My musical journey first started when I began taking piano with Mrs. Oliphant at 8 years old and soon after that from Mrs. Bingham, The story goes, my dad heard Mrs. Bingham play at a church function (he was impressed) and went to her house and asked her to teach his daughter (Holli). She finally agreed and began teaching me and later my sister Drema. She taught me to improvise and play with a gospel feel. She and my father inspired me to love music. 

Right out of high school my life began to really point to music when I attended East Central University in Oklahoma and began working toward a degree in piano performance. While at East Central University I was in the marching band, played the Euphonium (baby Tuba), took piano from Dr. Starla Hibler and voice from Dr. Jeff Frederick. While I was at ECU I accompanied many instrumental groups on piano and I sang in the choir. I loved it so much at ECU; but because I became overcommitted I decided to transfer and graduated from Cameron University where I graduated with a BM in Piano Performance in 2002. 

After receiving my Bachelors in piano performance from Cameron University, I accompanied for local theaters, and public school choir programs as well as taught 60+ students a week at a music store called G&G Music. Not long after that I bought that store and managed it for several years. As the owner and main instructor, I had several jobs but specifically, I recruited teachers in all fields (strings, percussion, piano, voice) to teach alongside myself, sold musical instruments, maintained every instrument (or found someone who could), and I managed the advertising and marketing of the store. The flexibility of owning a store gave me the freedom to teach high school and middle school choir for one year at a private Christian school. Working at this private school and teaching beginning music theory as an adjunct at the university allowed me to see that I could teach large groups. It was the beginning of my love for classroom teaching.

In 2012 after teaching at the private school, I sold the music store and maintained a school of music for the next three years. During those years I began accompanying for high schools and middle schools full time and found again that I had a love of classroom teaching. These crucial accompanying years allowed me to view several choral directors in both the high school and middle school levels. This newfound love pushed me to begin pursuing a masters in education at Cameron University and later helped me to become certified to teach K-12 music in the Oklahoma public schools.  My first public school music job was at an elementary school in Duncan, Oklahoma and then later in the Lawton public schools. It was during this time that I switched to Southeastern Oklahoma State University and obtained a Masters degree in Choral Music Education. 

While teaching public school I wrote several grants and raised money for a group piano class. I taught choir to 100 plus students each semester and taught group piano classes to 100 plus students. In total there were 200 students each semester in either the piano or choir classes. With the help of staff in the Lawton public schools I directed musicals, taught music history, directed choirs, and performed many performances with these students. While maintaining the full time teaching job I also directed the orchestra for the Duncan Little Theater, accompanied for the Lawton Community Theater, and maintained a church organist job. 
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Now I am overjoyed to use all of my experiences to teach at Columbia State Community College. I have a true love for collaborating, creating music, music history, music theory and performing music. I believe that all students should strive to learn all they can about music and have opportunities to perform and collaborate musically on a regular basis.  I believe that music is a collaborative entity and allows excellent team building. Students who are able to perform and interpret music together build strong bonds and help create a successful music program.

Because of this position I am able to recruit and build a choir program with many opportunities to perform beautiful choral pieces. Conducting the choir is challenging and just plain fun. I am also pushing myself to perform piano and mastering different pieces by some of the great composers (Chopin, Debussy, Brahms and Beethoven to name a few).

Click Here for a YouTube video of Holli Performing

​Click Here for a YouTube video of Holli Conducting

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