Meet The Faculty
Abbey Ekrut - Piano
Piano Instructor
Ms. Abbey Ekrut is from Denton, Texas and began studying piano at the age of seven. She graduated Summa Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Music (BM) in Piano Performance with Pedagogy Emphasis from Oklahoma Baptist University in May 2023 and earned a Master of Music (MM) in Piano Pedagogy and Performance from Baylor University in May 2025. She is also a Nationally Certified Teacher of Music (NCTM) through the Music Teachers National Association. During her music studies, she has been under the tutelage of Deborah Rutledge, Dr. Abigail Mace, Dr. Michael Dean, Dr. Mark Franklin, Dr. Terry Lynn Hudson, Dr. Kae Hosoda-Ayer, and Dr. Rajung Yang.
In addition to playing the piano, Ms. Ekrut also plays the violin. She started playing the violin when she was ten years old in fifth grade orchestra and continued playing in her school’s orchestra in her middle and high school years. While in college at OBU she played the violin in the OBU/Shawnee Community Orchestra for four years and chose the violin as her secondary instrument.
During her undergraduate and graduate studies, Ms. Ekrut gave three piano solo recitals for her degrees, performed a piano concerto with a symphony orchestra for two consecutive years, and participated in masterclasses with renowned pianists such as Dr. Se-Hee Jin and Dr. Daniel Horn. While at OBU, she was a recipient of the Presser Undergraduate Scholar Award and Scholarship in April 2022. During her time at Baylor, Ms. Ekrut was a member of Baylor’s Music Teachers Association and participated with other graduate students to give a masterclass to Waco (WMTA) piano students.
Prior to teaching at Coppell Conservatory, Ms. Ekrut taught private piano lessons at Oklahoma Baptist University Preparatory Department (ages 6-12) for three years. At Baylor, she was a graduate assistant and taught both private and group piano lessons to children (ages 6-8) in the Baylor Piano Laboratory Program. She also taught both private and group piano lessons to college students who were taking piano as an elective. Outside of teaching piano, Ms. Ekrut has been a piano accompanist to both vocalists and instrumentalists during her college studies. She also served as the church pianist for Hazel Dell Baptist Church in Shawnee, OK for four years while at OBU.
Ms. Ekrut strives to invest in her students and help them realize their potential, value, and importance and develop a love of playing music. With each student she teaches, she desires to establish a healthy technique, develop a keen musical ear, and gain a solid knowledge of music theory skills. When she is not teaching piano, Ms. Ekrut also enjoys photography and loves taking pictures of people and nature.