About the founder

Natalie Doughty, B.M., M.M., is a pianist, artist-educator, creative facilitator, and founder of inRenaissance Music & Arts. Her work explores the intersections of music, play, creativity, and human learning through imaginative educational programs, participatory artistic experiences, and interdisciplinary collaboration.

Drawing on nearly a decade of teaching, curriculum development, and artistic leadership, Natalie designs experiences that invite learners to experiment, question, contribute, and develop their own creative voices.

Through inRenPiano, inRenKeys, and inRenMusik, she creates opportunities for musical exploration across ages and stages of learning, with an emphasis on curiosity, personal growth, and lifelong engagement with the arts.

Natalie serves as Director, Piano Instructor, and Curriculum Developer for the James Madison University Music Academy, where she has developed and taught recreational music courses for adult learners since 2017. Her offerings have included Pop Piano and Piano for Singer-Songwriters, Music of Color, The Music of Elvis, Musicals, and other themed courses designed to make musical learning engaging, accessible, and personally meaningful.

Her curriculum development work spans in-person, group, and digital learning environments. In 2025, she launched four online improvisation and composition courses for K–12 students, integrating storytelling, creative experimentation, and musical expression. Previously, from 2020–2022, she developed a six-course online piano curriculum for beginning adult learners, featuring instructional videos and digital learning resources.

Through inRenaissance Music & Arts, Natalie continues to design individualized piano instruction, collaborative group keyboard experiences, and early childhood music programs informed by Musikgarten training. Her educational projects explore how play, imagination, learner contributions, and thoughtful experience design can support musical growth across ages and abilities.

Across these initiatives, Natalie approaches curriculum not simply as a sequence of skills to teach, but as an opportunity to create meaningful learning experiences that invite curiosity, participation, and creative independence.

Natalie's work in music education extends beyond the private studio into university instruction, teacher preparation, professional mentorship, and arts leadership. She has served as a Piano Pedagogy Instructor at Eastern Mennonite University and previously taught collegiate keyboard skills as a Graduate Teaching Assistant at James Madison University.

Through these roles, Natalie has explored approaches to music instruction that balance technical and artistic development with curiosity, creative independence, and the individual needs of learners. Her pedagogical interests include improvisation, play-based learning, student agency, and the design of participatory educational experiences.

From 2019 to 2024, Natalie served as President of the Harrisonburg Music Teachers Association (HMTA), supporting professional development, collaboration, and educational opportunities within the regional music teaching community. She also served in leadership with the JMU Music Teachers National Association Collegiate Chapter.

Her commitment to community arts education has included collaborative initiatives such as Music in Every Home, which raised more than $10,000 to expand access to musical instruments and learning opportunities.

Natalie continues to explore and share ideas in creative pedagogy through professional presentations, workshops, interdisciplinary collaborations, and conversations with fellow educators. Her work encourages teachers to question familiar assumptions, embrace experimentation, and consider how students can become active contributors to their own learning.

Natalie's approach to creative pedagogy explores what becomes possible when imagination, experimentation, and student contributions become integral parts of musical learning. Through original educational projects, interdisciplinary collaborations, and participatory performances, she designs experiences that encourage curiosity, creative independence, and meaningful artistic engagement.

Central to her work is the belief that students are not simply recipients of instruction, but active contributors who bring their own ideas, questions, and discoveries to the learning process.

RECENT CREATIVE PROJECCTS

- Becoming a Musical Storyteller | Exploring Improvisation & Composition (2025)

Becoming a Musical Storyteller was a semester-long creative composition project that invited piano students of different ages and experience levels to discover, develop, and share their own musical ideas.

Natalie designed four differentiated, self-paced online courses incorporating instructional videos, creative challenges, storytelling, musical exploration, and composition activities. Students experimented with improvisation, developed original musical ideas, and explored ways to communicate their compositions through visual representations and traditional notation.

The project culminated in a collaborative recital where students exchanged and performed one another's original compositions, with musical scores projected for the audience. Through reflection, peer appreciation, and a collective studio music score, students experienced music-making not only as performers but also as composers, collaborators, and creative decision-makers.

- Muses at Play | Imaginative & Participatory Performance (2026)

Muses at Play is a mythology-inspired piano recital project that reimagines traditional performance through storytelling, movement, musical interpretation, and audience participation.

Drawing inspiration from Greek mythology, students explore musical concepts through six figures representing harmony, wisdom, motion, nature, power, and emotion. The project encourages performers to make creative decisions and contribute their own artistic ideas to an imaginative shared performance experience.

Rather than treating a recital solely as the presentation of prepared repertoire, Muses at Play invites students to help shape a performance that celebrates imagination, collaboration, and musical discovery.

- Muses in Flight | Improvisation & Creative Agency (2026)

Developed as part of Muses at Play, Muses in Flight invites students to explore musical transformation through improvisation.

Beginning with a small musical idea, or "seed," students experiment with rhythm, melody, texture, harmony, and musical structure to create original interpretations and variations.

