Clarinetist Tara Heitz has a dual career as a performer and a public school music educator. She is Second Clarinetist in the Oklahoma City Philharmonic, and a band director and woodwind teacher in the Edmond Public Schools.

Heitz  holds a Bachelor of Music Education degree from the University of Central Oklahoma, and began teaching in the Edmond Schools in 2002.  She was a finalist in the International Clarinet Association's orchestral competition in 2008, and joined the Oklahoma City Philharmonic in 2009.  Heitz also plays with Lyric Theater orchestra and the Norman Philharmonic, and performed on the Distinguished Artist Series at Oklahoma City University in 2014.

As a music educator, Heitz is considered an expert in beginning woodwind instruction. She teaches woodwind classes at Central Middle School, and is an associate band director at Edmond Santa Fe High School, where she directs the Ninth Grade Concert Band and assists with the Marching Band. She has presented a clarinet teaching workshop for the Norman Public Schools, and recently gave a master class on orchestral excerpts at the University of Central Oklahoma.

Heitz is a member the American Federation of Musicians Local 375-703, the International Clarinet Association, and the Central Oklahoma Directors' Association. She resides in Edmond with her husband and two children.