2017 Piano Camp for Piano Teachers

A unique ONLINE summer camp for piano teachers

Purchase LIFETIME access to this virtual conference now through TUESDAY Sept. 6, 2022 at Midnight Central! After that, it goes poof!

READ BELOW for DESCRIPTIONS of ALL 4 SESSIONS, plus watch a SNEAK PREVIEW of Marvin!

YOUR INSTRUCTORS

FEATURED PRESENTER Marvin Blickenstaff is known among piano teachers throughout the country for his teaching, lecturing, performing, and publishing. Currently he maintains a private studio in the Philadelphia area and teaches at The New School for Music Study in Princeton. Blickenstaff is the former Board President of the Frances Clark Center for Keyboard Pedagogy and is on the Executive Planning Committee of the National Conference on Keyboard Pedagogy. In 2007 the on-line journal Piano Pedagogy Forum published tributes to Blickenstaff honoring his contribution to piano teaching in America. Also in 2007 he was named Fellow of the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto. He was honored in 2009 with MTNA’s highest award, the MTNA Achievement Award, and was selected in 2013 by the National Conference on Keyboard Pedagogy for its Lifetime Achievement Award.

Founder ELIZABETH GUTIERREZ began Piano Camp for Piano Teachers in 2009 as an extension of this instructional blog for piano teachers. She has years of experience teaching piano, piano pedagogy, and piano literature to undergraduate and graduate students at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of Texas at San Antonio. She has given numerous workshops and master classes to working independent teachers around the globe both in person and via livestream on Facebook and Periscope and also as a national clinician for Faber Piano Adventures. For her workshops and online courses, she draws on her extensive background as an independent teacher, professor, performer, and composer/editor/author.

4 diverse video sessions you may access on-demand, complete with downloadable PDF handouts.


Warm-Ups? Who, Me? Technical Routines for All Ages

Marvin Blickenstaff, presenter

Physiologists would take exception to what many of our students consider a warm-up (one fast scale and we’re ready to go!) Athletes, dancers, and orchestral musicians have extensive warm-up routines. Piano students can learn much from these professionals about the concept of warming up, and apply those concepts to their own practice, regardless of level of development.


Performance Practice Made Easy: Rules of Thumb for the Student

Marvin Blickenstaff, presenter

It is a big job to bring our students to an accurate performance of notes and rhythms. Yet composers indicate details of sound through slurs and phrase markings, and a wide variety of articulations. This workshop attempts to provide students with Rules of Thumb that govern the interpretation of the sound.


A Simple Step-by-Step Start to Major Scales, All Without A Book

Elizabeth Gutierrez, presenter, and founder of Piano Camp for Piano Teachers

Why wait until students can read a scale book and understand key signatures before starting scales? You can start students easily with scales once they know steps and skips at the keyboard. Elizabeth shares a tried-and-true method for introducing scales in a highly visual, auditory, and kinesthetic manner to confirm understanding of all 12 major scales in just a few weeks!


The End is in the Beginning: Coaching a Piece to Performance

Marvin Blickenstaff, presenter

The teacher plays a vital role in guiding the development of a piece to performance. How do we introduce new materials to incite curiosity and a desire to learn? What are the pertinent practice steps? And what are the clues to an effective performance? Some of these answers are indicated in the score and others must come from the teacher's wealth of experience and personal musicianship. This workshop helps sharpen our skills as we lead students to effective performance. Memory techniques are also discussed.


 

Access this course anytime, anywhere, across all devices right here on this website.

PRAISE for MARVIN BLICKENSTAFF

I cannot sing enough praises about this man as the most inspiring piano pedagogue. Many years ago, I lived near Goshen College in Indiana where Marvin taught for years. I attended one of his summer workshops, and my piano teaching was changed from that moment on. Since then, I try to hear him at every opportunity. I attended the National Conference on Keyboard Pedagogy conference in Chicago a few years ago for that very reason.

So inspiring! In any given master class, Marvin will inevitably tell the student what he "admires" about their playing. Such a remarkable thing to say. And notice (as I've heard him say is intentional), he never says, "You played this and that great, BUT.... " He never says "but"; he doesn't approach it that way. He adds. He expands. He teaches in the most positive, encouraging, beautiful way. He tells a story, shares the history, paints a picture, evokes a feeling... so that by the time the student plays the piece again, it is utterly transformed. And so are we, the listeners.

Marvin Blickenstaff is Magical.

Marvin demonstrates beautifully the Frances Clark tradition of teaching every student with love, respect, and an intentional way of tuning into each student individually, meeting them where they are and teaching them from their center, not his. I find it remarkable that he is still living among us, and that we have the opportunity to hear him and learn from him, and to follow one of the greatest forms of teaching and learning: to imitate him.

Marvin Blickenstaff is a gift. I hope you'll join me in participating in Elizabeth Gutierrez's summer camp this year to learn from so that you too may be inspired.

Amy Barker, Piano Teacher
College Station, Texas

Watch this sneak preview of Marvin!

Reflecting on his collboration with educational composer, Lynn Freeman Olson


This course is closed for enrollment.

Frequently Asked Questions


How long will I have access to the video sessions?
How does lifetime access sound? Yes, once you purchase you may view the 4 sessions at your leisure as many times as you like using your login information.
How do I log in to the sessions? And what if I forget my log-in information?
You will use the username/password that you create when you make your purchase. Should you forget that combination, please email us at [email protected]. We will then send you a new password which you may re-set later.
What if I am unhappy with this online summer camp?
We would never want you to be unhappy! If you are unsatisfied with your purchase, you must contact us within the first 30 days after you purchase and we will give you a full refund.
Whom do I contact with additional questions?
Contact James, PCPT Coordinator, with any questions - [email protected]

"Thank you Elizabeth, thank you Marvin - watching this conference right now on replay and finding so many teaching tips. A true gold mine of piano pedagogy wisdom. Such well spent money and time. The info is multi-level and plentiful - am going to have to write notes upon notes!"

- Sarah Arnold, Brussels, Belgium

"Marvin's wealth of wisdom and knowledge is remarkable, but I equally enjoyed his humility, kindness and joyful spirit. Thank you Elizabeth for another wonderful Piano Camp for Piano Teachers. I'm especially excited that I will be able to watch the videos over the next year. You're a huge blessing to the piano community."

- Ginny Godsey, San Antonio, Texas

This course is closed for enrollment.