Donna Gielow McFarland taught herself how to play worship songs from chord charts when she was in middle school. Her love for praise and worship music continued on through grad school, where she was inspired to write her masters project on how classically trained pianists can learn to improvise for playing in church. After receiving a B.Mus. in Piano Performance from Wheaton College and an M.Mus. in Piano Pedagogy from the University of Oregon, Donna taught a number of courses including piano, class piano, music theory and ear training at New Hope Christian College and, currently, Northwest Christian University. Donna has published music books including Follow the Star: Christmas Songs for Piano (Vol. 1-5), Intro to Piano: Class Piano for Adult Beginners and Music Theory Made Simpl(er). She has also written several children's early readers and chapter books. Donna lives in Eugene, Oregon with her husband and son.