Staff
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Pamela Pike is Editor in Chief/Chief Content Director of the Piano Magazine. She serves as the Barineau Professor of Piano Pedagogy at Louisiana State University. As an award-winning author, Dr. Pike has published over three dozen scholarly articles, and her book, Dynamic Group-Piano Teaching: Transforming Group Theory into Teaching Practice, is published by Routledge. Dr. Pike has presented papers and workshops at conferences throughout Asia, Europe, Scandinavia, and North and South America. |
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Andrea McAlister is Director of Digital Content and Senior Editor for Piano Magazine. She is Associate Professor of Piano Pedagogy at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. Dr. McAlister is in frequent demand as a clinician and has recently presented lectures on the language of teaching and educational technology at the MTNA Conference and the International Society for Music Education Conference. |
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Craig Sale, NCTM, is Senior Editor of the Piano Magazine and Director of Online Courses. Before retiring, he was Director of the Preparatory & Community Piano Program at Concordia University Chicago, where he also taught courses in piano pedagogy. He holds degrees from Northwestern University and the University of Illinois, and a Professional Teaching Certificate from The New School for Music Study, where he received his pedagogical training from Frances Clark. |
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Steve Betts is Senior Editor of the Piano Magazine, Professor of Music and Associate Dean of the Shelby and Ferne Collinsworth School of Music at California Baptist University in Riverside, CA. He also serves as a contributing author to the Frances Clark Library for Piano Students. |
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Claire Greene is Advertising Coordinator for The Frances Clark Center. Claire studied at the Eastman School of Music and Southern Methodist University. She enjoys a career as a professional harpist. Claire is currently the harpist at the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island, MI. She has performed with professional symphony orchestras throughout the United States and in Music Festivals around the world. Claire teaches harp and piano lessons from her home studio in Dayton, OH. |
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Angela Triandafillou is the Piano Magazine Subscriber Support Coordinator. She joined the New School in 2011 and became Admissions Director in 2013. She holds a Bachelor of Music Degree in Piano Performance and Music Education from Ithaca College and a Master of Music Degree in Piano Performance and Pedagogy from the University of Oklahoma. Her primary teachers include Jane Magrath, Barbara Fast, Ed Gates, Phiroze Mehta, and Sandra Wright Shen. |
Column Editors
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Vanessa Cornett is the Director of Keyboard Studies and Associate Professor of Piano and Piano Pedagogy at the University of St. Thomas in Minneapolis - St. Paul. The former Senior Editor for Clavier Companion, she now oversees the magazine's column on musician wellness, Healthy Playing, Healthy Teaching. She publishes and presents frequently on topics related to performance psychology, mindfulness, and anxiety management. |
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Nicholas Phillips, serves as the Recording Editor for the Piano Magazine. He is Associate Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, has performed in solo recitals across the United States and abroad, is an active recording artist, and is a regular presenter at national and international conferences. Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. |
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Suzanne Schons, PhD, NCTM, is the Music Editor at the Piano Magazine. She teaches music courses at the University of St. Thomas and piano lessons at K&S Conservatory of Music in Minnesota. Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. |
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Helen Smith Tarchalski teaches in her independent studio in Maryland and on the faculty of Anne Arundel Community College, and has taught at the U.S. Naval Academy. She is a graduate of Peabody Conservatory and holds the MTNA Master Teacher Certificate. Her students have been featured performers with the National Philharmonic Orchestra and at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Terrace Theater. |
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Richard Zimdars has performed, lectured, broadcast and taught master classes in Europe and North and South America; released eight compact discs; published translations on the master classes of Liszt and von Bülow; served on national Fulbright screening committees; directed the 2011 American Liszt Society Bicentennial Festival; received acclaim in the major newspapers of London, New York, Boston, Cologne, etc. His University of Georgia students hold college positions in the U.S., Canada, Brazil, and South Korea. He currently serves as Poetry Editor for the Piano Magazine. |
Editorial Board
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Nancy Bachus is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music and has taught for twenty-seven years at the college and university level. She is the author of Alfred Publishing's "Spirit" series: the Baroque, Classical, Romantic, and Beyond the Romantic Spirit piano anthologies, and the Exploring Piano Classics series, graded literature with a cross-indexed technique book at each level. Certified as a Master Teacher by MTNA, she currently maintains an independent piano studio in Hudson, Ohio. |
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Michelle Conda is Professor of Piano and Coordinator of Secondary Piano and Piano Pedagogy at the Cincinnati-College Conservatory of Music. Her area of expertise is the field of andragogy - teaching adults. She is a founding member of and on the Steering Committee of GP3: The National Group Piano/Piano Pedagogy Forum. |
