Category: The Piano Conference: NCKP

Sneak Peek Inside The Piano Conference: Teaching Demonstrations and Concerts

Written By Piano Inspires

The Piano Conference features an inspiring lineup of artists and teachers from July 23-26, 2025. Read more about the teaching demonstrations, lunchtime concerts, and New Professionals Concert below, and view the full schedule here. Want to hear these amazing demonstrations and concerts live? Register for The Piano Conference today!

TEACHING DEMONSTRATIONS

The Transformation of Advanced Pianist to Artist

Friday, July 25 | 12:00–1:00 PM

Join leading teachers as they share videos of collegiate students that demonstrate growth of artistry over time. The teaching demonstration includes discussion of teaching approaches that have cultivated the emerging professional’s sense of self as an artist, through developing their technique, listening skills, and command at the piano.

Facilitator: Carolyn True

Teachers: Artina McCain, Spencer Myer, Alexandra Nguyen, Jerry Wong

Student Growth through Foundational Principles

Saturday, July 26 | 12:30–2:00 PM

Join leading teachers as they share multi-stage teaching videos that highlight student growth between lessons. The teaching demonstration includes a variety of student levels and a discussion focused on using foundational principles to spur the growth of understanding and development of skill.

Facilitator: Sara Ernst

Teachers: Mario Ajero, Margarita Denenburg, Annie Jeng, J. P. Murphy

LUNCHTIME CONCERTS

Thursday, July 24 | 12:30–1:30 PM

This program brings together a wide range of composers, from early Baroque to today’s emerging voices. It features contemporary works by Kevin Swenson, Nicholas Ho, Chen Yi, and Alexina Louie, alongside Italian composer Teresa Procaccini and French Baroque pioneer Elisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre.

Friday, July 25 | 1:00–2:00 PM

This concert features works by 20th- and 21st-century composers with pieces that share personal experience and creative ideas. The program includes Florence Price, Jocelyn Hagen, Eugene Astapov, and Momoro Ono, as well as virtuosic performances of works by Lowell Liebermann and a dynamic arrangement of Danse Macabre by Liszt, Horowitz, and Sean Bennett.

NEW PROFESSIONALS CONCERT

Thursday, July 24 | 5:00–6:00 PM

This concert showcases the artistry and perspectives of emerging pianists, offering fresh interpretations of a diverse range of works. The program features music by George Walker, Emma Lou Diemer, Leoš Janáček, Christian Hurtado Carrillo, Władysław Szpilman, Grażyna Bacewicz, Alexandre Arutunian, and Arno Babadjanian.

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A Sneak Peek into PEDx at The Piano Conference: NCKP 2025 – Part 2

Written By Piano Inspires

PEDx speakers and panelists at The Piano Conference: NCKP 2025 will discuss visions for jazz piano pedagogy, A.I. in music, Indigenous composers, and piano suites. Don’t miss these inspiring sessions! Haven’t registered for The Piano Conference: NCKP 2025 yet? Register here.

Friday, July 25, 2:00-4:00 PM CDT

Harmony in Contrast: Four Jazz Pianists Discuss Their Visions for Piano Pedagogy – Jeremy Ajani Jordan, Edward Simon, and Miki Yamanaka, with Jeremy Siskind, host
Jazz and classical piano used to be worlds apart—but traditional boundaries are fading fast. As new generations of pianists fuse styles and blend genres, it is more crucial than ever that piano teachers have a basic understanding of jazz tradition and pedagogy. This panel of four accomplished jazz pianists will share their piano education journeys, discuss what they wished piano teachers understood about their vocation, and map an inclusive vision for the future of piano education.

Celebrating the Human Element: What Piano Study Can Offer in a World of A.I – William Westney
Artificial Intelligence permeates our daily lives more and more, and uneasy questions about AI find their way into many of our thoughts and conversations. One persistent concern is, “If AI can carry out complex tasks so effortlessly and instantly, and even create impressive works of art, what’s left that’s uniquely and essentially human?” For us, as piano teachers, this question hits home. Perhaps we have a new role to play today. This is a time for a fresh appreciation of, and dedication to, the precious “human element” (e.g., physical enjoyment, spontaneity, the felt connection with others through music) at the piano.

Stands with Eagles – Roberta Rust
Celebrating Louis W. Ballard (Quapaw/Cherokee), the first and foremost indigenous North American composer of art music, Rust plays his Four American Indian Preludes (1963) and discusses the use of honor beats (considered gifts from the Great Spirit), powwow song shape, and imitation of tribal instruments. Rust and Ballard met in the 1980s when she premiered two of his Concert Fantasies at Carnegie Recital Hall. His Quapaw name, “Honganozhe,” means “Stands with Eagles,” and as an educator, Dr. Ballard was music program director for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, earning a citation in the Congressional Record.

Bach to Black: The Journey of Exploring Piano Suites – Rochelle Sennet
Serving as an objective of continued conversation regarding inclusion and equity in classical music, “Bach to Black: Suites for Piano” represents Dr. Rochelle Sennet’s exploration of repertoire by Black composers in combination with works of Johann Sebastian Bach. Sharing her story of performing and recording the complete keyboard suites of J. S. Bach as well as nineteen suites and multi-movement works by seventeen Black composers, the aim of this PEDx talk is to share personal insights as well as provide recommendations on programming through storytelling, audience engagement, and fostering community in classical music.

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Piano Inspires Podcast: An Interview with Connor Chee

Written By Craig Sale, Connor Chee

On Wednesday, July 23rd from 8:00-10:00pm, The Piano Conference: NCKP 2025 will present the 2025 Celebration Concert featuring pianists Rochelle Sennet, Connor Chee, Alexa Stier, Carol Leone, Derek Hartman, Artina McCain, Spencer Myer, Susanna Garcia, and William Chapman Nyaho. In celebration, we are sharing this excerpt from Connor Chee’s appearance on the Piano Inspires Podcast. Interested in hearing more from Chee? Register for The Piano Conference: NCKP 2025 today by clicking here.

*Connor Chee, Ann DuHamel, Leah Claiborne, and Sara Davis Buechner after their NCKP 2023: The Piano Conference PEDx presentations.*

Craig Sale: Which brings me to a project, which I’m familiar with. It is an exciting one with the Frances Clark Center. You are, along with Renata Yazzie, leading a project of commissioned works by Indigenous composers for young piano students or for elementary students. We’ve been working on the project together, but one thing we haven’t talked about is what does this project mean to you? What do you hope to achieve by it, but also on a more personal level, what meaning does that hold for you?

