Pianist, musician, and entrepreneur Natalie Doughty is the current director and primary piano instructor for the JMU Music Academy.

Her piano class themes have included: "Pop Piano/Piano for Singer-Songwriters," "Music of Color," "Music of Elvis," "Musicals," and more!

Aside from her work with the Music Academy, Natalie is an entrepreneur and runs her own business inRenaissance Music & Arts. Through this platform, Natalie offers private piano lessons (inRenPiano), Musikgarten classes of music and movement for caregivers and babies/toddlers (inRenMusik), and arts-integrative workshops (inRenWorkshops), launching 2026.

In January 2025, Natalie launched 4 online courses on improvisation and piano composition from an expressive, storytelling aspect for K-12 students.

Natalie has also created Piano Courses for Adults, an online piano learning program specifically created for beginning adults. She has also created The Keys to Side Hustle Success, an online training pedagogical cohort with courses to help people turn their piano passion into profit by creatively teaching beginner piano students.

In Spring 2024, she taught undergraduate piano pedagogy at Eastern Mennonite University.

Natalie also has her own podcast, NatalieInRenaissance, which provides encouragement and inspiration for the larning and performance space.

Natalie is active in the community to promote and nurture artistic relationships and events. She has co-authored and co-presented topics on business, entrepreneurship, and musical education for the Music Teachers National Association Collegiate Symposium and the National Conference for Keyboard Pedagogy.

She received her Bachelors of Music (2015) and Masters of Music (2017) in piano performance from JMU. She has held many administrative positions for arts related programs and is the past President of the Harrisonburg Music Teachers Association.

Outside of music, Natalie enjoys reading, international travel, photography, and styling special events.

JMU Music Academy Webpage