Katie Gu
Instrument(s): Clarinet, Flute, Piano, Saxophone, Trombone, Viola, Violin, Voice
City: Seattle
Education:
About Katie Gu
Katie Gu began her first musical steps with the general music program at West Valley Elementary in California. With 6 active years of piano experience, growing up, she joined the Crystal Children's Youth Choir and toured in several states for 6 years. In 4th grade, her sister's old clarinet was handed down to her. Thus, began her passion in squeaking and playing horribly tuned notes. This quickly evolved into taking private clarinet lessons from Roman Fukshansky and auditioning to join the Golden State Youth Orchestra.
As the years passed, Katie toured in Spain, Germany and Austria with the symphonies, being an active participant in her school choir, band, and orchestras. In her senior year, she was awarded with the Director's Award and began taking interest in music education. Thus, she was on the way to becoming a music educator at the University of Michigan.
In her college experience, Katie actively participated in community outreach programs through the Ann Arbor Symphony and Crescendo Detroit programs, teaching piano, clarinet, and voice to underfunded music programs in Detroit. In addition, Katie has experience as a MusicTogether Teacher, working with parents and their children ages 0-5.
Meanwhile, she continued pursuing her performance degree, studying with the two astounding professors; Daniel Gilbert and Chad Burrow and performing as a soloist, chamber musician, and clarinetist with the renowned Symphony Band under the direction of Michael Haithcock.
After a short 4 years at the U of M, Katie Gu graduated with a dual degree in Clarinet performance and music education in 2020. In the years of 2020-2022, Katie has had the wonderful opportunity teaching at the Cedar Heights Middle School, directing the Jazz Band, Intermediate Band, Advanced Band, and Orchestra program. Katie is currently an active musician in the TMB Brass and Filthy Femme Corp bands, performing on her trombone and saxophone.
Katie's teaching philosophy centers around honoring different perspectives and fostering a community that acknowledges creativity and hard work. The art of music is intended for innovation and provides an open medium for students to make their own musical choices of self-expression through repertoire and other projects. She believes that "every student comes with a unique background and in order to strive for such openness and vulnerability, we must pave the pathway for a community that embraces diversity within the lesson space." Katie is excited to share her passion and guide all students in their musical journey!