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Rebecca Grooms Johnson, Ph.D., NCTM, is a nationally respected leader in the field of piano pedagogy. She is an independent teacher and has taught extensively at the unviersity level. Active in the Music Teachers National Association, she has served as President of the Ohio MTA, National Chair of MTNA's Pedagogy Committee, and national Certification Chair. |
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George Litterst is a nationally known music educator, clinician, author, performer, and music software developer. A classically trained pianist, he is co-author of the intelligent accompaniment software program, Home Concert Xtreme, the electronic music blackboard program, Classroom Maestro, and the long distance teaching and performing software, Internet MIDI. |
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Scott McBride Smith is the Cordelia Brown Murphy Professor at the University of Kansas. A recognized leader in music education, his philosophical and cognitive approach, combined with a sense of humor, has made him an audience favorite around the world. His numerous practical initiatives to improve today's piano lesson experience include the series American Popular Piano and the summer program International Institute for Young Musicians. |
Copy Editors
Carla Dean Day
Kristen Holland Shear
Design And Production
Studio Chartreuse
Staff at the Frances Clark Center
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Jennifer Snow, is the first full-time Executive Director-CEO for the Frances Clark Center. Snow is a former Vice President, Teacher Education for the Royal Conservatory and previously was a member of the keyboard faculty at the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music. She holds a doctorate degree from Northwestern University. |
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Ryan Greene is Director of NCKP and Director of Digital Operations for The Frances Clark Center. He holds degrees in piano performance and pedagogy from Butler University and Southern Methodist University. He coordinated the Young Professionals Track at the 2014 MTNA National Conference, and the 2015 MTNA Collegiate Chapters Piano Pedagogy Symposium. Ryan currently teaches from his home studio in Ohio after recently completing a six year tenure teaching at Centre for Musical Minds in Frisco, TX. |
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Rebecca Mergen Pennington currently serves as Admnistrative Director for the New School for Music Study. She has been a member of the faculty since 2007. Dr. Pennington has been a frequent performer in faculty recitals, contributed to teacher development through blog posts, teaching videos, and work at the NSMS Summer Seminar, and teaches the popular Piano Detectives Club class for kindergarten students. She holds a DMA and MM in Piano Performance from the University of Kansas, and a BM in Music Education from Concordia College. |
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Sara Ernst is Director of Teacher Engagement for The Frances Clark Center. She serves as Assistant Professor of Piano and Piano Pedagogy at the University of South Carolina in Columbia. In addition to teaching undergraduate and graduate pedagogy courses, Dr. Ernst coordinates group piano, directs the piano preparatory program, and teaches applied piano. |
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Beth Amoroso is Business Manager for the Frances Clark Center, which includes The New School for Music Study, Piano Magazine, and The National Conference on Keyboard Pedagogy. Previously she worked as the Administrative Assistant for Dining Services at The College of New Jersey. She graduated from TCNJ with a Bachelors degree in Communication. |
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Anna Beth Rucker is the Administrative Operations Manager for the Frances Clark Center. She teaches at the Faber Piano Institute in Ann Arbor, MI. She holds a Master of Music in Piano Pedagogy from the University of South Carolina and a Bachelor of Music in Piano Pedagogy and Performance from East Carolina University. She previously worked as Assistant Director of the Southeastern Piano Festival. |
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Allison Shinnick is The Frances Clark Center's Digital Communications and Marketing Coordinator. She teaches at The New School for Music Study in Kingston, New Jersey. She holds a Masters of Music in Piano Performance from the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music and Dance, where she studied piano with Dr. Robert Weirich. Allison completed a Bachelor of Music degree from Lawrence University Conservatory of Music (Appleton, WI) with majors in piano performance and oboe performance and a minor in German. She studied piano with Dr. Catherine Kautsky, oboe with Howard Niblock, and pedagogy with Mary Van De Loo. |
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Esther Hayter is the Event and Projects Communications Coordinator for The Frances Clark Center. She was the Post-Graduate Fellow at the New School for the 2017-18 school year. She recently received a Masters of Music degree in Piano Pedagogy from Texas Christian University, where she studied under Dr. Tamas Ungar and Dr. Ann Gipson. She previously received a Bachelors of Music in Piano Performance and Pedagogy from Washington State University, where she studied with Drs. Jeff and Karen Savage. Esther also enjoys performing, both solo and collaborative, and as a church musician. |
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Emily Lau is The Frances Clark Center's Video Content Curation Coordinator. She teaches at The New School for Music Study, and also maintains a private studio in Metuchen. She hails from Chicago, where she received the 2013 Member of the Year Award from the Chicago Area Music Teachers Association for her active service to the community. She holds piano performance degrees from Roosevelt University and University of Michigan. She has served as faculty at Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp, as well as a teaching assistant at the New York Summer Music Festival. |