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Journal of Piano Research
Volume 1, Issue 1. August 2025. Pages 3-9
A publication of The Frances Clark Center for Keyboard Pedagogy
journalofpianoresearch.org

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Pamela Pike, co-editor-in-chief

United States

Pamela D. Pike is the Herndon Spillman Professor of Piano Pedagogy and Associate Dean for Research, Creative Activity and Community Engagement in the College of Music and Dramatic Arts at Louisiana State University. A graduate of the University of Western Ontario, Southern Illinois University, and the University of Oklahoma, Pike has extensive experience teaching piano to students of all ages, both privately and in group settings.

Dr. Pike has published over three dozen scholarly articles in peer-reviewed journals including Psychology of Music, International Journal of Music Education, Music Education Research, Journal of Music, Technology & Education, Journal of Music Teacher Education, Problems in Music Pedagogy, Piano Magazine, Clavier Companion, Keyboard Companion, CMS Symposium, MTNA e-Journal, and American Music Teacher. Pike’s books, The Adult Music Student: Making Music throughout the Lifespan and Dynamic Group-Piano Teaching: Transforming Group Theory into Teaching Practice are published by Routledge. Her extensive asynchronous curriculum, How to Play Piano, is a best-seller with The Great Courses. Pike has contributed chapters to publications on pedagogy with the Royal Conservatory of Music (Toronto) and The Frances Clark Center for Keyboard Pedagogy (Kingston, NJ); leadership, creativity and advocacy in Leadership and Musician Development in Higher Music Education (Routledge); online internships and music experiences in High Impact Practices in Distance Education (Stylus Press) and Music, Technology, Innovation (Routledge); and adult learning in The Handbook of Adult Learning (forthcoming). Pike is the Editor-in-Chief/Chief Content Director of the Piano Magazine and serves on the editorial boards of Canadian Music Educator and the Journal of Music, Technology & Education.

During the two past decades, Dr. Pike has presented research papers at international conferences throughout Asia, Europe, Scandinavia, North and South America. In the United States, she is regularly invited to present papers and workshops at the Music Teachers National Association, College Music Society, Association for Technology in Music Instruction, and the National Conference on Keyboard Pedagogy. She is a regular webinar presenter for MusicEdConnect and The Frances Clark Center.

Alejandro Cremaschi, co-editor-in-cheif

United States

Alejandro Cremaschi is Professor of Piano at the University of Colorado Boulder, where he teaches piano pedagogy and applied piano, and coordinates the class piano area. He is the Director for Research Advancement for The Frances Clark Center for Keyboard Pedagogy. Cremaschi is an active performer, and has recorded as a soloist and chamber pianist for the labels IRCO, Ostinato, Marco Polo, and Meridian Records.  His pedagogical edition and recording of Alberto Ginastera’s Doce Preludios Americanos for piano was published by Carl Fischer in 2016, and superseded the original 1946 original edition of this work. His research areas include concert repertoire and pedagogical music by Spanish and Latin American composers; student achievement, motivation and practicing strategies; and the pedagogical uses of technology. He has been a presenter at numerous national and international conferences, including Music Teachers National Association, National Conference in Keyboard Pedagogy, College Music Society and International Society for Music Education national and international conferences. He has published articles in the Research Studies in Music Education journal, Journal of Music, Technology and Education, Clavier Companion, Piano Magazine, and the Music Teachers National Association’s e-Journal among others. He was a prize winner at the International Beethoven Sonata Piano Competition in Memphis, Tennessee in 2001.  Dr. Cremaschi received MM and DMA degrees from the University of Minnesota, and undergraduate degrees from the University of Maryland Baltimore County, and the Universidad Nacional de Cuyo, Mendoza, Argentina. He studied with pianists Dora De Marinis, Nancy Roldan, and Lydia Artymiw. In 2017 he was awarded the Outstanding Alumni Award at the University of Maryland Baltimore County’s College of Arts and Humanities. Cremaschi received an Outstanding Alumni Award from College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences at UMBC, and an Outstanding Service Recognition Award from the Frances Clark Center in 2021.

