In April, the world of piano pedagogy lost a legend. In the following pages, friends and colleagues of Louise Goss pay tribute with remembrances and recollections.  In the "old days," all senior piano majors at Oberlin were required to take piano pedagogy. I will never forget the excitement our professor exuded when she presented to us the bra...

Q: Recently I've noticed that creativity as a theme for conferences and workshops seems to be coming up more and more. What are your thoughts on creativity in piano lessons for the average student? A: I'm glad you asked because I'm on a mis-sion. First, I believe (no, I know) that all children are naturally creative—until we teach it out of th...

The professional contributions of eminent American piano pedagogue Louise Goss are countless. Her tireless efforts, along with those of Frances Clark, include the establishment of arguably one of the first piano pedagogy programs in the United States at Kalamazoo College in Michigan, the creation of the New School for Music Study, the development o...

Add improvised pizzazz to the easy rhythms found in beginner tunes by asking your students to identify "dot spots." These are places where students can substitute dotted rhythms in place of quarter notes. Instead of this: Students play this: Listen and play It's not necessary for students to know how to read dotted rhythms prior to exploring their ...

My mother, who is also a piano teacher, enjoys finding and buying piano music for me —even to this day—and she usually finds really great stuff at her public library. Go figure! "Pizzicati" (a polka from the ballet Sylvia) was one of her recent finds. Written by Léo Delibes and arranged by Hans-Günter Heumann, this piece of music was on the top of ...

Road maps and detours by Craig Sale One of my worst nightmares is arriving at the school where I teach to realize I have left that day's lesson plans at home.  On the rare occasions when this has happened, I have managed to conduct a reasonably structured lesson by following the student's last assignment in their notebook. Generally, I remembe...

As the conservatory audition season cycles in once again —as predictable as the ice and snow that always accompanies it in my neck of the woods—it has occurred to me that a simple checklist for teachers might be useful in preparing guileless students for what lies in store. Thus the following brief suggestions for "less pain, more gain": 1) A year ...

Louise Goss was a superb clinician and speaker. She had great clarity in her thinking about musical learning and an extraordinary vocabulary, but the quality that stood out above all else was her immense practicality. Most of these quotes are excerpts from transcripts of her public lectures delivered to groups of piano teachers.  I often wish ...

I have a student who graduated from my studio this year. Leah began study with me as a curly-haired, precocious five-year old. Today she is a vibrant young woman of eighteen. Leah chose three pieces for her final performance: "Footfalls," by Wayne Shorter, which included a luminous jazz improvisation; the first movement of Beethoven's "Moonlight" S...

Richard Chronister founded the first National Association of Schools of Music approved degree program in piano pedagogy at the University of Tulsa in 1959. I recall looking at schools the old-fashioned way -flipping through those large, heavy-to-lift program catalogues. Since then the number of degree programs in piano pedagogy has grown, with the ...

I first encountered the fascinating "prelude set" genre, like a great majority of pianists, through Chopin's 24 Preludes, Op. 28. After thoroughly exploring and enjoying the Chopin Op. 28, I was hooked and simply had to find more! The features of this genre are simple enough, yet capable of incredible diversity: a collection of twenty-four sta...