Connor Chee: I think it’s important on so many levels. I think the first is the level of communication, because music is a great way to communicate and to foster curiosity. That’s something that with my music I tried to do, and I’m always surprised at the conversations that open up with other cultures and things that I learned about other people because they found something in the music that relates to Diné culture that also relates to some aspect of their unique background. Those are the conversations that are so important to really be able to celebrate the diversity and what makes everybody unique and what they can bring to the table. Specifically in the Indigenous communities, I think it’s important because it shows possibility. They’re seeing things that are placed in front of them that they can say, “Hey, maybe I want to do this someday. Maybe I want to be a composer. Maybe I want to play piano.” You know, these are things that are—there’s a place for us, and it’s important for students to see that there is a place for them if they want to pursue music or whatever avenue it is. That wasn’t the case because in the past, you know, the representation was so flawed, and it wasn’t really a representative quotation that was more of a mockery, yeah, that had, you know, a negative impact.

CS: Representation that’s not a cartoon.

CC: Right?

CS: Something that they can actually relate to.

If you enjoyed this excerpt from Piano Inspires Podcast’s latest episode, listen to the entire episode with Connor Chee on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or our website!

MORE ON CONNOR CHEE

WEBINAR: Piano Inspires… Innovation: Innovation in Organizations with Connor Chee, Rachel Fritz, Annie Jeng, Alex McDonald, and Patricio Molina with Jennifer Snow, moderator
PIANO MAGAZINE ARTICLE: Summer 2023: Recording Reviews by Michael Dean, Felipe Avellar de Aquino, Hyejin Cho, Heather Shea Lanners
ONLINE COURSE: Piano Teaching through the Lens of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

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How To Travel to The Piano Conference: NCKP 2025 without Breaking the Bank!

Written By Shana Kirk

The Piano Conference: NCKP 2025 is just around the corner! With events running from Wednesday, July 23 through Saturday, July 26, the conference will feature concerts, PEDx talks, presentations, and more. Have you registered yet? Register today for The Piano Conference: NCKP 2025 by clicking here.

Having spent a good amount of the last 30 years zig-zagging the skies as a music technology consultant, I have personally experienced nearly every curveball air travel can toss my way. In all this time, through quite a bit of trial and error and by picking up ideas from other veteran travelers, I have collected some handy strategies I find myself using over and over. As you plan your NCKP travel, I hope you’ll find these useful, too!

Plan Early!

The one advantage I have found over and over is that early planning pays off. Even if you don’t purchase a ticket early, you can start looking at prices and be ready to buy when you find a good fare. My favorite tool for researching fares is Google Flights. By setting up a fare alert at google.com/flights, you can receive notifications when the fares have dropped. You can also look at a historic price graph and see predictions for the dates you want to travel. Keep in mind, predictions are not guarantees, and you still want to purchase at least three weeks in advance when possible. Also note that some airlines, like Southwest, do not allow Google Flights to display their fares, but they will still be indexed in the overall cost rankings.

Be Flexible!

Fares can vary widely from one day to the next, so if your travel is flexible, it’s useful to check a day or two outside your target dates. Most booking sites have a grid view with fares for a combination of departure and return dates.

Check one-way fares.

While you’re researching fares, it’s often worthwhile to compare one-way options. Because individual airlines base fares on a range of criteria, flying with different airlines or even to different airports in each direction may save money.

Check ALL available airports.

Most flight booking sites allow you to choose “all airports” or “nearby airports” instead of just one specific location. Luckily, Chicago has two excellent and well-served airports with easy connections to lots and lots of cities. Each airport is about half an hour away from the Westin Lombard, so you might as well check both! Additionally, I sometimes even check surrounding cities, in case there’s a lower-cost option to fly to a nearby city and carpool the remainder of the trip with a colleague. Peoria, IL, Rockford, IL, Milwaukee, WI, and Indianapolis, IN, are all within easy driving distance of Chicago, and you may well have a colleague who would love a driving companion.

Beware of add-on fees and look for ways to avoid them.

Many airlines charge extra for checked luggage nowadays, and ultra-low cost carriers charge extra for ANY luggage that doesn’t fit under the seat, not to mention charges like seat selection or early boarding privileges. Some airlines offer subscription services or frequent-flyer credit cards that will offset these fees and sometimes even offer extra perks that make air travel more comfortable (like airport lounge passes).

Always check the airline’s own website before purchasing from a discount travel site.

With all of the tricky bag and seat fees out there, it’s often easier to purchase directly from the airline. Should you need to change flights, the airline’s own website will offer the most flexibility for that as well.

Save on ground transportation.

Taxi or rideshare fares can add up quickly in the sprawling suburbs of Chicago. Plan to share a ride with a friend or use a shuttle service (there are several, depending on your destination airport). There’s even a very low-cost regional bus if you are able to manage your luggage. Rome2Rio.com is a great site for comparing various ground transit options for your needs.

However you travel to The Piano Conference, I can’t wait to see you all there! Bon Voyage!

Register today for The Piano Conference: NCKP 2025 by clicking here.

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Meet the Keynote Speakers

Written By Piano Inspires

The Piano Conference eagerly anticipates keynote speeches from Randall Faber, Sarah Hoover, and Stanford Thompson. Learn more about the speakers and mark this exhilarating conference on your calendar! Haven’t registered for The Piano Conference yet? Register here.

Randall Faber

Randall Faber has been a guest artist at universities throughout North America and Asia, including the Beijing Central Conservatory, the Shanghai Conservatory, and the Royal Conservatory of Canada. He has been a Convention Artist for the Music Teachers National Association and master teacher for the World Conference on Piano Pedagogy, National Conference on Keyboard Pedagogy, the Australia Piano Pedagogy Conference, the National Piano Teachers Institute, and the Online Global Piano Summit. A Steinway Artist, Faber has given recitals throughout the U.S., Canada, and Asia. He has appeared on international television and on public radio in live recital broadcasts.

Dr. Faber holds three degrees from the University of Michigan and a PhD in Education and Human Development from Vanderbilt University. His research on motivation and talent development has been featured in journals and media in South Korea, China, Australia, and at the 9th International Conference on Motivation in Lisbon, Portugal.

