Music has played a defining role in Ann Marie’s life. Her love for music began as a very young child with an old Victrola and wax cylinders and continues to this day.

She believes that Music speaks louder than words and that one’s music is meant to be shared. She does this as a gifted instrumentalist—being able to play and having taught all the instruments—and as a composer and performer of her works.

With degrees in Psychology, Music Education, and Music Composition, she has a rare understanding of and sensitivity to people. She has used that gift to write songs that touch others at their deepest level: tears at a wedding, love when singing a lullaby to a newborn baby, laughter at a retirement, and pride in being part of a community celebration.

Her most recent project is a mammoth music collection of her original works entitled The BEST of Ann Marie Kurrasch.  This large collection consists of 98 original works and is organized into four volumes: I: Meditative Piano Solos; II: Vocal works; III: Instrumental Works; and IV: Diverse Piano Solos.  It is available for purchase and comes with a USB Music Card for easy downloading to your devices.

As a composer, she is proud to offer a most unique and avant garde downloadable eBook of her published book of piano solos now available in iBook format from iTunes: Let’s Play! 12 Piano Solos for All Occasions.   Each of the 12 solos comes with embedded music so you can hear the piece before you play it!  Unique, indeed, and ahead of it’s time!  It is also available as a Kindle eBook at Amazon.com, but without embedded music.

You can also purchase her book here at this link: Let’s Play! 12 Piano Solos for All Occasions. The book consists of a varied set of pieces that range from songs of joy and swing to tender reflection. She also recorded these pieces in her fourth album with the same name as a companion piece to this book–the CD enables the embedded music on iTunes.

Just released is her own memoir: Travels with the Minister…The Pastor’s Wife Finds Her Voice. This is a unique music memoir as it includes 17 QR codes along the way so you can hear the songs. These 17 songs are at this link: https://www.myheartsongmusic.com/memoir/#song1.

Ann Marie studied Composition with Clark Eastham, Wayne State University, and Lettie Alston, Oakland University, and Tom Flaherty, Pomona College. She also studied flute with Erv Monroe, principal flutist of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. But it was Vera Streitzel—her first piano teacher at the tender age of 6—that set her on her life-long path of music!

She is a commissioned and published composer and has written for diverse instruments and vocal ensembles. Her most recent commission was a transcription and arrangement of Beethoven’s Trio, Op. 87 into a work for 2 Bassoons and Contrabassoon.  She was  commissioned to write the Centennial song for her city, Arroyo Grande, Arroyo Grande: The Place to Be which was enjoyed during the city’s year-long celebration. Her Contrabassoon solos are available at Jeanné-inc. 

She has recently completed her 16th album–RAINBOW--now on Spotify. See her catalogue for a more complete listing of her works. 

Ann Marie is a member of ASCAP and lives on the Central Coast of California where she and her husband, Richard, enjoy kayaking and walks along the cool Pacific and spending as much time as possible with her “other loves”: her grandsons.