Winifred Kerner began her piano studies by the age of five with Margaret Littell, a pupil of Denise Lassimone of the Tobias Matthay School in London. She got her Bachelor of Arts degree with Honors in Music from Wesleyan University in Connecticut and her Master of Music degree in Piano Performance from the University of Michigan. Subsequent studies included summers at the Taubman Institute and private study with Edna Golandsky and Dorothy Taubman, leading proponents of injury prevention in piano playing. She performed for NPR at the Hampton Sydney festival, has taught at summer festivals such as Blue Lake, and attended Chopin masterclasses at Indiana University. She also spent a year at Indiana University studying with pianist Edward Auer and harpsichordist Elizabeth Wright.
Secondary areas include harpsichord and continuo playing, under the tutelage of Edward Parmentier and Elizabeth Wright. Kerner also studied north Indian classical music theory at Benares Hindu University and studied voice with Balwant Rai Bhatt and sitar with Raj Bhan Singh while in India under the auspices of Friends World College for two years. As an undergraduate at Wesleyan University, she studied koto in the Yamada tradition with Namino Torii, and South Indian Solkattu with Ranganathan.
As a piano teacher with over 30 years experience, Winnie has been a teacher at the Flint School of Performing Arts, the Center for Creative Youth, Blue Lake, Temple University Music Preparatory Division, and the University of Oregon.
Kerner is currently an instructor at the University of Oregon where she teaches Keyboard Skills, which includes functional piano, keyboard theory, and figured bass for music majors. A member of Oregon Music Teachers' Association, OMTA, she operates an independent piano studio in Eugene, Oregon where she teaches all ages. She is at home teaching Suzuki method for pre-school and elementary children, piano lessons (theory, musicianship, and performance) for all ages, and music appreciation and performance for adults.