Randall and his wife, Nancy, are authors of the best-selling Piano Adventures® method, which received the MTNA Frances Clark Piano Pedagogy Award. Published in 13 languages, their books reach millions of students around the world. In 2019, Dr. Faber was honored with the inaugural Lifetime Achievement Award in Education from the Roland Corporation.

Sarah Hoover

Sarah Hoover serves as Associate Dean for Innovation in the Arts and Health at the Peabody Institute, where she is responsible for advancing initiatives that link the performing arts and health within Peabody, Johns Hopkins Medicine, and entities within the university and Baltimore community. Since arriving at Peabody, Hoover has advocated for the health of Peabody’s musicians and dancers by developing curriculum and co-curricular programs to prevent injury and optimize performance, facilitated the creation of the Peabody Clinic for Performing Artists, and supported the start-up of a research lab in performance science. With partners across Johns Hopkins University and Health System, her team is building out a transdisciplinary center of performing arts and health to advance health in and through the performing arts, encompassing research, clinical care, education, arts services, and advocacy.

Hoover’s research in the field of arts in health has led to the development of bedside and lobby music programs throughout the Johns Hopkins Health System and the development of creative aging residencies and sensory-friendly concerts. She has helped to develop Peabody Prescribe, a community arts entity within Peabody Preparatory, offering arts experiences developed in collaboration with researchers and clinicians from Johns Hopkins Medicine that support health and well-being. Along with her book, Music as Care: Artistry in the Hospital Environment, these clinical and community programs have built novel educational and experiential career pathways for musicians in arts-in-health contexts. As part of her commitment to artist workforce development, Hoover serves as board member for the National Organization for Arts in Health. Prior to her appointment at Peabody, Hoover was a performer, teacher of singing, music journalist, and festival director and received degrees from Yale College (BA) and the Peabody Institute (DMA.)

Stanford Thompson

Stanford Thompson (he/him) founded and led music education organization Play On Philly, served as the founding board chair of El Sistema USA, and founded and currently serves as executive director of Equity Arc. In those roles, he has led complex strategic planning and organizational design projects for local and national initiatives that provide equitable arts access for communities and artists.

As a Principal with Goldsmith Strategies, he has guided the strategic development of dozens of organizations across the United States. He has also collaborated with WolfBrown on strategic planning, program evaluation, and establishing new ventures with the support of national institutional funders.

Stanford serves on the faculty of the Global Leaders Institute and regularly speaks at major arts and business conferences and institutions. He has been a TED Fellow, presenting on music as a powerful tool for positive personal and societal change. Stanford holds degrees from The Curtis Institute of Music and New England Conservatory.

*Stanford Thompson, © Todd Rosenberg Photography 2022*

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Piano Inspires Podcast: Leila Viss

Written By Leila Viss, Andrea McAlister

As we get closer to The Piano Conference: NCKP 2025 this July, we invite you to register for our 2025 Gala, celebrating our 2025 Lifetime Achievement Outstanding Service Award recipients. The Frances Clark Center celebrates its Outstanding Service Award recipients with special re-releases of podcast episodes. Congratulations to Leila Viss for this recognition! Register by clicking here.

Andrea McAlister: I do want to go back a little bit to the work you’re doing now, because you are offering a lot of online tools for teachers. I’m really curious about your “composiums” here. So, can you tell me about the work you’re doing now with other teachers around the world?

Leila Viss: Well, I think it comes down to the fact that making music was so important to me. And I am not a published composer or arranger, but I started arranging a lot of things myself, and I loved that. You know, the world faded away when I was working on that project. I’m like, this is feeding my soul. I wonder if other people need to have this too. And then I also created something called Cookie Cutter Composing, which was helping my students compose, and we did eight bars at a time. So we did, you know, section A, then Section B, section A, and it was very rigid, some people would call it, but we were very successful with it. It just happened to come out right before the accident, and then COVID happened. And so I did this with all my students online, and it was perfect. We used Noteflight, so I could see their accounts, all that kind of stuff. So it was, you know, it really helped us all get through a rough time, because we could at least do that creating, you know, yeah, they could play piano.

But then I sold that resource, but I noticed that people still had questions on it. Teachers were like, well, how do you do this? How do you do that? And I thought, “You know what, I wonder if I need to have some kind of workshop that could help teachers go through the process?” And I don’t know when the word “composium” came to my head.

AM: I love it, though.

LV: I like that one. And so I had that feeling of, you know what, if I build it, maybe they’ll come.

I was also inspired by my mother. She is a retired art professor. She’s a quilter, a nationally known quilter. Her quilts are all over the nation, in different galleries, and we’re not talking about just patchwork. We’re talking about abstracts, and they’re marvelous. They’re just absolutely gorgeous. But I was always envious of her, because she would go to her quilting workshops, and you bring your sewing machine, you bring your fabric, and you sew with all your other friends, and then you look over their shoulders and see what they’re doing. I thought, now, wouldn’t that be nice if I could do that with a group of teachers, so that we’re all in this atmosphere of, “Oh, what are you doing? Oh, that’s cool. Oh, I like that idea.”

So that brought me to this idea of, well, let’s have eight teachers, and we’ll do eight bars at a time, that kind of a thing. So we’ll piece together, just like we piece a quilt together, we’ll piece together a piece. And now I’m down to six teachers because that was a little bit much, and I have changed maybe a little bit of the format, but it’s a little bit of a piece every time. And then people come, they show us what they’re doing. It’s a very safe environment because I lay down really strict ground rules about how we give feedback. We don’t give feedback. We give feed-forward, those kinds of things so that people can feel comfortable and feel safe. Because I always, when we first listen to a piece, I always tell them that, “Doesn’t it kind of feel like someone’s peeking in your underwear drawer?” Because you know, you’re being very vulnerable, right?

AM: It does take a lot of courage.

LV: It takes courage, and so I do a lot of mindset things, all those kinds of things, just to get them in the right place.

If you enjoyed this excerpt from Piano Inspires Podcast’s latest episode, listen to the entire episode with Leila Viss on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or our website!

