Encore Creative Center
  • Welcome
  • About
    • Testimonials
    • Instructors
    • Our Story
    • Our Founder-Director
    • FAQ's
    • Franchise Opportunities
  • Private Lessons
  • Class Types
    • Winter-Spring 2025
    • Theatre/Improv/Acting
    • Piano Alive / Uke Alive
    • Other Music / Bands
    • All Visual Arts
    • All Tech / Film
    • All Other/Hands-On Learning
  • Summer 2025
    • Summer 2025 Weekly
    • Summer Variety Camps (ages 5-10) at Meridian
    • Summer Special Topic Intensives at Eagle
    • Summer Youth Symphony 2025
    • Piano Alive / Uke Alive
  • Micro School
  • Broadway at Encore
  • Events
    • Calendar
    • Community Arts Rave - June 14 2025
    • Teen Nights
    • Innovative Science Program
    • Recent Past Events >
      • Free Open Mics
      • Spring Day Camps
      • Spring Bouquet Workshop
      • Branch Weaving Workshops
      • Collage & Mixed Media Workshops
      • Musical Production Workshops
      • Fall 2024 Showcase
      • Gift Making Workshops
      • Cinematography and Editing Course
      • Date Nights (Creative Kids' Care)
      • Free Aspiring Authors Group
      • Rug Painting Workshop
      • Petals and Pumpkins
      • Pour Painting Workshop
      • Mary Poppins 2024
      • Purely Danika: Immersive Solo Concert
      • Rock Painting Workshop
      • Spring 2024 Showcase
      • Teen Glow Night
      • Valentine's Craft Night
      • Tony Segale Brush Lettering Immersive Workshop
  • Students / Signups
    • New Student Registration
    • Student Resources >
      • Current Student Portal
      • Spring 2025 Recital Signups
      • Policies + FAQ
      • Financial Help
      • Emerging Creatives Scholarship Application
      • Withdrawal Form
      • Merch
      • Promo Partners
      • Certifications
      • Musical Learning Styles
      • Songs that teach music
      • Shine Again
  • Services
    • Encore the Magazine
    • Recording Studio
    • Starrharrt Symphonic
    • Private Parties
    • Field Trips
    • Rental Instruments
    • Advertise with Us
  • Franchise
  • Contact
  • Spring 2025 Showcase
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DANIKA STARRHARRT
Encore Founder and Owner-Director

(Instructor: Choir and Orchestra, Musical Theatre, Artist Development)

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​Known for inspiring the highest potential from her students and staff, Danika has been a full time music teacher for over 20 years. With a welcoming and down-to-earth nature, she has inspired audiences of all ages with over 1,000 performances given around the Mountain West and West Coast.

As a younger child, Danika gravitated toward the visual arts, always drawing or creating with her hands. By the age of 10 she became the youngest artist to be on the Arts Council of Placer County, CA, showing in galleries and on tours for her abstract photography or glass jewelry.

By the age of 13, however, she decided to devote her life to music and drama. As she homeschooled herself through high school, she made a habit to wake at 4am every day so she could finish school studies early and then compose music, practice instruments, or write plays for 6-8 hours a day. Her passion for people, composing, writing, and acting soon led her to write and direct 6 musical theater productions at Folsom Lake community theater.

During her young adult years of study, Danika was Resident Composer for three symphonies, two choirs, and the William Jessup University wind ensemble in which she also played (respectively) flute, oboe, violin, French Horn, piano, and sang alto and tenor. She directed local music camps for 6 seasons and formed her own 45 piece orchestra from her students for several years.

Appreciated by fellow music instructors in her former communities, Danika was also invited to guest instruct/conduct and give presentations to Placer County Youth Symphony, Auburn Youth Symphony, and Foothills Youth Symphony. By request she also has given special improvisation workshops for the Music Teachers' Association of California where she taught piano teachers to incorporate structured improvisation into their music lessons. 

Danika spent a few years involved with West Coast Songwriters. During competition one season, she received the highest commendations for both songwriting and vocals. She also traveled a house concert circuit as a singer-songwriter with her band. Under a different artist name in 2007-2014 she released 12 solo albums, layering herself playing her compositions on 22 different instruments. Danika’s involvement in West Coast Songwriters also brought her an invitation to compose at Disney, but she turned it down — her heart was still always with her students.

Since becoming a mom in 2016, Danika founded Song Bugs, an online community of music solutions for parents with children ages 0-5.  One year, Song Bugs went on "tour" sponsored by the state library system, to present song circles and distribute Song Bugs books and CD's all around Wyoming. Song Bugs’ popular YouTube videos and curriculum bring inspiration and tools that allow babies and toddlers to develop their natural human musicality before it is buried due to lack of use and proper encouragement. Using these methods, Danika’s daughter, JV, started showing absolute pitch by age 1 and was playing the piano with two hands by age 2. At age 8 she now plays three instruments confidently, reading music, and likes to sing and write her own songs - especially parodies - and leads her own gigging girl band.

