. She earned a BA in piano performance from UW-Whitewater in 2005, where she studied classical piano under Dr. Myung Hee Chung, a Juilliard graduate. After college she broadened her training further, studying jazz and improvisation with Brian Hagen and picking up guitar under Rockwell Rice and Travis Ziegler. That layered musical background shows up directly in what she teaches: her studio covers classical, jazz, blues, pop, rock, country, improvisation, songwriting, and music theory.
“She is helping me understand music a lot deeper than I ever thought I would! I am a beginning adult student and it is motivating to learn from a real artist. She is a natural and genuine teacher and her studio provides a nice comfortable atmosphere to learn in. She also runs the business side very professionally (even meticulously, I am impressed with her organizational skills: i.e. the email updates to her students are thoughtful and well appreciated – informing us when there are timeslots available for makeups or new open lesson times available in the studio.)”
— Jason Hertlein, adult piano student, Madison
She has been running her own private studio in Madison, Wisconsin since 2005 — nearly two decades — and has grown it to as many as 45 students per week. She teaches piano from beginner through advanced levels and guitar from beginner through intermediate, working with students as young as four years old. Twice a year she organizes student recitals, giving learners at every stage a concrete performance goal to work toward. Her studio also makes monthly donations to the Heifer International Foundation, a detail she mentions without fanfare in her bio.
What comes through consistently in parent reviews is the way Brandy manages scheduling without making it a point of friction. One parent credited her flexibility directly with keeping her teenage daughter enrolled at all: after at least three lesson-time changes driven by school and sports conflicts, the daughter is still playing. Another parent noted that Brandy sends weekly emails to flag available makeup slots — a logistical detail that adult student Jason Hertlein described as 'meticulous' and 'well appreciated.' That kind of operational consistency is not common in small private studios.
“My 8 year old daughter has been taking piano lessons from Brandy for nearly two years, and has made incredible progress. Brandy has a keen sense of what each child needs for success, and allows some flexibility in the pieces the child may play to keep it fun, while still maintaining a very strong program in the basics. Initially, my other daughter did not want to take piano lessons, but after witnessing Ellie's success and love of the music, Alex decided for herself to start lessons. Now both daughters fight over who gets to practice our piano at home!”
— Denise Johanowicz Hei, parent of piano students, Madison
On the teaching side, multiple reviewers point to the same pattern: Brandy assesses where each student actually is before choosing materials, allows some student input on repertoire to maintain engagement, and weaves music theory into practical playing rather than treating it as a separate subject. Michael Lombard, an adult student, noted that she 'teaches music theory with the practical playing of the piano.' Ten-year-old student Rhianna put it more plainly: she goes at the student's speed, 'never too fast and never too slow.' That balance — structured enough to build real skills, flexible enough to stay enjoyable — appears to be the core of how the studio works.
Brandy's own performance history gives her range that translates into the lesson room. She has worked as a wedding pianist, church pianist, and accompanist for 14 years, served as keyboardist for the Madison-area folk-jazz group Mockingbird from 2008 to 2010, released an EP in 2011, and won song of the month from Madison's Songwriter's Guild for her track 'Chaser.' She does not teach voice, but her songwriting background does inform her approach — she actively encourages students who want to compose their own music to do so, and at least one parent review singles that out as a meaningful part of the experience.
“There have been at least three times when we needed to change our daughter's piano lesson time and day due to new school or sporting event conflicts. Without Brandy's willingness to make these scheduling modifications, our daughter would probably not be playing piano right now! Our daughter plays the piano beautifully and she adores Brandy.”
— Laura Ayala, parent of a piano student, Madison
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