MORE ON LEILA VISS

WEBINAR: Creative Solutions for Online Studio Recitals with Sara Ernst, Rebecca Pennington, Anna Beth Rucker, and Leila Viss
PIANO MAGAZINE ARTICLE: Practicing with Backing Tracks by Bradley Sowash
PIANO MAGAZINE ARTICLE: May 2018: First Looks: Apps for Teaching by Leila Viss
PIANO MAGAZINE ARTICLE: Yes, Technology Can Simplify Your Hectic Teaching Life! by George Litterst, Anna Fagan, Jennifer Foxx, Megan Hughes, Ellen Johansen, Adrienne McKinney, Patti Robertson, and Leila Viss
PIANO MAGAZINE ARTICLE: Creating by Chance by Bradley Sowash

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Piano Inspires Podcast: Spencer Myer

Written By Spencer Myer, Jennifer Snow

As we get closer to The Piano Conference: NCKP 2025 this July, we invite you to register for our conference and join us in Lombard, Illinois. Additionally, we invite you to join us at a conference Gala celebrating our 2025 Lifetime Achievement Outstanding Service Award recipients. The Frances Clark Center celebrates its Outstanding Service Award recipients with special re-releases of podcast episodes. Congratulations to Spencer Myer for this recognition! Register by clicking here.

Jennifer Snow: You’ve gone through all these amazing successes with competitions and started to understand yourself as an artist. That all starts to clue up for yourself. You’ve got a career, you’re performing, you’ve got your management, and you’re a Steinway artist, and you’re on your way. Where’s the teaching pull? When does that start to come in, and how does that all come together for you?

Spencer Myer: It was always something I was interested in. I started teaching beginners when I was twelve. I had a paper route from age nine to twelve, and then I thought, “I could at least just advertise on my street for piano lessons and start teaching piano lessons. Why not make money doing music?” That was always something I very much enjoyed. I did that, not as actively, through college, and then it stopped in grad school. I lost all my connections to developing students, and I was more focused on playing through my graduate school.

Then, as the performing career started to develop, and I would do various engagements, they would often come with a master class. So, the bulk of my early higher-level teaching post-grad school was master classes, which I always really enjoyed.

I always found myself conducting a masterclass a little bit closer to a lesson than a public display. I just started to see that, certainly in particular, voicing things about developing technique, and refining technique and technical problems—solving things—came quite easily to me because, I think, I was never a prodigy. I had some natural technique, but I had to figure a lot of things out. Certainly, because a lot that I did naturally, I developed a lot of inherent tensions that I had to get rid of, and through repertoire exploration and just a lot of observation.

Another thing I was going to mention about influences at Oberlin was the other piano faculty. I would observe their students playing. I would accompany a lot of their students on concerti, so I saw their teaching [and] so many of these different technical approaches. There’s Bob Shannon and Haewon Song, who teach the Taubman technique. We had a couple Russian teachers there who have their own approach as well. I just gained a well-rounded sense of how to solve problems. And so I became, very early on in this masterclass trajectory, very addicted to those light bulb moments. Students, where you solve a technical problem and you make something easier for them, and all they want is to be able to communicate themselves more easily at the piano. It is just the best feeling.

JS: Indeed.

SM: Absolutely the best feeling.

If you enjoyed this excerpt from Piano Inspires Podcast’s latest episode, listen to the entire episode with Spencer Myer on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or our website!

MORE ON SPENCER MYER

WEBINAR: Debussy: Feux d’artifice with Spencer Myer
WEBINAR: Chopin: Scherzo No. 2 in B-Flat Minor, Op. 31 with Spencer Myer
WEBINAR: The Possibilities of Practicing during a Pandemic with Andrew Cooperstock, Barbara Fast, Artina McCain, Spencer Myer, & Nicholas Phillips
WEBINAR: Let’s Talk About Practicing with Barbara Fast and Spencer Myer
PIANO MAGAZINE ARTICLE: Engaging the Brain: Practice Tips from an Interview with Spencer Myer by Spencer Myer and Barbara Fast
PIANO MAGAZINE ARTICLE: Spencer Myer: A 21st-Century American Pianist by Lynn Worcester Jones
PIANO MAGAZINE ARTICLE:
VIDEO: Inside the Studio with Spencer Myer
ONLINE COURSE: A Pianist’s Guide to Teaching Online

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Featuring The Piano Conference: NCKP 2025 Exhibitors

Written By Piano Inspires

Register now for The Piano Conference: NCKP 2025 and experience incredible concerts, as well as teaching demonstrations, peer-reviewed conference sessions, and more.

The Piano Conference: NCKP is excited to welcome industry leaders to our in-person event! See who will be there and take advantage of special conference deals and giveaways.

View the Exhibit Hall Map

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Meet the Jazz Concert Artists at The Piano Conference: NCKP 2025

Written By Piano Inspires

The Piano Conference is thrilled to welcome Jeremy Siskind, Jeremy Jordan, Edward Simon, and Miki Yamanaka to the stage this summer in A Night of Jazz and a special Late-Night Jam on Thursday, July 24, 2025. Register now for The Piano Conference and experience this incredible concert, as well as teaching demonstrations, peer-reviewed conference sessions, and more.

Jeremy Siskind is the rare musician whose imaginative albums land on “best of” lists while his ground-breaking instructional books populate “best-seller” lists. A top finisher in national and international jazz piano competitions, Siskind is a two-time laureate of the American Pianists Association and the winner of the Nottingham International Jazz Piano Competition. A sought-after educator, Siskind has published more than twenty instructional books, including Playing Solo Jazz Piano and the Jazz Piano Fundamentals series. Besides Siskind’s own YouTube channel, which boasts over 20,000 subscribers, Siskind is frequently seen teaching on digital platforms like Tonebase, Open Studio, and Piano with Jonny. Siskind spreads peace through music in places like Lebanon, Tunisia, and Thailand with the non-profit organization, Jazz Education Abroad. Jeremy Siskind is a Yamaha Artist.

Critically acclaimed as “a clear technical virtuoso,” “a rare talent,” and “a true Wunderkind,” Chicago-born Jeremy Jordan burst onto the music scene at age nine playing Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in a live televised performance. Jordan was born into a musical family where his mother and father were his first instructors. They ensured his burgeoning talent was nurtured by a strong foundation in classical training and also encouraged his study of improvised music and composition. Jordan’s performance venues have included the United Nations Arts Council, the American Liszt Society, Concertgebouw, Tokyo Opera City, Prague’s Rudolfinum, and Chicago’s Ravinia Festival. Jordan also composes solo piano music, chamber music, orchestral music, and electronic music. His most recent album For Flint featured several original jazz compositions and raised money to purchase clean water for families affected by the Flint Water Crisis.

