PIANO TEACHeR: Teaching through Emotional Awareness, Content, and Human Relationships

Author(s): Maira Liliestedt

Edition: 1

Copyright: 2025

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Ebook

$65.00

ISBN 9798385121632

Details Electronic Delivery EBOOK 365 days

COVID forced academia to move online, increasing the loneliness fed by social media and revealing a dire need for powerful, in-person human relationships. Piano lessons are avenues excellently-suited to one-on-one communication and relationship-building, particularly as their unique language—music—already thrives on emotional awareness. Some of the longest-lasting teaching successes have come through mentoring—using emotional awareness to build powerful relationships with students, relationships that regularly blossom into friendships after graduation, often proving to be life-changing on both sides. Current pedagogy books focus on piano teaching/playing skills without delving into human connections—the meaningful cornerstone of excellent teaching. This piano pedagogy book includes piano-specific particulars AND shows examples of how those particulars have grown from and led to powerful human relationships between teachers, students, and alumni.

The text discusses the author's piano relationships and includes research on best practices in piano teaching, instrument-specific tips, alumni accounts about the benefits of human-focused mentorship and teaching, and quotations from renowned pedagogues, proving the inextricable links between piano study and the persons involved.

Piano TEACHeR sheds light on piano teaching’s human potential for current teachers and codifies the benefits of emotionally-aware teaching methods for college students preparing for teaching careers.

 

Foreword

Introduction

Chapter 1: Main Elements of Piano Technique
• Scales
• Arpeggios
• Chords
• Octaves
• Related technical exercises

Chapter 2: Physical Wellness in Piano Technique
• Tips on solving other technical challenges
• Choreography, rotation, and efficiency in movement
• Preventing injury
• Playing after injury

Chapter 3: Mental Wellness and Relating to Our Students
• Mental wellness
• Listening to human cues
• Friendships/relationships with students

Chapter 4: Choosing Teaching Materials
• Choosing repertoire
• Favorite supplemental literature
• Favorite pieces

Chapter 5: Learning Piano Music
• Learning
o Aural, kinesthetic, and visual learning
o Sight-reading
o Rhythm
o Fingering
o Articulation
o Dynamics

Chapter 6: Expression and Musicality
• Phrasing
• Pedaling
• Human experience

Chapter 7: Memorizing Piano Music
• Use of music theory in learning and memorizing
• Memorization tools

Chapter 8: Student Motivation and Piano Practice
• Student motivation
• Practice tips
• Practice games

Chapter 9: Listening and Performance
• Listening
o To one’s own playing
o To others’ playing (studio class)
• Performance

Chapter 10: Goals and Standards
• Pianistic and teaching goals
• Rigor and standards
o In teaching
o In performing

Chapter 11: Grab-bag of Teaching Tips
• Arts Advocacy
• Organization of studio space
• Continuing teacher education
• Other tips
• Student stories

Maira Liliestedt

Maira Liliestedt was a prizewinner in numerous student competitions in her native Romania before moving to the United States in 1992. Liliestedt received a Bachelor of Music in piano from Bowling Green State University and Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music where she studied with Eugene and Elisabeth Pridonoff.

A professor emeritus of music at the University of Mount Union, Liliestedt previously taught at Northern Kentucky University, the College of Mount Saint Joseph, and in the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music’s evening program. She is an active adjudicator for festivals and competitions, has been published in Clavier magazine and has served as panelist and presenter for the GP3: Group Piano and Piano Pedagogy conference. She has presented at local, district, and state conferences including the Ohio MTA and Texas MTA conventions and has served in officer positions for local and district chapters of Music Teachers' National Association. Liliestedt also served on the planning committee for the 2016 Ohio Music Teachers’ Association State Conference. Her professional experience also includes masterclasses and chamber music coaching with James Tocco and Emanuel Ax.

