Rita Coore-Widener is the creator of Practeze® folders and the owner of Widener Music Studio INC. She was inspired to create Practeze® folders by the desire to make practicing more efficient, less frustrating and more rewarding for herself and her students!

 

Rita currently works full-time as a private piano teacher and as the administrator for Widener Music Studio INC. Prior to owning her own business, she taught private piano lessons at the Master's Touch School for the performing arts in Grapevine, Texas (1998-2000). She is certified to teach grades K-12 in the state of Texas and worked as an elementary music teacher in Birdville ISD in Fort Worth, TX (2000-2001) and Spring Branch ISD in Houston, TX (2001-2004). She also worked for Birdville ISD as an in-home trainer for autistic children from 1999 to 2001. 

 

Rita served as a volunteer pianist and Children's Music director at various churches from 1998-2019. She was the Worship Director at ChristBridge Fellowship, Tomball TX from 2018-2019 and currently volunteers with helping the youth band at Bayou City Fellowship, Tomball TX.

 

Rita was born in Shashemane, Ethiopia but grew up in Kingston, Jamaica. She began to play the piano at the age of 12 and was self-taught for two years. She went on to study classical piano with David Johns and Mary Johns and after only 4 years of lessons she completed, with honors, the Grade 8 Piano and Theory exams of the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music (ABRSM 1993). In the summer of 1991, Rita was selected as one of the top female science students in Jamaica to attend the prestigious Research Science Institute in Washington D.C., sponsored by the Center for Excellence in Education (McLean, VA).

 

Rita auditioned for the music program at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth in 1994 and was named a double recipient of the prestigious Nordan Young Artist scholarship. She was inducted into the Golden Key National Honor Society in 1997 and in 1998 graduated from TCU with a Bachelor's degree in Music Education with concentrations in Piano Pedagogy and general Elementary classroom education.