Judy began playing tunes on the piano at age three, and never had to be told to practice as a child. She won competitions in high school and was a scholarship student in piano at Florida State University, where she took a master class with Ernst von Dohnanyi just prior to his death. At FSU she won the Opperman Award and graduated magna cum laude. During her master's program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill she was pianist with the University Symphony. She performed a doctoral recital as part of her degree program at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.
Judy has been an active performer in the Washington area since 1981, performing at area universities and at the Kennedy Center, White House, Anderson House, Fairfax Library Concert Series, and Old Town Hall Performance Series in Fairfax. She has produced and performed many fundraising concerts and recitals at the UU Congregation of Fairfax.