 She is also an accomplished and decorated poet herself.She studied composition with Gerard Kockelmans, Willem de Vries Robbé and Robert Heppener, piano with Bart Berman and Kees Steinroth and choir conducting with Jan Eelkema.She graduated with a degree in music education from the Maastricht Academy of Music, and taught at teacher colleges in Rotterdam, Maastricht and Sittard.