Gilles Comeau

Canada

Gilles Comeau is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, the director and principal researcher of the Piano Pedagogy Research Laboratory, the founding director of the Music and Health Research Institute, the founding director of the Musicians’ Wellness Centre, and a professor at the School of Music at the University of Ottawa. He has been the beneficiary of many research grants and his research laboratory conducts multidisciplinary research on various aspects of music learning, performing and teaching including piano-playing health injuries, physical aspects of instrumental playing, motivation, music reading, video-mediated learning, music and health, and music and wellbeing. Dr. Comeau’s research findings have received coverage in various academic journals as well as in popular media outlets (television and magazine).

Carla Davis Cash

United States

Carla Davis Cash is Associate Professor of Piano Pedagogy at Texas Tech University’s School of Music where she also serves as Associate Director for Performance and Pedagogy Studies. For over a decade, her body of research has centered on the processes by which novice and expert musicians learn and refine motor skills. She regularly presents at state, national, and international conferences and her writing can be found in the leading journals and trade magazines of music education and music psychology as well as in the 2024 release of The Cambridge Companion to Piano Pedagogy (Madden, C., ed.). Dr. Cash is a member of TTU’s Teaching Academy and was awarded the Texas Tech University Chancellor’s Council Distinguished Research Award in 2015. She has also received an Arts in Medicine Grant from TTU’s Talkington College of Visual and Performing Arts, several Texas Tech Scholarship Catalyst Program Grants, the inaugural Texas Tech Seed Grant for Interdisciplinary Research and, most recently, The Frances Clark Center for Keyboard Pedagogy Outstanding Service Recognition Award (2023). Over the years, Dr. Cash has served in various capacities for The Frances Clark Center, Music Teachers National Association, National Association for Music Educators, College Music Society, and Texas Music Educators Association. A native of Miami, Florida, she earned a BM and MM at the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami, and holds a PhD in Music and Human Learning from The University of Texas at Austin.

Diana Dumlavwalla

United States

Canadian pianist, Diana Dumlavwalla, is Associate Professor of Piano Pedagogy at Florida State University. Previously, Diana taught at Western University where she developed the faculty’s inaugural doctoral piano pedagogy course. Additionally, she has held adjunct positions at the University of Toronto, University of Windsor, and Wilfrid Laurier University. She also serves as a member of the Royal Conservatory of Music’s College of Examiners and adjudicates at local, regional, and state/provincial competitions.  

Diana’s research has been featured in journals such as the International Journal of Music Education, American Music Teacher, Piano Magazine, and Canadian Music Teacher. She has been involved in many webinars and digital projects for The Frances Clark Center and the Royal Conservatory and is serving as President of the Florida State Music Teachers Association from 2021-2023. Diana was awarded the 2018 and 2021 MTNA e-Journal Article of the Year and was named Florida State University’s 2023 Advisor of the Year.

As a soloist and chamber musician, Diana has performed across three continents.  She has appeared at the Burgos Conservatory Concert Hall in Spain, Jan Deyl Conservatory in the Czech Republic, University of Toowoomba in Australia, Pałac Małachowskich in Poland, the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, and many venues in London, U.K.  She has also been featured in numerous concert series throughout the United States and Canada.

Dr. Dumlavwalla holds a DMA degree from the University of Toronto, M.Mus. from the Royal College of Music in London, and BMus from Wilfrid Laurier University.

Charlene Ryan

Canada

Charlene Ryan is a music education professor who specializes at the elementary and early childhood levels. Currently an Associate Professor at Toronto Metropolitan University, she has been in higher education for more than twenty years, with previous positions at the Berklee College of Music in Boston and McGill University in Montreal. Dr. Ryan’s research focuses on the experience and development of music performance anxiety, in particular in children and adolescents. With a background in piano performance and pedagogy, she has a keen interest in the experiences of developing pianists and has focused several of her research studies on piano students, their parents, and their teachers. Her work can be found in a wide range of journals, including the International Journal of Music Education, Psychology of Music, Medical Problems of Performing Artists, Journal of Research in Music Education, the International Journal of Stress Management, and Music and Science. Dr. Ryan is the author of several music-focused children’s books, including Hannabelle’s Butterflies, Katherine Lost, and The Milk Crate Club, as well as a collection of pedagogical picture books, the Sound Books, designed for interactive exploration of the elements of music. Her collegiate-level book, Building Strong Music Programs: A Handbook for Preservice and Novice Music Teachers, is used in teacher education programs across the continent and was recognized as an Outstanding Academic Title by the Association of College and Research Libraries.