In June 2021 Danika’s home studio in Meridian, ID (True Song Studio) had grown to 220 current enrolled students. In July 2021 she incorporated Encore Creative Center in order to bring together a whole team of other passionate instructors. In 2024, Danika retired from teaching fulltime and worked on packaging Encore's business secrets, including curriculums. In November 2024, Encore went legal to franchise (see ownanencore.com). She is still actively involved with day to day operations at the local Encore centers, including  Encore Recording Studio  and producing and being on the director team for Broadway at Encore.

Danika is part of the Idaho film community, acting and scoring music, for which she has received numerous awards locally and nationally. She is also the current and founding conductor of the local Canyon County Youth Symphony. and she is a founding board member and Spokesperson of the committee to bring a civic auditorium to Eagle, ID. In her spare time, she cuddles cats and composes for her current performing group, Starrharrt Symphonic. She homeschools her daughter and is passionate about vibrant health and mental clarity.

Danika leads holistically from a wide range of experience while keeping staff and students laser focused on their goals. She seeks to help her communities find joy and achieve excellence through every step of the learning process, and to experience what success means, with music, art, performing and creativity simply as a model for life lessons.
Danika is not currently able to accept any new students
Join Danika's personal music share newsletter
Check the availability for another instructor here.

Personality Profiling Zone
Danika's Enneagram: type 1, secondary 3
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Danika's "Big Five"
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Danika's Myers-Briggs: ENTP
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​Join the Joy - Live the Excellence
We are one community and one mission, but two Treasure Valley locations for your convenience.
​

FRANCHISE OPPORTUNITIES AVAILABLE: Open an Encore near you

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NORTH TREASURE VALLEY CENTER 
1045 S Ancona Ave #140, Eagle, ID 83616
Desk Hours:
​​Mon-Fri 11:00am-7:00pm
208-570-9674

(The center is also open for students during any other scheduled lessons or classes.)
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SOUTH TREASURE VALLEY CENTER
3017 S Meridian Rd, Meridian, ID 83642
Desk Hours:
​
​Mon-Fri 11:00am-7:00pm
208-570-9622

(The center is also open for students during any other scheduled lessons or classes.)


Apply to Work at Encore
  • Welcome
  • About
    • Testimonials
    • Instructors
    • Our Story
    • Our Founder-Director
    • FAQ's
    • Franchise Opportunities
  • Private Lessons
  • Class Types
    • Winter-Spring 2025
    • Theatre/Improv/Acting
    • Piano Alive / Uke Alive
    • Other Music / Bands
    • All Visual Arts
    • All Tech / Film
    • All Other/Hands-On Learning
  • Summer 2025
    • Summer 2025 Weekly
    • Summer Variety Camps (ages 5-10) at Meridian
    • Summer Special Topic Intensives at Eagle
    • Summer Youth Symphony 2025
    • Piano Alive / Uke Alive
  • Micro School
  • Broadway at Encore
  • Events
    • Calendar
    • Community Arts Rave - June 14 2025
    • Teen Nights
    • Innovative Science Program
    • Recent Past Events >
      • Free Open Mics
      • Spring Day Camps
      • Spring Bouquet Workshop
      • Branch Weaving Workshops
      • Collage & Mixed Media Workshops
      • Musical Production Workshops
      • Fall 2024 Showcase
      • Gift Making Workshops
      • Cinematography and Editing Course
      • Date Nights (Creative Kids' Care)
      • Free Aspiring Authors Group
      • Rug Painting Workshop
      • Petals and Pumpkins
      • Pour Painting Workshop
      • Mary Poppins 2024
      • Purely Danika: Immersive Solo Concert
      • Rock Painting Workshop
      • Spring 2024 Showcase
      • Teen Glow Night
      • Valentine's Craft Night
      • Tony Segale Brush Lettering Immersive Workshop
  • Students / Signups
    • New Student Registration
    • Student Resources >
      • Current Student Portal
      • Spring 2025 Recital Signups
      • Policies + FAQ
      • Financial Help
      • Emerging Creatives Scholarship Application
      • Withdrawal Form
      • Merch
      • Promo Partners
      • Certifications
      • Musical Learning Styles
      • Songs that teach music
      • Shine Again
  • Services
    • Encore the Magazine
    • Recording Studio
    • Starrharrt Symphonic
    • Private Parties
    • Field Trips
    • Rental Instruments
    • Advertise with Us
  • Franchise
  • Contact
  • Spring 2025 Showcase