Diana Portzline is from Bountiful, Utah where she was raised as the oldest of eight children. When she was preschool age her parents chose to purchase a piano rather than a television for their home.  Diana feels this choice had a great impact on her life as she grew up with the time to take seriously her piano lessons and other musical opportunities.

After studying piano and teaching private piano lessons during her early years, Diana then went on to earn her Bachelor’s degree in Piano Pedagogy at the University of Utah in 1983.  She continued studying music as a graduate student at Brigham Young University where she experienced the expertise of Paul Pollei’s piano pedagogy, including group piano teaching.  It was here that she met her husband, Alan Portzline, and they married in 1984.

In 1985, Diana and Alan moved to Bloomingon, Indiana where Alan got a Master’s degree in Clarinet Performance at Indiana University.  Here Diana was able to study music education with Mary Goetze, and the late Dr. Jean Sinor.  During this time at I.U. she discovered that a more holistic approach to piano pedagogy could be obtained by integrating the knowledge of several prominent music education experts, including Zoltan Kodaly, Carl Orff, Shinichi Suzuki, and Edwin Gordon.

In 1998, after having four children,  Diana became a licensed Kindermusik teacher and was actively involved teaching Kindermusik classes for children ages 0-5 years in Bloomington, Indiana.  Three years later she became certified to teach Music Makers at the Keyboard, an innovative group piano program created by Musikgarten, uniting the best philosophies in music education to create a holistic approach for children ages 6-9 to learn to play the piano.

Diana then taught Music Makers at the Keyboard to students in Bloomington for 8 years.  During this time she became a licensed and certified Musikgarten teacher.  She and others whom she hired, taught all of Musikgarten’s curriculums for young children through the Bloomington City Parks and Recreation Programs.  This earned her the  Musikgarten Excellence in Teaching award.

Two of her piano students in Bloomington went on to study with concert pianists and have been winning piano competitions and performing with symphony orchestras.  Another student went on to obtain a composition degree from Indiana University.  Here in Utah one of her former students is pursuing a degree in media & music at Snow College.

Children are so receptive to quality music and are able to increase their talent capability when they are exposed to positive and joyful musical experiences at an early age.  The mission of Portzline Music Academy is to open the path for students to achieve their potential in music by experiencing performance, improvisation, and composition; and by enriching their own life and the lives of all those with whom they are able to share their musical skills and experiences.

As soon as Diana’s keyboard students graduate from two levels of the Music Makers at the Keyboard program, they have the opportunity to continue their piano study through small classes, partner or private lessons.  Students are given many opportunities to perform.

Since moving to Utah and teaching here for the past 6 years, Diana has created a class program entitled Sing & Play for Toddlers based on her experience teaching Musikgarten and Kindermusik curriculums over the years. The programs offered by Diana span an age range of newborn through adult, and a child studying with her has the advantage of a continuum of consistent and thorough music appreciation and education to last a lifetime.

Alan Portzline has played clarinet, saxophone and flute for more than 40 years.  His professional career began in 1978 when he played with the U.S. Army Forces Command Band in Atlanta, GA.  There he played principle clarinet with the concert band.  He was featured soloist for the July 4, 1981 concert at Stone Mountain Park in Georgia.   While in Georgia Alan had the opportunity to study clarinet with former Atlanta Symphony principle clarinetist Karl Bevins.

After leaving the Army band, Alan continued his musical pursuits by studying clarinet performance at Brigham Young University and Indiana University where he studied with renowned clarinet performers and teachers including Henry Gulick, Earl Bates, and James Campbell.  While at Indiana University, Alan also had the opportunity to study woodwind pedagogy with Stanley Schleuter.

At this time Alan formulated his basic approach to woodwind pedagogy which is based on the theories of Edwin Gordon.  This approach differs from traditional woodwind pedagogy in that it encourages the student to hear and identify tonal and rhythmic patterns before learning to read their notated symbols.  This allows the student to focus more on music making while learning to read music notation in a more holistic context.

Alan continued his performing career in Bloomington, Indiana as a clarinetist with the Bloomington Symphony Orchestra.  After moving to Utah in 2009 he became principle clarinetist with the New American Philharmonic orchestra with whom he performs several concerts a year, in addition to some playing for ballet performances at Weber State University and Imagine Ballet Theatre in Ogden.  He is a full-time wind instrument repair technician for Summerhays Music at the Layton, Utah store.