Edward Simon, a native of Venezuela, has established himself as a distinguished jazz improviser, composer-arranger, and band leader over decades in America. Renowned for blending jazz with Latin American folkloric sounds, Simon’s profile has risen in recent years. Based in the San Francisco Bay Area, he is a member of the all-star SFJAZZ Collective and has received prestigious accolades such as the Guggenheim Fellowship and multiple composition grants from Chamber Music America’s New Jazz Works program.

Japanese-born pianist Miki Yamanaka has called New York City home since 2012. Critics laud her “light, expressive touch and solidly crafted, mainstream approach,” while audiences delight in not only her playing, but her vibrant personality as well. Her most recent and celebrated release, Shades of Rainbow (Cellar Music), features jazz masters Mark Turner and her NYC rhythm section, Tyrone Allen and Jimmy Macbride. Additionally, Yamanaka has emerged as a leader of the “New York Scene” via her notable residencies at mainstay West Village sister clubs Smalls and Mezzrow. During the pandemic, she developed a successful in-home, live-streaming, weekly concert series cleverly titled “Miki’s Mood,” where she featured a veritable who’s who of NYC talent. She has a penchant for wearing her vast collection of kimonos for her gigs, proudly representing her heritage and culture night after night as she dazzles audiences around the world.

*Miki Yamanaka (photo credit: Martina DaSilva)*

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5 Reasons to Attend The Piano Conference: NCKP 2025 Online Event

Written By Sara Ernst, Megan Hall

The online event of The Piano Conference: NCKP 2025 is just around the corner! Events will occur from June 6-8 and will be packed with music, social events, concerts, and more. With the event only a few days away, register now to gain access to this exciting event. Learn more and register by clicking here.

1. Accessibility

The Piano Conference Online Event is accessible internationally, and features live and pre-recorded sessions in 4 languages: English, Spanish, Portuguese, Mandarin, and Korean. To facilitate access, all sessions have English subtitles. This is a rare opportunity to learn from global pedagogues with intercultural perspectives and education.

Want to attend but need financial support? Check out these resources.

Plus, your online event registration can be used towards your registration at the In-Person Conference in Lombard, Illinois. Email conference@francesclarkcenter.org for assistance.

2. Inspiring keynote speaker Gilles Comeau

Gilles Comeau is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, a senior scientist at the Institute of Mental Health Research at The Royal, the founding director of the University of Ottawa Music and Health Research Institute, the director and principal researcher of the Piano Pedagogy Research Laboratory, and a professor at the School of Music at the University of Ottawa. He conducts multidisciplinary research on music and health, including the study of music and wellbeing for people with dementia, the impact of music on individuals experiencing mental illness, and the investigation of various interventions for musicians’ mental health.

His session will discuss the intersection of scientific research and music pedagogy, and will answer meaningful questions such as:

What can research do to contribute to better knowledge about music teaching and learning?
What has research to say about motivation or music reading?
What has research to say about pain and injuries or performance anxiety?

Join us on Saturday, June 7, 2025, 1:00PM EDT to learn more!

3. Opening concert

The opening concert features 9 international performers from our community, featuring a variety of repertoire across genres, including jazz, contemporary repertoire, and works for two pianos. Keep scrolling to view the program!

The Piano Conference: Opening Concert Program

June 6, 2025, 7:00PM EDT

Dongwon Shin and HaEun Yang

Song Suite for Two Pianos | George Gershwin (1898–1937), arr. Logan Skelton

The Man I Love (1924)

Fascinating Rhythm (1924)

HaEun Kim

Clouds | Florence Price (1887–1953)

Xiao Liang

Numa Ame | Zhang Zhao (b. 1964)

Natalie Landowski

Concert Krakowiak | Grażyna Bacewicz (1909–1969)

Daniel Baer

Dance of Avoidance | Robert Savage (1951–1993), II. Largo

Hyeji Seo

Nocturno Nazqueño | Gabriela Lena Frank (b. 1972)

Molly Sanford

Jupiter’s Moons | Judith Lang Zaimont (b. 1945)

II. Europa

III. Leda

Pei-Chen Chen and Mengjie Xiong

Taiwanese Rhapsody for Two Pianos (1998) | Huang Huang (b. 1958)

4. Session archives

The Piano Conference Online Event archives will be available to registrants for three months after the event, allowing attendees to re-watch recorded sessions at their leisure, or to catch any sessions that they missed during the live event.

5. Curated committee tracks

Our 15 committees have carefully curated new programs for 2025 based on relevant topics in piano education. These selected sessions are integrated directly into the conference schedule. Our committee topics include:

Young Musicians: Birth to Age 9
Advocacy and Community Impact
Business and Entrepreneurship
Collaborative Performance
Creative Music Making
Inclusive Teaching
Independent Music Teachers
International
New Professionals
Performance Practice
Research
Teacher Education in Higher Ed
Teaching Adults
Technology
Wellness

Participants at The Piano Conference: NCKP.

Do you have research you want to share with the piano pedagogy community? Submit a proposal to NCKP by clicking here, or submit a manuscript to the Journal of Piano Research by clicking here.

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5 Reasons to Attend The Piano Conference: NCKP 2025 Online Event

Written By Sara Ernst, Megan Hall

The online event of The Piano Conference: NCKP 2025 is just around the corner! Events will occur from June 6-8 and will be packed with music, social events, concerts, and more. If you have not registered, there’s still more time. Learn more and register by clicking here.

1. Accessibility

Want to attend but need financial support? Check out these resources.

Plus, your online event registration can be used towards your registration at the In-Person Conference in Lombard, Illinois. Email conference@francesclarkcenter.org for assistance.

2. Inspiring keynote speaker Gilles Comeau

His session will discuss the intersection of scientific research and music pedagogy, and will answer meaningful questions such as:

What can research do to contribute to better knowledge about music teaching and learning?
What has research to say about motivation or music reading?
What has research to say about pain and injuries or performance anxiety?

Join us on Saturday, June 7, 2025, 1:00PM EDT to learn more!

