I am not only a performing artist. I place high value on my educational mission to educate students and the public about our art, and to enable it to survive and grow into a vibrant future. My publications range from a book about Scriabin (co-author with Lincoln Ballard, with John Bell Young), various articles, a growing series of educational videos, and a massive open online course (MOOC) series on piano sonatas available on Coursera.
A modern, interdisciplinary introduction to and reference to the composer, published by Rowman and Littlefield Press.
At the time of its publication (2017), it was the first significant English book on Scriabin to have appeared in many years.
Exploring Piano Literature: the Piano Sonata is a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) series available on Coursera. Course One considers the origins of the genre and repertoire through Haydn and Mozart. Course Two looks at Beethoven and Romantic sonatas, and Course Three introduces the repertoire of Russian piano sonatas and a small list of other landmark works of the 20th and 21st centuries. Through this MOOC Series I discuss how sonatas are put together and demonstrate long-term developments in style. I play excerpts of the music, whenever practical, on the kinds of instruments that were known to the composers. The series is geared to a level that is approachable for the general public, but an Honors Specialization option is also available for the needs of music students. I hope that this MOOC series will help make a deeper acquaintance with and understanding of our major repertoire accessible to amateurs, music lovers, and professionals in training across the globe.
Exploring the Repertoire is a collection of brief videos about piano pieces that are interesting and worthy but are too often overlooked. I may have encountered these pieces as a performer, a teacher, from students or other colleagues, but most often just from exploring. Despite my interests in contemporary music and historical pianos, I demonstrate all these pieces on a modern grand piano and limit the series to works in the public domain that are widely accessible, with little effort or expense.
This series, in which I combine performance excerpts and light commentary, resides in parallel with the Michigan Recording Project, which I organize. That series is a more formal and polished set of recorded performances and program notes. It includes works that are licensed and not in the public domain.
With these two series I hope to encourage a sense of adventure and risk-taking in programming!
Piano Literature Corner is a series of educational productions that I curate on the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance website. All materials there are intended both for SMTD use and as public educational outreach. I hope they will be of interest to students and teachers, amateurs and professionals.
The first major project to be found is a series of presentations about and performances of Chopin’s Mazurkas. Tying in with this Polish theme is a group of two 50+ minute presentation on piano works of Karol Szymanowski, ideal as either a reference for or an introduction to the music.
Rounding out the site are a series of lectures on and performances of Debussy Preludes, and on the piano sonatas of George T. Walker. Other projects in the pipeline include information on the music of Bartók and Szymanowski.
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