The person behind the studio

Leah "L" Dahline (they/she)

L has always been an educator and creative artist at heart, starting with helping peers at school and writing plays for family as a small child. L studied piano from age 5 to 19, performing frequently in worship services, studio recitals, school music and theatre productions, and the occasional competition (including a favorite memory of serving as a one-person pit orchestra for a 9th-grade production of The Music Man). Eager to keep learning, L studied Spanish, Latin American Studies, and Education in college, then worked as a K–12 educator, swim coach, music director, and school accompanist. Currently, L serves as a Learning Engineer working with educational technology at Northwestern University and teaches group classes at Old Town School of Folk Music. To keep growing as a musician, L studied cello and played with a community orchestra, practiced pipe organ to learn film scores, and is currently studying guitar and voice.

L's own training was fairly traditional with classical repertoire, dedicated practice time, and technique built through repetition. Their teaching draws from that foundation but expands it with multi-modal, active, and inquiry-based learning. Rather than focusing on mastering a piece to replicate a past performance, L helps each student find their own artistic expression while building a toolkit of techniques to draw from. It's a holistic approach: exploring how music moves through the body, opens the mind, and reaches deep emotions, with the goal of helping each person discover what music can offer both for themselves and their community.

Beyond the studio, L is usually outside with their two dogs, family, and friends exploring a new corner of Chicago or training for an upcoming race. They still practice languages, love to travel, and try to learn something new wherever they go. L also values community service and always enjoys supporting local artists.