Keyboard Pedagogy Professional Development Summit

Mr. Marvin Blickenstaff is known among piano teachers throughout the country for his teaching, lecturing, performing, and publishing. For sixteen summers he was on the faculty of the International Workshops where he performed and lectured in Canada, Austria, Scotland, Norway, France, and Switzerland. In 1995 and again in 2004, The Registered Piano Teachers of New Zealand sponsored him in concert and workshop tours of that country. The “Marvin Blickenstaff Endowment Fund” was established in his honor by the Music Teachers National Association Foundation, and he was named “Teacher of the Year” by the Indiana MTA. In 2007 the on-line journal Piano Pedagogy Forum published tributes to Mr. Blickenstaff honoring his contribution to piano teaching in America. Also in 2007 he was named Fellow of The Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto.

He was honored in 2009 with the MTNA Achievement Award. Formerly head of the piano departments at the University of North Carolina/Chapel Hill and Goshen College (IN), he has taught on the faculties of the Westminster Choir College and The College of New Jersey. Currently he maintains a private studio in the Philadelphia area and teaches at the New School for Music Study in Princeton. Mr. Blickenstaff is Board President of the Frances Clark Center for Keyboard Pedagogy and is on the Executive Planning Committee of the National Conference on Keyboard Pedagogy.

Dr. Andrew Hisey teaches studio and group piano, serving as associate professor of music and vice chair in the St. Olaf College music department (Northfield, Minnesota). From 1994-2005, he was a member of the faculty at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music in Ohio and holds degrees in piano from Wilfrid Laurier University and from the University of Michigan, where he was the first to receive the Doctor of Music Arts degree in Piano Pedagogy and Performance.

Andrew has served as a founding director of the National Group Piano and Piano Pedagogy Forum, and as series editor for several Frederick Harris publications: the Composer Editions, Christopher Norton Connections™ for Piano series and the new release, Pattern Play: Inspiring Creativity at the Piano, by Forrest and Akiko Kinney.

Dr. Janet Lopinski has performed as both soloist and chamber musician in Canada, Europe and the USA, and has been active as an adjudicator, examiner, author, and workshop clinician. She is currently on the faculty of The Royal Conservatory in Toronto (Conservatory School and Glenn Gould School) where she teaches piano, piano pedagogy, music history, and theory.

Janet is a senior member of the College of Examiners and Chief Examiner Emeritus of RCM Examinations. She has also co-authored the 3-volume series, Explorations, published by Frederick Harris Music. She was co-chair of the Program Committee for the 2007 Collaborative Conference of the MTNA, CFMTA and The RCM in Toronto, and is Chair of the Pedagogy Saturday Committee for the MTNA 2010 National Conference. She is Artistic Director of the Canadian Chopin Festival 2010 and the Third Canadian Chopin Piano Competition.

Pianist Kent McWilliams has enjoyed a successful performing career since his debut in Rachmaninov’s Third Piano Concerto with conductor Kazuhiro Koizumi and the University of Toronto Symphony Orchestra. He has played in over a dozen countries, and has been an award winner at the competitions of Porto (Portugal), the Regina Symphony, the Canadian Music competitions and the Canadian National Competitive Festival of Music. Kent holds a Doctorate of Music in Performance degree from the University of Montreal, earned an Artist Diploma at the Stuttgart Musikhochschule in Germany, and has completed Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in piano performance at the University of Toronto.

Kent joined the faculty of St. Olaf College in 2001 after having previously taught at the Glenn Gould School and at Wilfrid Laurier University as an experienced judge and clinician, having presented performance and pedagogy workshops to teachers across North America. In 2007, he was invited to judge the national finals of the US Music Teachers’ National Association competition and he has adjudicated across Canada, including senior piano at the music festivals of Toronto, Calgary, Vancouver, Windsor, Regina and Saskatoon.

Dr. Jennifer Snow is newly appointed as the Director of Teacher Pedagogy at The Royal Conservatory. She currently serves as Co-Chair of Keyboard Studies at the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music where she teaches piano, collaborative piano, and pedagogy. Jennifer has presented at conferences including MTNA, EPTA, CMS, WPPC, NCKP, and numerous state conferences. Jennifer is active as a judge and adjudicator, is a senior examiner for the Royal Conservatory of Music and the National Music Certificate Program, and is a clinician for The Frederick Harris Music Company.

Jennifer is a versatile performer who has appeared both as a soloist and collaborative pianist throughout Canada, the United States, Asia, and Europe. A diverse and active recitalist, Jennifer is heard on CBC and NPR and has recorded for Marquis, Amberola, and Phoenix Records. She has also played for the Showtime! Network, T.V. Ontario, Edmonton Symphony Orchestra series, Kilburn Artist series, Banff Centre Festival, Ottawa Chamber Music festival, Stratford Festival, ABC Television, Debut Atlantic, and Piano Plus. Her performances include collaborative projects with international soloists and members of orchestras from across the continent.