Stockton-     If you are part of any of the three Lincoln High School choirs or are familiar with them, there is a sizable chance that you know who Amy Dahlstrom is. A wife and mother to three children and her beloved cats, she has been working as a professional musician since 2006, Amy Dahlstrom is a professional musician and music educator who partakes in a variety of different jobs related to music. She plays a very prominent role in the Lincoln High School choirs as the accompanist for both practice and performances, she accompanies other choirs that are also part of the LUSD—but, that’s not all! In addition to accompanying the LUSD choirs, Mrs. Dahlstrom privately teaches piano and violin through the University of the Pacific, music directs and plays for various musical productions at the Stockton Civic Theater where she has most recently accompanied in the production of Jesus Christ Superstar (shows happened from April 17th-May 11th), has music directed for Summer Junior shows through SCT since 2020 and is currently taking part in the Lincoln High School’s summer production of High School Musical. 

Mrs. Dahlstrom has been involved in the Lincoln Unified School District since 2012 (even longer if you count the years she attended Sierra Middle School and Lincoln High School in her adolescence!) where she obtained a position teaching classroom music to elementary school students—she then took a ten year hiatus to focus on raising her children. Mrs. Dahlstrom came back to the teaching scene in 2022 as a substitute music teacher in the LUSD and by the time 2024 came around, she took a shot at applying for the position of Choral Accompanist, working alongside Mrs. Dahl, who is the new Choir Director for Lincoln High School.

Mrs. Dahlstrom’s interest in music and piano was piqued by the admiration she held for her father, who is also a professional musician and the first person in her family to finish college and obtain a degree. In her own words about her father, she stated: “He has been a professional musician for longer than I can remember. He balances having a career and family life amazingly well, and is everyone’s favorite person to be around. He’s the best dad, and best Granddad to my kids.” In her interest, she began taking private piano lessons at the age of five, but made the decision to pursue a music-based career through the University of the Pacific when she was in High School, taking lessons from Frank Wiens, “He was the driving force behind me deciding on piano and deciding on studying at UOP.” UOP is where Amy Dahlstrom studied violin as well as taking on a major in Music Education with an emphasis in Piano Performance. Some advice she would give to anyone wanting to pursue a career in piano or music in general is to understand the importance of practicing.

“Practice, practice, practice. Talk to as many people that have a career in what you’re interested in and ask them how they did it and for advice. Music can be tough- it’s such a personal thing so to be critiqued or judged on your performance can sometimes be especially hard since it really is a part of you. Sometimes you have to take yourself out of the equation in order to survive the criticism because it can really cut deep, even though it probably wasn’t intended to.”  – Amy Dahlstrom 

Unrelated to her job in the school district, Mrs. Dahlstrom is also a wife, mother of three and a cat mom; she holds her family, pets and music to be some of the most important and most cherished things in her life. Her hobbies include both music based and non-music based activities: “I love music directing and playing in the pit at SCT and try to be involved whenever I can. My kids have started becoming interested in sports, so now we are a golf, baseball, and gymnastics family. I LOVE Disneyland, and try to go as often as I can with friends. And cats.” One of Mrs. Dahlstrom’s dreams is to play accompanist in different musicals in San Francisco—her top shows being Six, Wicked, and Les Mis, but her biggest goal in life is to ensure a happy and healthy family: “At the end of the day, I just want to have a happy family, and raise my kids to be good human beings and productive members of society…”