Through creative challenges and collaborative improvisation, students develop confidence in making artistic decisions, discovering new possibilities, and expressing their individual musical voices.

The project emphasizes the value of exploration and independent thinking, encouraging students to contribute something uniquely their own to the learning experience.

EARLIER CREATIVE WORKSHOPS & COLLABORATIONS

Natalie's interest in creative pedagogy has developed through years of collaborative projects, workshops, and interdisciplinary exploration.

Her earlier creative education initiatives include:

• Music: Art in Motion (2016): Exploring connections between music, movement, visual art, and artistic expression.
• First Steps to Artistry: Encouraging musical interpretation, imagination, and expressive development.
• Recipe for Musical Drama: Exploring creative approaches to musical storytelling and dramatic expression.
• Who Stole Mozart's Theme?: Using mystery, musical discovery, and interactive exploration to engage learners.
• Not Just Fun and Games: Examining the educational possibilities of playful, imaginative learning experiences.

These projects helped establish a foundation for Natalie's continuing exploration of participatory learning, creative experimentation, and the relationship between artistic expression and educational experience.

AN ADAPTIVE APPROACH TO MUSIC LEARNING

Across her work, Natalie is interested in more than making music lessons entertaining. She explores how learning environments can cultivate curiosity, invite meaningful participation, and help students develop the confidence to think and create independently.

Her approach recognizes that learners bring different interests, experiences, motivations, and perspectives into every educational encounter. Rather than relying on a single prescribed approach, she seeks to design responsive learning experiences that welcome experimentation, collaboration, and unexpected discoveries.

At the heart of her work is a guiding question:"What becomes possible when we create space for learners to contribute something we could never have planned ourselves?"

As the founder and director of inRenaissance Music & Arts, Natalie combines artistic practice, educational design, and entrepreneurship to create meaningful opportunities for musical learning and creative engagement.

Founded in 2017, inRenaissance has evolved into a platform for exploring approaches to music education that emphasize curiosity, creativity, personal growth, and lifelong learning.

 Through individualized instruction, collaborative learning environments, digital courses, and original artistic projects, Natalie develops programs that respond to the changing interests and needs of learners.

INNOVATIVE LEARNING EXPERIENCES

Natalie's entrepreneurial work extends beyond traditional private instruction to include the development of new educational formats and learning experiences.

Her initiatives include early childhood music programs, collaborative group keyboard learning, creative composition and improvisation courses, and participatory musical projects that encourage learners to experiment, collaborate, and contribute their own ideas.

Through programs such as inRenKeys, she is developing new opportunities for group music-making that integrate ensemble playing, improvisation, creative challenges, musical exploration, and peer collaboration.

These initiatives reflect her interest in designing educational experiences that are adaptable, accessible, and responsive to the individuals and communities they serve.

Beyond her studio programs, Natalie has explored opportunities to support fellow educators through teacher coaching, professional collaboration, and creative entrepreneurship. In 2023, she launched a coaching initiative for music teachers, and through her Natalie inRenaissance podcast, she has shared conversations and reflections on creativity, performance, teaching, and personal growth.

INTERDISCIPLINARY ARTS & COMMUNITY COLLABORATION

Natalie is increasingly interested in the possibilities that emerge when music intersects with other artistic disciplines, including theater, movement, storytelling, visual art, and participatory performance.

Her developing interdisciplinary initiatives explore how artistic experiences can bring together people of different ages, backgrounds, and levels of musical experience.

Through collaborative workshops, imaginative performances, and community partnerships, she seeks to create opportunities for shared artistic discovery that extend beyond conventional classrooms and concert settings.

EXPLORING NEW POSSIBILITIES FOR CREATIVE LEARNING

Natalie's broader professional interests include creative facilitation, learning experience design, and collaborative educational innovation.

She is particularly interested in how the principles of play, learner agency, improvisation, and participatory design can inform experiences across educational, artistic, and community settings.

By bringing together her experience as a pianist, educator, curriculum developer, and entrepreneur, Natalie continues to explore new ways of connecting people through creative learning.

At the heart of this work is a commitment to designing experiences that encourage participation, welcome unexpected ideas, and recognize creativity as a meaningful part of lifelong learning.

Building on her experience as a pianist and educator, Natalie develops interactive workshops and presentations exploring musical learning, motivation, creative independence, play, and participatory artistic experiences.

Her sessions combine practical teaching insights with collaborative challenges, creative experiments, and guided reflection, inviting educators to actively explore new approaches to teaching and learning.

Signature presentations include If They Wanted To, They Would… Right?, The Pedagogy of Play, Beyond the “Right” Answer, and Not Just Another Piano Recital!

Explore Natalie's Speaking & Workshops offerings to learn more about presentations, professional development, and collaborative opportunities.

Explore Speaking & Workshops to learn more about available presentations, professional development sessions, and collaborative opportunities.