Elise Letourneau's early musical training included weekly piano lessons, music theory lessons, and school music classes and choir singing. In the elementary school band she began to play the flute, adding the piccolo in high school.

In her piano study, she followed the Royal Conservatory of Music program through the Grade 8 level. Her piano teacher at the time was Paula Zonjic. As a beginning flute player, Elise had never heard anyone play like her piano teacher's husband, jazz flutist Alexander Zonjic. She would arrive at her lessons early enough to catch a bit of his practicing. When Elise started coming into her lessons and playing (little bits and pieces of) music she had heard Mr. Zonjic practising instead of her assigned piano lesson material, Ms. Zonjic sagely referred Elise to the piano studio of Christopher J. Steed, a Detroit pianist who came over to Windsor a couple of days each week to teach jazz, pop, and improv. She remained with Mr. Steed from Grade 8 until she graduated from high school.

For her decision to enter music as a profession, Elise credits the collective influence of her piano teacher Chris Steed; her high school band director Gil Grossutti, who also gave her flute lessons and generously let her sit in with his band on a few gigs; and vocalists Judy Gould and Debbie Havens, who took Elise under their combined wing until she went away to music school.

Elise attended Berklee College of Music in Boston MA, where she earned her Bachelor of Music Degree, with a dual concentration in Commercial Arranging and Film Composition. She went on to earn a Master of Education Degree, specializing in Creative Arts and Learning, from Lesley College in Cambridge MA. Having gone through music school as a piano principal, Elise continued her voice study privately with both jazz and classical instructors.

Elise is committed to a lifelong study of music.
 

Elise's teachers have included:
• Bob Freedman, Grammy-award winning composer/arranger
• Janet Lawson, Grammy-nominated jazz vocalist
• Anne Peckham, whose voice books and DVD's are published by the Berklee Press
• Bob Stoloff, who has appeared internationally with Bobby McFerrin's Vocal Summit and is the author of "Scat: Vocal Improvisation Techniques" and "Blues Scatitudes"
• Jerry Tolson, who has worked with artists as diverse as the Temptations, the Four Tops, Phil Wilson, James Moody, Kevin Mahogany, and Benny Golson
• Roland Wyatt, vocal coach to the Manhattan Transfer