Carla Salas-Ruiz

United States

Originally from Costa Rica, Dr. Salas-Ruiz is an accomplished musician, music educator, and researcher. In Spring 2023, she earned her PhD in Music Education and Piano Pedagogy from Louisiana State University. During her doctoral studies, she served as Instructor of Group and Secondary Piano to undergraduate music majors. She was also an active member of several organizations, including the LSU Translational Research in Music Group and the LSU Student Diversity & Inclusion Organization. In recognition of her work, Carla was awarded the LSU Alumni Graduate Teaching Assistant of the Year in Spring 2021 and was invited to join the Pi Kappa Lambda Music Honor Society.

Before pursuing her doctoral studies, she served as a professor in the music education program at the University of Costa Rica, where she also taught piano lessons in the music precollege program. As a collaborative pianist, Dr. Salas-Ruiz has performed recitals in multiple countries, including Costa Rica, Mexico, Cuba, Panama, and the United States. Her research focuses on interdisciplinary and application-oriented approaches to understanding motivation and interest development in intermediate piano students, as well as healthy musicianship practices in the private studio. She also investigates how preservice music teachers acquire pedagogical content knowledge in healthy musicianship to foster wellness and self-care in college music schools. She has presented her research at various national conferences, including Music Teachers National Aassociation, Society for Music Teacher Education, National Conference for Keyboard Pedagogy, and National Association for Music Education. Results from her research have been published in journals such as Visions of Research in Music Education and Piano Magazine

Jane Southcott

Australia

Dr. Jane Southcott is a Professor in the Faculty of Education, Monash University. She is an internationally recognized historian with a particular focus on music teaching and learning in nineteenth and twentieth century Australia, America, and Europe. Her authoritative monograph, Sarah Glover: Nineteenth Century Music Education Pioneer (2020), repositions Glover in past and present educational practice. Dr. Shoutcott researches the commonplaces of social and cultural history–the people and practices that we take for granted. Dr. Southcott recently co-edited Revolutions in Music Education: Historical and Social Explorations (Sutherland, de Bruin and Southcott, 2022) which encompassed transformative ideas that were quickly adopted by others and continue to be significant in current practice. Dr. Southcott’s work as a historian ties to her other research strength, phenomenology in which she explores lifelong learning and lived experience, particularly in formal and informal education and amongst culturally and linguistically diverse communities and their arts practices. The recent edited book Phenomenological Inquiry in Education: Theories, Practices, Provocations and Directions (Creely, Lyons, Carabott and Southcott, 2020) captures international and local thinking. Dr. Southcott is Co-Editor of the International Journal of Music Education, and a member of Editorial Boards such as that of the Journal of Historical Research in Music Education. She is a life member of the Australian Association for Research in Music Education and of the Australian Society for Music Education.

Cynthia Stephens-Himonides

United Kingdom

Cynthia Stephens-Himonides, Senior Lecturer and Course Leader for the postgraduate programs Music Education MA and Music Performance MMus at Kingston University London, is a teacher, teacher educator, and researcher of instrumental music teaching and learning, the use and integration of technology in music teaching, and inclusive music teaching and teacher education.  Her publications are found in the Journal of Music, Technology & Education, International Journal of Music Education, The Routledge Companion to Music, Technology, and Education, Leadership of Pedagogy and Curriculum in Higher Music Education, and the Routledge Companion to Women and Musical Leadership (in press). Dr. Stephens-Himonides has been a member of the Research Committee of the National Conference on Keyboard Pedagogy since 2004.

George Waddell

United Kingdom

George Waddell is Performance Research and Innovation Fellow at the Royal College of Music. He is also Area Leader in Performance Science for the BMus program, and Sessional Lecturer and honorary Research Associate in the Faculty of Medicine at Imperial College London. His research focuses on understanding and optimising how performers learn and are evaluated, including decision-making among judges, the development of evaluative skills, and how technology can be used to enhance how performance is assessed and learned.

Dr. Waddell works closely with experts across fields to examine parallels in performance practice and to develop and deliver bespoke performance training to students and professionals, including stage presentation skills, managing performance anxiety, and working creatively under pressure. As Area Leader in Performance Science he oversees a range of BMus RCM modules ensuring that students benefit from the latest research and scientific knowledge in their training. He designs and leads courses on scientific research methods, the psychology of performance, enterprise and innovation, professional skills, musicians’ health and wellbeing, and the science and practice of performance evaluation. He is a coauthor of the research methods textbook Performing Music Research (Oxford University Press) and serves as a consultant on external research projects.

