TEACHERS WORKSHOPS

Wednesday, February 12, 2025                             ZOOM Presentation:  ZOOM Link TBA

10:00 A.M. – 12:00 P.M.

Keeping Parents Involved

Dr. Karen Gerelus

Interested & Involved: Music Studio Parents

Parents and the surrounding home culture are the primary influences on children’s early identity, and more specifically, their musical identity. Researcher Stephanie Pitts (2014) has shown that “the attitudes of adults around them to the potential of music, and its relevance to young lives, shape children’s emerging sense of musical identity. This gives teachers and parents a strong responsibility to present clear routes into musical engagement if children’s development in this area is to flourish” (p. 129). This suggests that parents have an important role to play in modelling behaviors which support the study of music. There has been a great deal of research which confirms that parents establish the environment which shapes a child’s musical success, and the parental influence has been identified as a primary external factor affecting a student’s motivation towards achievement and continuation of lessons. However, there is less discussion concerning how to support parents in creating those musical environments. Studies have demonstrated that parents who are involved in, and supportive of, their children’s music lessons had students with stronger self-concepts in music, and developed greater motivation to participate in future musical activities. Yet, teachers are still reticent to allow parents into their studios or participate meaningfully in their child’s weekly lesson. This presentation brings forward the problems with this approach and offers practical suggestions regarding how to engage parents in meaningful ways. By valuing parental involvement - and asking parents to be both interested and involved - there may be significant improvements in student learning and studio culture.

Dr. Karen Gerelus is a third-generation piano teacher, musician, author, and scholar. She has completed an Associate diploma in Piano Pedagogy from the Royal Conservatory of Music (ARCT), a Licentiate diploma in Piano Performance from Trinity College of London (LTCL), a Master of Arts in Piano Pedagogy from the University of Ottawa, and recently a PhD at the University of Calgary. Her dissertation titled “The Musical Identities of Piano Students: a Phenomenological Case Study” focused on motivation, social environment, future selves, and identity. She is an examiner with the Royal Conservatory of Music and active member of the Canadian Federation of Music Teachers’ Associations. Her scholarly work has recently been published in the American Music Teacher journal, Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education, and at the National Conference on Keyboard Pedagogy. Aside from private studio teaching, Gerelus frequently gives workshops and masterclasses, adjudicates, and is featured on podcasts. Follow her musical life on Instagram @gerelusmusic or at http://www.gerelusmusic.com.

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Wednesday, April 9, 2024                                    Settlement Music School, Willow Grove, PA

10:00 A.M. – 12:00 P.M.

65 Years and Still Teaching

Marvin Blickenstaff

What I Have Learned and What I Believe

Marvin Blickenstaff joins us to share many important lessons from his 65 years of music making at the piano and from teaching students of all ages and levels. Every presentation by Blickenstaff is full of gems for pianists and pedagogues, so you will not want to miss this event! 

World-renowned music educator and pianist Marvin Blickenstaff is a leader in the field of piano pedagogy whose career has spanned nearly six decades. He received performance and academic honors at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music (B.M.) and Indiana University (M.M) and studied at the Frankfurt (Germany) Hochschule für Musik.  Throughout his life, he has traveled the globe, including New Zealand, Switzerland, and Austria, to perform and present workshops to teachers. Blickenstaff received one of MTNA’s highest honors—the MTNA Achievement Award—in 2009 and the Frances Clark Center’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2013. He was inducted into Steinway & Sons’ Teacher Hall of Fame in 2019, and in 2023, the Frances Clark Center established the Marvin Blickenstaff Institute for Teaching Excellence in honor of his legacy as a pedagogue.