Since 1996, she has been a member of the Appassionata Piano Duo, a successful musical partnership with pianist Janelle Phinney. Arts critic Tom Wachunas described the duo’s playing as “a warm and deft joining of palpable grace with flawless, often fiery technique,” displaying a “riveting, lucid finesse alternately muscular and delicate.” The ensemble has garnered praise for its “wonderful ensemble, balance, and unity of purpose,” and its “terrific collaboration full of grace and passion.” (Eugene and Elisabeth Pridonoff, Professors Emeriti, University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music). In addition to numerous academic awards, Liliestedt has twice been the recipient of the prestigious Presser Music Award.

As a pianist, Liliestedt has been a prizewinner in solo piano and collaborative competitions at the high school, collegiate, and graduate levels, and maintains a regular schedule of solo, chamber, and concerto performances. Her interpretations of the Liszt First Piano Concerto were received enthusiastically; in conductor Eric Benjamin’s words: “hearing Maira Liliestedt play [this concerto] is like watching an Indy race driver take the car out for a spin.” Liliestedt's performances in the Midwest and abroad in recent seasons have included solo and violin/piano recitals with violinists Bohdan Subchak and Emily Cornelius as well as duo and solo concerto performances, featuring pieces such as Bach’s B-flat Major Partita and the Liszt B Minor Sonata, Chopin's First Concerto, Rachmaninoff's Second Concerto, Saint-Saëns’s Second Piano Concerto and Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, Brahms’s complete Hungarian Dances, Schubert’s F Minor Fantasy for piano four hands as well as vocal/piano collaboration with Laura Mason.

An active pedagogue, Liliestedt maintains a growing studio, Keys to Artistry, which has expanded offerings in music history, theory, and repertoire in addition to piano lessons, and offers multiple performance opportunities for its students. 2024-2025 has brought about the debut of the Keys to Artistry Concert Series, consisting of an array of professional and advanced student concerts in the tradition of the nineteenth-century’s Schubertiades, hosted in an intimate house setting. More information at www.keystoartistry.com. Her first published book was released in February 2025 by Innovative Ink Publishing, a division of Kendall Hunt Publishing Company: Piano TEACHeR: Teaching through Emotional Awareness, Content, and Human Relationships.

COVID forced academia to move online, increasing the loneliness fed by social media and revealing a dire need for powerful, in-person human relationships. Piano lessons are avenues excellently-suited to one-on-one communication and relationship-building, particularly as their unique language—music—already thrives on emotional awareness. Some of the longest-lasting teaching successes have come through mentoring—using emotional awareness to build powerful relationships with students, relationships that regularly blossom into friendships after graduation, often proving to be life-changing on both sides. Current pedagogy books focus on piano teaching/playing skills without delving into human connections—the meaningful cornerstone of excellent teaching. This piano pedagogy book includes piano-specific particulars AND shows examples of how those particulars have grown from and led to powerful human relationships between teachers, students, and alumni.

The text discusses the author's piano relationships and includes research on best practices in piano teaching, instrument-specific tips, alumni accounts about the benefits of human-focused mentorship and teaching, and quotations from renowned pedagogues, proving the inextricable links between piano study and the persons involved.

Piano TEACHeR sheds light on piano teaching’s human potential for current teachers and codifies the benefits of emotionally-aware teaching methods for college students preparing for teaching careers.

 

Foreword

Introduction

Chapter 1: Main Elements of Piano Technique
• Scales
• Arpeggios
• Chords
• Octaves
• Related technical exercises

Chapter 2: Physical Wellness in Piano Technique
• Tips on solving other technical challenges
• Choreography, rotation, and efficiency in movement
• Preventing injury
• Playing after injury

Chapter 3: Mental Wellness and Relating to Our Students
• Mental wellness
• Listening to human cues
• Friendships/relationships with students

Chapter 4: Choosing Teaching Materials
• Choosing repertoire
• Favorite supplemental literature
• Favorite pieces

Chapter 5: Learning Piano Music
• Learning
o Aural, kinesthetic, and visual learning
o Sight-reading
o Rhythm
o Fingering
o Articulation
o Dynamics