Dr. Waddell holds a PhD in Performance Science from the RCM. He completed his BMus and MMus in piano performance at Brandon University (Canada) while studying psychology. He was awarded the Brandon University Gold Medal for the Master of Music Degree, was a recipient of the Manitoba Graduate Scholarship, and holds an ARCT Diploma from the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto. He is a Consulting Editor for the journal Musicae Scientiae and an Associate Editor for Frontiers in Performance Science.

Brenda Wristen

United States

Brenda Wristen is Professor of Piano and Piano Pedagogy in the Glenn Korff School of Music at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln where she directs the piano pedagogy and class piano programs. She is additionally founder and director of the Community Piano Experience, an outreach program offering group piano instruction to adult recreational pianists. Dr. Wristen’s research focuses primarily on musician occupational health, with particular interest in biomechanical approaches to piano technique and addressing the challenges of small-handed pianists. Currently, she is investigating relationships between burnout and job conditions among university music faculty. She is co-author of the groundbreaking book Adaptive Strategies for Small-Handed Pianists, published by Oxford University Press. Dr. Wristen also publishes on varied topics of applied piano pedagogy. Her research has been recognized with several awards and her publications have been cited by hundreds of scholars working in more than 100 different countries. She has presented her research at meetings of numerous professional organizations, including Music Teachers National Association, the National Conference on Keyboard Pedagogy, the Performing Arts Medicine Association, The College Music Society, and the International Society for Music Education. Her articles have been published in Clavier, Piano Pedagogy Forum, American Music Teacher, Medical Problems of Performing Artists, UPDATE:  Applications of Research in Music Education, Music Education Research, Keyboard Companion, Piano Magazine, and College Music Symposium. In addition to her university teaching, Dr. Wristen maintains a piano studio and is an active performer, clinician, and adjudicator.

Betty Anne Younker

Canada

Betty Anne Younker, (PhD Northwestern University, MEd Pennsylvania State University, BMus University of Prince Edward Island) returned to the University of Western Ontario as Dean and Professor of Music Education of the Don Wright Faculty in August 2011; she finished her second term August 2021 and continues as a professor in the music education department with retirement occurring on August 1, 2023. Previous appointments were at the University of Michigan (2000-2011), University of Western Ontario (1997-2000), and the University of Prince Edward Island (1992-1997). Awards include the Dr. Pedro Goldman Award Faculty of Music Students Council (Western), and the distinguished Alumnus of the Year (Penn State University, College of Arts and Architecture). Her research interests include critical and creative thinking within the disciplines of philosophy and psychology, which has been published in national and international journals and as book chapters; and has been presented at national and international conferences. She has served the profession and community in a variety of capacities including as President of the Michigan Music Educators Association, The College Music Society, and the London Arts Council, and as a member of several editorial boards and committees. Currently, she is Chair of the Board of Directors for the London Kiwanis Music Festival, Vice Chair of Board of Directors for London Symphonia, and President of the University of Prince Edward Island Alumni Association.

Katie Zhukov

Australia

After completing undergraduate studies in Australia and a Master of Music at the Juilliard School of Music, New York, Katie Zhukov has taught piano for many years at the Sydney, Queensland, and Western Australian Conservatoriums. Her PhD from the University of New South Wales focused on instrumental pedagogy at the tertiary level leading to a research position at the University of Queensland that resulted in publication of a textbook Sight-reading for Advanced Pianists (Wirripang). She is currently a Research Fellow at Monash University.

Dr. Zhukov has performed numerous concertos with professional and student orchestras, and presented many solo and chamber music recitals, partnering with Australia’s finest string players. She has an enduring interest in Australian piano music and has released three solo CDs and eight books of new Australian repertoire: Australian Women Composers’ Piano Anthology (2021; 2019; 2015), Piano Progressions (2021; Books 1 & 2), and Wirripang Australian Piano Anthology (2011; Books 1-3). 

Dr. Zhukov’s publications on a variety of issues in instrumental music teaching, sight-reading, performance anxiety, and pianists’ careers appear in articles in high-impact international journals and in seven book chapters. She has also presented papers at many international and national music conferences. She has served on the Editorial Board of International Journal of Music Education: Research and is currently on the Editorial Board of Frontiers in Psychology: Performance Science.