3. Opening concert

The Piano Conference: Opening Concert Program

June 6, 2025, 7:00PM EDT

Dongwon Shin and HaEun Yang

Song Suite for Two Pianos | George Gershwin (1898–1937), arr. Logan Skelton

The Man I Love (1924)

Fascinating Rhythm (1924)

HaEun Kim

Clouds | Florence Price (1887–1953)

Xiao Liang

Numa Ame | Zhang Zhao (b. 1964)

Natalie Landowski

Concert Krakowiak | Grażyna Bacewicz (1909–1969)

Daniel Baer

Dance of Avoidance | Robert Savage (1951–1993), II. Largo

Hyeji Seo

Nocturno Nazqueño | Gabriela Lena Frank (b. 1972)

Molly Sanford

Jupiter’s Moons | Judith Lang Zaimont (b. 1945)

II. Europa

III. Leda

Pei-Chen Chen and Mengjie Xiong

Taiwanese Rhapsody for Two Pianos (1998) | Huang Huang (b. 1958)

4. Session archives

5. Curated committee tracks

Young Musicians: Birth to Age 9
Advocacy and Community Impact
Business and Entrepreneurship
Collaborative Performance
Creative Music Making
Inclusive Teaching
Independent Music Teachers
International
New Professionals
Performance Practice
Research
Teacher Education in Higher Ed
Teaching Adults
Technology
Wellness

Do you have research you want to share with the piano pedagogy community? Submit a proposal to NCKP by clicking here, or submit a manuscript to the Journal of Piano Research by clicking here.

Not yet a subscriber? Join for only $7.99/mo or $36/yr.

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5 Things You Might Not Know About Dan Zhaoyi

Written By Tsz Hin Lam

We would like to thank Tsz Hin Lam for this article on Dan Zhaoyi. Interested in learning more about Dan Zhaoyi? Attend this session at The Piano Conference: NCKP 2025 online conference on Sunday, June 8, 4:00-4:25pm EDT. Learn more and register for the online and in-person conference here.

Dan Zhaoyi

1. Dan, born 1940, was a student of renowned Chinese pianist Zhou Guangren.

Zhou Guangren, who was born in Hannover, Germany, in 1928 to Chinese parents pursuing their studies abroad. In 1933, she returned to China with her family and settled in Shanghai. Zhou was a Chinese pianist and pedagogue who served as a tenured professor and former head of the Piano Department at the Central Conservatory of Music in China. She was the first Chinese pianist to win an award at an international piano competition and was hailed as the “Soul of Chinese Piano Education.”¹

Zhou Guangren

2. Record-Breaking Students!

Over 26 of Dan’s students have collectively won 70 international piano competition awards, including 26 first-place prizes.² This achievement underscores his exceptional impact on the global piano scene. He has mentored some of the most celebrated pianists, including Yundi Li, who won the prestigious International Chopin Piano Competition in 2000, and Zhang Haochen, the first Chinese winner of the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in 2009.

A person and child playing piano

AI-generated content may be incorrect. — *Yundi Li and Dan Zhaoyi*

3. Prolific Author:

In addition to his teaching legacy, Dan has authored pivotal works on piano pedagogy, such as Piano Teaching and Guidance for Children, New Paths Piano Fundamental Course, and Dan Zhaoyi’s Piano Teaching Essays. These publications have become indispensable resources for piano students and educators, not only in China but across the globe.

A book cover with a hand on a keyboard

AI-generated content may be incorrect. — *Book Cover of* Piano Teaching and Guidance for Children

4. Chinese Characteristics in Piano Teaching Approaches

Dan’s approach to piano education emphasizes not only technical proficiency but also a deep appreciation for music, which may include elements and pieces that resonate with Chinese musical traditions and values. This makes his materials unique and well-received in China. Dan’s teaching materials, such as his New Paths Piano Fundamental Course, are known for incorporating elements that reflect Chinese characteristics. This series is described as having “scientific, systematic, national, and interesting features,”³which suggests a thoughtful integration of Chinese national music into the curriculum.

新路径钢琴基础教程：网络教学版.一星级電子書，作者但昭义主编- EPUB | Rakuten Kobo 香港 — *Book Cover of* New Paths Piano Fundamental Course

5. “Godfather” of Piano Education in China

Dan stands as one of China’s most influential piano pedagogues of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. With a teaching career spanning over six decades, he has earned the revered title of “Godfather of Piano Education”⁴ due to his significant contributions to nurturing world-class Chinese pianists.

Notes

Piano League, “Zhou Guangren, “Soul of Chinese Piano Education”, Dies at 94,” Piano League (Blog), March 7, 2022, https://thepianoleague.com/news/guangren-zhou-soul-of-chinese-piano-education-dies-at-94/.
“Dan Zhaoyi – Professor Emerita, Shenzhen Arts School,” Bay PianoFest, Artcial Music Foundation, accessed May 24, 2025, https://baypianofest.org/dan-zhaoyi.
“Artistic Director,” China Shenzhen International Piano Concerto Competition, published 2018, accessed May 24, 2025, https://www.csipcc.com.cn/about-us/artistic-director/.
Qian Zhang, “Dan Zhaoyi: ‘Godfather’ of Piano Education,” Shenzhen Daily, (2018), https://web.archive.org/web/20181024171055/http:/www.szdaily.com/content/2018-10/19/content_21155125.htm.

Resources

“Artistic Director.” China Shenzhen International Piano Concerto Competition. Published 2018. Accessed May 24, 2025. https://www.csipcc.com.cn/about-us/artistic-director/.

“Dan Zhaoyi – Professor Emerita, Shenzhen Arts School.” Bay PianoFest. Artcial Music Foundation. Accessed May 24, 2025. https://baypianofest.org/dan-zhaoyi.

Piano League. “Zhou Guangren, “Soul of Chinese Piano Education”, Dies at 94.” Piano League (Blog). March 7, 2022. https://thepianoleague.com/news/guangren-zhou-soul-of-chinese-piano-education-dies-at-94/.

Zhang, Qian. “Dan Zhaoyi: ‘Godfather’ of Piano Education.” Shenzhen Daily, (2018). https://web.archive.org/web/20181024171055/http:/www.szdaily.com/content/2018-10/19/content_21155125.htm.