Chapter 6: Expression and Musicality
• Phrasing
• Pedaling
• Human experience

Chapter 7: Memorizing Piano Music
• Use of music theory in learning and memorizing
• Memorization tools

Chapter 8: Student Motivation and Piano Practice
• Student motivation
• Practice tips
• Practice games

Chapter 9: Listening and Performance
• Listening
o To one’s own playing
o To others’ playing (studio class)
• Performance

Chapter 10: Goals and Standards
• Pianistic and teaching goals
• Rigor and standards
o In teaching
o In performing

Chapter 11: Grab-bag of Teaching Tips
• Arts Advocacy
• Organization of studio space
• Continuing teacher education
• Other tips
• Student stories

Maira Liliestedt

Maira Liliestedt was a prizewinner in numerous student competitions in her native Romania before moving to the United States in 1992. Liliestedt received a Bachelor of Music in piano from Bowling Green State University and Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music where she studied with Eugene and Elisabeth Pridonoff.

A professor emeritus of music at the University of Mount Union, Liliestedt previously taught at Northern Kentucky University, the College of Mount Saint Joseph, and in the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music’s evening program. She is an active adjudicator for festivals and competitions, has been published in Clavier magazine and has served as panelist and presenter for the GP3: Group Piano and Piano Pedagogy conference. She has presented at local, district, and state conferences including the Ohio MTA and Texas MTA conventions and has served in officer positions for local and district chapters of Music Teachers' National Association. Liliestedt also served on the planning committee for the 2016 Ohio Music Teachers’ Association State Conference. Her professional experience also includes masterclasses and chamber music coaching with James Tocco and Emanuel Ax.

Since 1996, she has been a member of the Appassionata Piano Duo, a successful musical partnership with pianist Janelle Phinney. Arts critic Tom Wachunas described the duo’s playing as “a warm and deft joining of palpable grace with flawless, often fiery technique,” displaying a “riveting, lucid finesse alternately muscular and delicate.” The ensemble has garnered praise for its “wonderful ensemble, balance, and unity of purpose,” and its “terrific collaboration full of grace and passion.” (Eugene and Elisabeth Pridonoff, Professors Emeriti, University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music). In addition to numerous academic awards, Liliestedt has twice been the recipient of the prestigious Presser Music Award.

As a pianist, Liliestedt has been a prizewinner in solo piano and collaborative competitions at the high school, collegiate, and graduate levels, and maintains a regular schedule of solo, chamber, and concerto performances. Her interpretations of the Liszt First Piano Concerto were received enthusiastically; in conductor Eric Benjamin’s words: “hearing Maira Liliestedt play [this concerto] is like watching an Indy race driver take the car out for a spin.” Liliestedt's performances in the Midwest and abroad in recent seasons have included solo and violin/piano recitals with violinists Bohdan Subchak and Emily Cornelius as well as duo and solo concerto performances, featuring pieces such as Bach’s B-flat Major Partita and the Liszt B Minor Sonata, Chopin's First Concerto, Rachmaninoff's Second Concerto, Saint-Saëns’s Second Piano Concerto and Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, Brahms’s complete Hungarian Dances, Schubert’s F Minor Fantasy for piano four hands as well as vocal/piano collaboration with Laura Mason.

An active pedagogue, Liliestedt maintains a growing studio, Keys to Artistry, which has expanded offerings in music history, theory, and repertoire in addition to piano lessons, and offers multiple performance opportunities for its students. 2024-2025 has brought about the debut of the Keys to Artistry Concert Series, consisting of an array of professional and advanced student concerts in the tradition of the nineteenth-century’s Schubertiades, hosted in an intimate house setting. More information at www.keystoartistry.com. Her first published book was released in February 2025 by Innovative Ink Publishing, a division of Kendall Hunt Publishing Company: Piano TEACHeR: Teaching through Emotional Awareness, Content, and Human Relationships.