What happens when we stop simply talking about creativity and start experiencing it?
Learning is not a one-size-fits-all experience. Each person brings unique interests, questions, experiences, and perspectives that shape how they engage with the world.
Through interactive presentations, creative experiments, collaborative challenges, and guided reflection, pianist and educator Natalie Doughty invites participants to explore new possibilities for teaching, learning, and artistic expression.
Rooted in curiosity, play, and the belief that learners are active contributors to their own experiences, these workshops challenge familiar assumptions and create space for discovery, dialogue, and unexpected ideas.
Designed for music educators, universities, arts organizations, and lifelong learning communities, sessions can be adapted for conference presentations, professional development, guest lectures, and participatory workshops.
Come curious. Leave with new possibilities.
From playful experimentation to thoughtful conversations about the learning process, these interactive sessions invite educators to question assumptions, exchange ideas, and discover new possibilities for creative teaching.
Each presentation combines practical insights with participatory experiences, encouraging attendees to become active contributors rather than passive listeners.
Why do students sometimes resist the very things they say they want to achieve?
Motivation is rarely as straightforward as it appears. Through humorous experiments, collaborative challenges, and unexpected discoveries, participants explore the relationship between desire and resistance—and how our teaching approaches can influence both.
Together, we'll investigate what draws learners toward an experience, what might be holding them back, and how we can create more responsive, engaging musical learning environments.
Focus: Student motivation, learner-centered teaching, creative learning experience design.
What if play wasn't simply an addition to musical learning, but an essential part of how learning happens?
This experiential workshop explores the possibilities of improvisation, movement, imagination, and experimentation as meaningful pathways to musical understanding. Participants engage in playful activities, examine familiar teaching practices from new perspectives, and consider how exploration can encourage curiosity, confidence, and creative discovery.
No special improvisation experience is required—just a willingness to explore!
Focus: Play-based pedagogy, improvisation, movement, creative exploration.
Are we teaching students to find the correct answer—or helping them develop the confidence and judgment to discover answers of their own?
Musical learning often emphasizes accuracy, repetition, and mastery. While these skills are valuable, students also need opportunities to question, experiment, make decisions, and develop their own artistic voices.
Through interactive demonstrations, collaborative exploration, and practical teaching scenarios, participants investigate ways to encourage independent thinking and meaningful student contributions throughout the learning process.
Focus: Student agency, creative decision-making, independence, musical interpretation.
What if a recital could become something more than a sequence of performances?
Imagine concerts where students help shape the artistic experience, audiences become active participants, and storytelling, movement, imagination, and improvisation create new connections with music.
Drawing from original performance projects and creative educational experiences, this workshop invites educators to rethink traditional recital formats and explore possibilities for designing meaningful, imaginative, and participatory musical events.
Focus: Performance design, audience engagement, interdisciplinary creativity, student participation.
Beyond these signature presentations, workshops can be developed around specific interests, educational settings, and community goals.
Possible areas of exploration include:
Presentations and workshops can be adapted for music teacher associations, universities, schools, arts organizations, lifelong learning programs, and community groups.
Whether you're planning a conference session, professional development event, guest workshop, or collaborative artistic experience, I'd love to explore the possibilities with you.
Interested in bringing a workshop to your organization? Get in touch to discuss your event and goals.
Pianist • Artist-Educator • Creative Facilitator
Natalie Doughty is a pianist, educator, and creative facilitator whose work explores the intersections of music, play, imagination, and human learning.
As the founder and director of inRenaissance Music & Arts, Natalie has spent nearly a decade developing educational experiences that encourage curiosity, creative independence, and meaningful artistic engagement. Her work spans private and group music instruction, early childhood education, improvisation, interdisciplinary arts experiences, and participatory performance design.
Holding bachelor's and master's degrees in Piano Performance from James Madison University, Natalie has taught through JMU's Music Academy and Eastern Mennonite University, bringing her experience as both a performer and educator into her work with learners of different ages and backgrounds.
Central to her approach is a simple curiosity: What becomes possible when learners are invited to contribute their own ideas, questions, and discoveries?
Natalie explores how creative and play experiences can become meaningful parts of learning itself. Her workshops invite participants to experiment, collaborate, reconsider familiar assumptions, and discover possibilities that emerge when learning becomes a shared experience.
Through speaking engagements, creative workshops, educational projects, and artistic collaborations, Natalie seeks to build connections across disciplines and communities while exploring new approaches to teaching, learning, and creative expression.
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