MORE ON THE PIANO CONFERENCE: NCKP 2025

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DISCOVERY PAGE: What to Expect at The Piano Conference: NCKP 2025: From the International Track by Luis Sanchez
DISCOVERY PAGE: What to Expect at The Piano Conference: NCKP 2025: From the Collaborative Performance and Research Committee Chairs by Sara Ernst, Alexandra Nguyen, and Alejandro Cremaschi
DISCOVERY PAGE: What to Expect at The Piano Conference: NCKP 2025: From the Performance Practice, Teaching Adults, and Business & Entrepreneurship Committee Chairs by Sara Ernst, Andrew Cooperstock, Jackie Edwards-Henry, and Andy Villemez
DISCOVERY PAGE: What to Expect at The Piano Conference: NCKP 2025: From the Creative Music Making, Independent Studio Teachers, and Young Musicians Committee Chairs by Sara Ernst, Jason Sifford, Janet Tschida, and Jeremy Siskind
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WEBINAR: NCKP 2023 Committee Webinar: Facing the Future with Jason Sifford

Not yet a subscriber? Join for only $7.99/mo or $36/yr.

Back to Discovery Page

5 Things You Might Not Know About Mélanie Bonis (1858–1937)

Written By McKenna Girdeen

We would like to thank McKenna Girdeen for this article on Mélanie Bonis. Interested in learning more about Bonis? Attend this session at The Piano Conference: NCKP 2025 in-person conference on Thursday, July 24, 2025, 1:30-2:20pm CDT. Learn more and register for the online and in-person conference here.

Mélanie Bonis, a largely underrepresented composer, remains unknown to many musicians today. However, a revival of her work is currently underway. Bonis (1858–1937) was a prolific French composer and pedagogue, whose children’s collections were popular during her lifetime. Due to gender-based discrimination in a male-dominated field, her works faded into obscurity after her death. A handful of researchers are working to resurrect her music, although there is still a lack of scores, recordings, and scholarly resources available in English. Influences from Debussy, Ravel, and Fauré highlight how Bonis’ contributions can expand the representation of early 20th-century French style, offering a more historically informed portrayal that has traditionally been dominated by male composers.

1. Bonis wrote over 300 compositions across various genres.

Bonis was a prolific composer, writing over 300 works. The majority of these were for piano, with around 160 specifically intended for pedagogical purposes. Bonis also wrote more advanced piano pieces, such as Femmes de Légende, a collection of concert pieces each inspired by a legendary female figure. Although she primarily composed for piano and voice, her output also includes music for orchestra, chamber ensembles, and organ. Notable performance pieces for piano include Ballade, Op. 27, Romance sans paroles en la bémol majeur, Op. 29, and Barcarolle, Op. 41. Go take a listen!

“Mel Bonis,” 1900s. *Mel Bonis collection*, Association Mel Bonis. Bru Zane Mediabase. Available at: https://www.bruzanemediabase.com/en/node/14745.

2. Her style blends elements of Romanticism and Impressionism.

Bonis’ music blends elements of both Impressionism and Romanticism, characterized by lyrical melodies and colorful, idiomatic piano textures. Her works are tonal yet infused with chromaticism and adventurous harmonies. Her style shows parallels with Debussy’s, particularly in La Cathédrale blessée, Op. 107, which shows similarities to Debussy’s La Cathédral engloutie. Bonis’ music also reflects influences from composers like Ravel, Fauré, and Chopin. These connections highlight how her work can broaden the representation of the early twentieth-century French style to offer a more inclusive perspective that has traditionally been dominated by male composers.

“Mel Bonis,” undated. *Mel Bonis collection*, Association Mel Bonis. Bru Zane Mediabase. Available at: https://www.bruzanemediabase.com/en/node/14762.

3. She was a classmate of Claude Debussy.

Bonis studied at the Paris Conservatoire where she studied under César Franck and became peers with Claude Debussy and Gabriel Pierné. Her parents showed little support for her musical pursuits, believing that this type of career was unsuitable for a woman. It was Franck who encouraged her enrollment at the Conservatoire. There, she quickly proved her exceptional talent by winning numerous composition competitions, receiving high praises from her mentors, and establishing herself as one of the top students in her class. However, despite these successes, Bonis continued to face challenges due to her gender, struggling with internal doubts and encountering prejudice.

“Mélanie Bonis,” c. 1880. Mel Bonis collection, *Association Mel Bonis*. Bru Zane Mediabase. Available at: https://www.bruzanemediabase.com/en/node/14750.

4. She used “Mel” to publish her works androgynously.

Bonis faced significant challenges as a woman in a male-dominated field, enduring gender-based discrimination while also adhering to societal expectations of being a housewife and managing the household. Despite her attempts to challenge these barriers, such as adopting the gender-ambiguous pseudonym “Mel Bonis,” the cultural landscape of France and expectations of women composers during her time shaped her work output and impacted her lasting success. Letters exchanged with peers and mentors reveal the psychological toll of these gender expectations, including a fear of being undervalued, despite the accomplishments and praise she received.

Additionally, Bonis’ parents forced her to leave the Paris Conservatoire after a fellow student she became romantically involved with had proposed to her. They arranged a marriage for her to a 47-year-old man with five children. Expected to fulfill domestic duties as a wife and mother, she took a break from her musical career for several years.

“Mel Bonis (at the end of her life),” c. 1930s. *Mel Bonis collection*, Association Mel Bonis. Bru Zane Mediabase. Available at: https://www.bruzanemediabase.com/en/node/14746.

5. Bonis composed pedagogical works that expose early twentieth-century French repertoire to a variety of levels.

These works offer valuable educational content for students ranging from early-to-late intermediate levels while introducing them to early twentieth-century French piano music. Some of her collections were specifically written with pedagogical intent, similar to the children’s pieces of composers like Schumann and Tchaikovsky, and these collections were popular during her time. Her Scènes enfantines employs techniques suitable for early-intermediate learners. This collection features a variety of articulation, melodic voicing in both hands, dynamic contrasts, and hand independence. Further, the descriptive titles and narrative annotations in the score help young students connect personally with the music.

In addition to these pedagogical works, many of her other pieces also provide rich educational value, such as Cinq pieces pour piano. This late-intermediate-level collection exposes students to octaves, sixteenth-note passages, and finger independence in multi-voice writing.

“17 Pièces enfantines (Mel Bonis),” 1926. Mel Bonis collection, Association Mel Bonis. Bru Zane Mediabase. Available at: https://www.bruzanemediabase.com/en/node/14755.

