For many music students graduating from college, the opportunity to teach at a university is a long-term dream. But for recent University of Kansas graduate Audrey Pickering, that dream has become a reality — extending her family’s rich musical history into the next generation. 

Audrey, daughter of David Pickering, professor of organ and music theory and associate director for music at Kansas State, obtained her master’s degree in organ performance from KU in May 2025. Now, for the 2025-26 school year, she is serving in her father’s teaching roles while he is away on a year-long sabbatical. 

“Yeah, it’s kind of funny since, I mean, obviously he’s my dad,” Audrey said. “But I remember when I was working on my master’s degree at KU … he had mentioned the idea of how he wanted to go on sabbatical, and like, ‘Oh, maybe you could be my replacement.’”

After hearing the suggestion of taking over for her dad, she was unsure at first, but ultimately decided to take the opportunity.

“I think initially I was kind of like, ‘Is that allowed?’” Audrey said. “For one, I was still in school and kind of had the question in the back of my head, like, ‘Am I qualified to do that?’ … The more I thought about it, it seemed just like a really great opportunity … not many people right after a master’s program in school go to a teaching job like K-State … that opportunity doesn’t present itself every day. And so I thought, you know what, I’m gonna take advantage of the opportunity.”

David, who has been teaching at K-State since 2010, is taking the second sabbatical of his career — his last was a semester-long in spring 2017. For the year-long break, he, his wife Melinda Pickering and their two youngest children uprooted to Denver, Colo. in June 2025, so David could focus on writing a book and the Pickerings could be closer to family. 

“I chose to take a sabbatical to write a book about one of the most famous organ builders in the United States during the 20th century, whose name was G. Donald Harrison,” David said. “And we also wanted to have an opportunity to move closer to our second son, who lives in Colorado Springs, and to spend some more time with him.”

Professors who want to take a sabbatical must recommend a replacement whom K-State then approves. For David, the decision to choose his daughter was an easy one.

“She was just finishing her master’s degree and didn’t have any particular plans at that point,” David said. “And so I had thought, well, this will be perfect. If she has questions, she’ll have easy access to me to ask questions about classes, or organ students or anything like that. And so it’s actually worked out wonderfully.”

Though choosing your own daughter as your sabbatical replacement is rare, David feels fulfilled by his decision. 

“It’s very unusual that a child would be able to fill in a sabbatical position for their parent because, for one, you have to be in the same discipline, which doesn’t happen very often,” David said. “And so it’s been fun to see Audrey grow and develop as a teacher, both [in the] classroom and [as a] private teacher. I think she’s just done a wonderful job. I knew she would do well as a replacement, but she has even exceeded those expectations. So I’m just really proud of what she’s been able to accomplish and do.”

As the oldest of seven children, Audrey’s musical journey began long before her role at K-State, and didn’t start with the organ. Her mother, Melinda, is a pianist and began giving Audrey piano lessons when she was four, something the Pickerings have done with all of their children since. 

When she was six, Audrey took her first organ lesson, but didn’t stick with it at first. Instead, she chose to play the cello in elementary school, which she continued to do through college and still occasionally plays to this day. She also picked up the clarinet in elementary school, but decided to focus solely on orchestra once she reached high school. 

Audrey debated between cello and piano throughout her high school years, but the organ ultimately became her instrument of choice.

“It’s interesting, in high school, I kind of had this debate of, ‘Well, okay, I know I want to be a music major, but what instrument am I going to pick?’” Audrey said. “And I feel like I went through phases where I was like, I’ll be a cello major, I’ll be a piano major and it’s just funny how organ kind of ultimately won out.”

Her decision came after she attended multiple organ summer camps and began playing at church. Its versatility is ultimately what inspired her to pursue the instrument. 

After high school, Audrey started her undergraduate degree in organ performance at K-State in the fall of 2017. Then, in 2020, she transferred to KU to continue studying organ performance, where she would finish her undergrad and obtain her master’s degree as well.

Another inspiration for Audrey was her father, David, who, much like his daughter, also started on piano and another stringed instrument before the organ enchanted him. His love for the instrument began after his father, Richard Pickering, who did not pursue music but had a musical background with the organ, purchased one for their house.

“When I was in eighth grade, he bought an electronic organ for our house, and so I was immediately interested,” David said. “I started piano lessons when I was seven, and when I was in fifth grade, I started the violin and played in elementary school string orchestra, and then in junior high and then high school. And then when I was 14, I was also asked to begin playing for church, and so I did for a couple of years and then when my parents saw that my interest in the organ didn’t wane, when I was 16, they found a really good teacher for me in the area that we lived and I studied with her for a year.”

David then went to Brigham Young University, where he graduated with his undergraduate degree in organ performance before getting his master’s and doctorate at KU. Despite beginning his musical studies at BYU, David didn’t originally pursue music.

“It’s interesting though, because initially my dad went to school, [and] he … didn’t decide on a music major,” Audrey said. “He kind of tried some other things initially, but then finally kind of came to the conclusion, ‘No, I want to do music, and just I’m going to do organ,’ and so we’ve kind of taken it to the next generation.”

But that lineage of organists doesn’t just include Audrey, David and Richard. It stretches back even further to Audrey’s great-grandfather, J.J. Keeler, who founded the organ program at BYU in 1935.

“It kind of runs in the family,” Audrey said.

Audrey now continues that family legacy at K-State, where she has nine private organ students and teaches multiple music classes. Though she’s only teaching at K-State for a year before her father returns in the fall, the chance to teach her passion at the collegiate level is one she will cherish. 

“Having an opportunity to be here at K-State and teach, I’ve found [things] that I’ve just really loved about teaching,” Audrey said. “I really enjoy just breaking concepts down for students to really help them understand, whether it’s theory, whether it’s aural skills, whether it’s organ. … I’ve enjoyed being able to see the students progress, see them learn, see them grow. …
In the classroom setting, sometimes it’s tricky because I know we have different backgrounds. … And so, trying to kind of find a balance of helping everyone have a good experience, it’s a challenge, but it’s been good to have to work to find that balance, and I’ve really enjoyed it. … I’ve just been grateful for the opportunity.”