Including Bonis’ works in the intermediate repertoire addresses two deficiencies in the representation of twentieth-century French repertoire: the lack of female representation and the scarcity of early-to-mid-intermediate-level materials. Students can develop essential technical skills and explore musical styles already represented by key male figures, but through the perspective of a female composer. This not only acknowledges that women were contributors of the time but also enriches the portrayal of the early twentieth-century French music landscape. Incorporating Mel Bonis into the intermediate repertoire would support the ongoing efforts to revive her works and offer students the opportunity to experience the early twentieth-century French music through the perspective of a female composer whose contributions were overshadowed by the gender biases of her era.

Resources

Bonis, Mel. Souvenirs et rèflexions [Memories and reflections]. Edited by Jeanne Brochot. Les éditions du Nant d’enfer, 1974.

Bonis, Mel and Charles Koechlin, et. al. Correspondance choisie de Mel Bonis [Selected correspondence from Mel Bonis]. Selected with commentary by Christine Géliot. Les Amis de la musique française, 2007.

Étienne, Jardin. Mel Bonis (1858–1937): Parcours d’une compositrice de la Belle Époque [Mel Bonis (1858–1937): Journey of a Belle Époque composer]. Venice, Italy: Actes Sud/Palazzetto Bru Zane, 2020.

Géliot, Christine. Mel Bonis: Femme et compositeur (1858–1937) [Mel Bonis: Woman and composer]. Editions L’Harmattan, 2000.

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5 Things You Might Not Know About Abby Whiteside

Written By Stephen Marquiss

We would like to thank Stephen Marquiss for this article on Abby Whiteside. Interested in learning more about Whiteside? Attend this session at The Piano Conference: NCKP 2025 online event on Saturday, June 7, 2025, 1:30-1:55pm CDT. Learn more and register for the conference here.

1. Abby Whiteside (1881-1956) transformed her teaching after admitting only her talented students progressed.

She was history’s humblest piano teacher. This realisation kickstarted a lifetime of open-minded exploration. Whiteside became determined that, given the best tools, the less gifted could play as well as the most talented. She left essays which, whilst brilliant and beautiful, some perceive to be disjointed or abstruse in places. This could be because she continued to revise and refine her ideas literally until her deathbed. It could also be because her audacious innovations present a serious challenge to pedagogical orthodoxy.

*Abby Whiteside’s book,* On Piano Playing: Indispensables of Piano Playing, Mastering the Chopin Etudes, and Other Essays.

2. Whiteside devised ingenious, unorthodox tools so that all could play.

She identified central tenets in technique, common in the most talented players, which were often overlooked in conventional pedagogy. Chief amongst these are the roles of the upper arm, torso, ears and emotional connection. She was openly critical of any aspects of technical orthodoxy that neglected these. She believed that the fingers must cede control of power and dexterity to the larger levers, the torso and the ears. She devised many ‘set-ups,’ ‘patterns,’ and activities, such as ‘splashing’ on random keys and improvising, to empower all pianists to play to their potential.

3. Whiteside tested her tools on Chopin’s most notorious études.

She believed these were the ultimate barometer of technique, owing to their idiosyncratic repeated patterns and figurations. If anything impedes the technique, one can barely complete a few bars without tensing up unduly. Whiteside highlighted elephants in the practice room such as the common practice of isolating the hands and fingers from the flowing whole-body coordination and of trying to attain virtuosity without the crucial role of emotional engagement. She believed many to be practising essentially irrelevant coordination. Her tools focus on rebuilding more instinctive, ergonomic practice habits.

*Chopin:* Etude in G-sharp Minor, Op. 25, No. 2

4. Inspired by dance, Whiteside centralized the ‘emotional rhythm’ in technique.

She coined this term for the flowing state invoked by the performer’s authentic connection to the music, combined with the activity this awakens in the torso. Such activity could be overt swaying or ‘bouncing’ against the sitting bones or simple alertness, as in the tennis player receiving a serve or the ‘athletic tension’ between dancers. She believed attempting to attain velocity and exquisite musical control without activating this central component was akin to trying to perfect swimming technique by playing golf.

A woman gracefully dances by the sea at sunset, capturing emotion and nature's beauty.

5. Inspired by jazz, Whiteside prioritized playing by ear.

She believed this invoked a simpler, more direct, efficient coordination than playing predominantly by sight, rote, or ‘muscle/motor’ memory. Without the middleman of the score, the fingers are directed economically by the ‘aural image’ of the music in the mind’s ear. A central aim in practice thus becomes to take the music ‘off the page’ when starting with the score, such that one can hum it in the inner ear. This can be a journey for pianists who have become accustomed to pushing down keys in response to primarily visual cues, although the rewards are great.

A fashionable musician in a mint green suit plays trumpet outdoors, exuding creativity.

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WEBINAR: NCKP 2023 Committee Webinar: How to Practice Jazz and Improvisation with Jeremy Siskind
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DISCOVERY PAGE: What to Expect at The Piano Conference: NCKP 2025: From the Creative Music Making, Independent Studio Teachers, and Young Musicians Committee Chairs by Sara Ernst, Jason Sifford, Janet Tschida, and Jeremy Siskind
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WEBINAR: NCKP 2023 Committee Webinar: Facing the Future with Jason Sifford

Not yet a subscriber? Join for only $7.99/mo or $36/yr.

Back to Discovery Page

Campos Internacionais Disponíveis – Inscreva-se Já!

Written By Piano Inspires

A Conferência de Piano expandiu seu escopo para incluir campos em coreano, mandarim, inglês, espanhol e português.* Todas as sessões em línguas estrangeiras incluirão legendas em inglês para torná-las acessíveis a todos.

A inscrição completa na conferência inclui acesso ao evento online e aos arquivos do evento online. Inscreva-se agora para conferir apresentações de especialistas, professores e pesquisadores do mundo todo!

Conferência Online: 7 a 8 de junho de 2025

Cúpula e Conferência Presencial: 23 a 26 de julho de 2025

*A inscrição para os campos em espanhol e português é gratuita para residentes de países com desigualdades monetárias. Inscreva-se aqui e selecione Evento en línea NCKP: Sección Internacional – Español ou Evento online NCKP: Campo Internacional – Português no momento da inscrição.

Quer saber mais sobre o evento online e o Campo Internacional da Conferência? O presidente do comitê, Luis Sanchez, compartilha o que esperar da Conferência de Piano: NCKP 2025.

Saiba MaiS

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