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Instructors Susan Nowicki, Piano Instructor Judy Huston, Aston-Patterning Specialist Ariel Weiss, Alexander Technique Instructor Bob Schlesinger, Feldenkrais Method Specialist Thomas Mullaney, O Passo Instructor Jan Krzywicki, Guest Speaker Dr. Sarah E. Church, Learning styles consultant Carol Eugenia Burns, Yoga instructor Chris Saudek, Yoga Instructor Gulchin Tarabus, Orff-Schulwerk presenter Dr. Diane Foust, Alexander Technique Instructor Gil Kelly, Feldenkrais Method Specialist |
 Teresa Dybvig and Susan Nowicki at The Balanced Pianist Colorado 2006. |
 Photo by Christina Larsen  Click to listen
to a sample ofTeresa Dybvig's CD  Susan Nowicki and Teresa Dybvig performing duets |
PERFORMANCE Pianist Teresa Dybvig played the piano from a young age, performing her first full-length solo recital at the age of thirteen. Today she performs as a soloist and chamber musician throughout the US, in Europe, and in the Mideast. A CD featuring her performance of works by Debussy, Hughes, Beethoven, Talma, and Chopin is now available. For more about Teresa Dybvig, to listen to a clip from audio recordings, or read some of her articles, please visit TeresaDybvig.com (opens in a new window). EDUCATION She holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Piano Performance from Yale University School of Music. She received the Bachelor of Music in piano performance, with High Distinction, and the Master's degree in piano performance, with Distinction, from Indiana University. Numerous prizes and scholarships, including the Charles H. Ditson Award for Outstanding Performer, a full scholarship at Yale, and the Honors Scholarship at Indiana, supported her education and performance. Her most influential major teachers include Peter Frankl, Boris Berman, and James Tocco. While she was working on her degree from Yale, she began studying Dorothy Taubman's approach to piano technique with Edna Golandsky in Manhattan, which she continued for many years. TEACHING Dr. Dybvig's expertise is much sought after. Not only does she teach privately at home in Long Island, her busy teaching schedule also regularly takes her to students in Long Island, Manhattan, Denver, and Chicago. She also traveled to teach in La Crosse, WI and St. Paul, MN for many years. She was a member of the faculty of the Taubman Institute of Piano from 1995 to 2002, and the Golandsky Institute, through 2004. She also taught undergraduate music theory, formal analysis, music literature, and ear-training at Indiana University and Boston University. In 2003, she founded The Balanced Pianist, now The Well-Balanced Pianist, programs in order to provide participants with a place to learn healthy physical and mental practice, performing, and teaching habits in a supportive, interactive atmosphere. In conjunction with her specialty in helping pianists with injuries to play in a healthier and more effective way, Dr. Dybvig has developed a sub-specialty of teaching pianists with dystonia to change their incoordinate habits and return to playing. Clavier published an article in February 2007 about her work with dystonia, entitled "Moving Naturally." In August 2007 she presented a poster showing her observations about the incoordinate habits of pianists with dystonia and their preferable alternatives at the NCKP conference in Chicago. In 2008, she presented a talk about her work at the International Congress on Musicians' Medicine in Milan, Italy. She also offers special day-long sessions for pianists with dystonia before some Well-Balanced Pianist programs, and will teach a workshop for pianists with dystonia through Vancouver Community College in July 2011. LECTURES Teresa Dybvig is frequently asked by colleges and other music organizations to present lectures and master classes on both the interpretive and technical aspects of playing the piano. Her lectures focus on three distinct areas: Dorothy Taubman's approach to piano technique, the application of the Dunn and Dunn learning styles model to teaching piano, and Music by Women. Her lectures have been heard in many colleges and music teacher's organizations in thirteen states of the U.S. and three cities in Turkey. |
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PERFORMANCE Susan Nowicki has served as coach, assistant chorus master, and continuo performer for the Philadelphia Singers, Opera Company of Philadelphia, the Opera Festival of New Jersey and the Philadelphia Classical Symphony among others, and served as musical assistant for the Philadelphia Singers' three RCA Red Seal releases. Ms. Nowicki has performed throughout the United States on piano, fortepiano and harpsichord, as soloist and in collaboration with singers and instrumentalists such as Pamela Frank, Peter Lloyd, and Emily Golden, performs frequently with members of the Philadelphia Orchestra, and has toured with Community Concerts under the auspices of CAMI. An avid performer of contemporary music, Ms Nowicki has premiered and performed works with Network for New Music and Orchestra 2001, and has recorded contemporary music for the Albany, Capstone and North-South labels. With trumpeter Terry Everson she has toured nationally and released CDs of recent music for the International Trumpet Guild and De Haske labels. She has also produced and performed on a release of chamber works by Jan Krzywicki for Albany Records. TEACHING Susan Nowicki is a faculty member of the Curtis Institute of Music where she coaches for the Vocal Studies Department. Ms. Nowicki is in demand as an adjudicator and clinician for music festivals and competitions. She maintains private piano studios in Philadelphia, PA, and Lawrenceville, NJ, was a faculty member of the Taubman and Golandsky Institutes from 1997 through 2005, and has been a guest artist/clinician and Piano Instructor for the Well-Balanced Pianist. Susan Nowicki played a fabulous recital, taught lessons, and gave a clinic at Piano Camp in Setauket 2003, and was a piano instructor and clinician at The Balanced Pianist Colorado 2006, The Balanced Pianist Colorado 2007, and The Balanced Pianist Wisconsin 2007, The Balanced Pianist Colorado 2008, The Balanced Pianist Wisconsin 2008, The Well-Balanced Pianist Colorado 2009, and The Well-Balanced Pianist Colorado 2010. In addition to serving as instructor and clinician, she hosted The Balanced Pianist Pennsylvania 2008, The Well-Balanced Pianist Pennsylvania 2009, The Well-Balanced Pianist Pennsylvania 2010, and The Well-Balanced Pianist Pennsylvania 2011! She will return to The Well-Balanced Pianist Colorado 2012 to contribute her spirit and expertise to the gathering! |
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CERTIFIED ASTON PRACTITIONER TEACHING AND BODYWORK Judy Huston works with clients who need help with rehabilitation and recovery from injuries, surgery, and repetitive motion disorders. She works within the paradigms of Aston-Patterning and Craniosacral Therapy, offering private bodywork and movement sessions as well as classes. She has also taught piano since she was 17, when she began by apprentice teaching with her mother, Eloise Ristad. EDUCATION Ms. Huston was trained by Judith Aston, internationally renowned somatic therapy innovator, and Anna and John Chitty, local innovators in Polarity Therapy and Craniosacral Biodynamics. She received her undergraduate degree in Piano Performance and Pedagogy in 1990 from the University of Colorado, where she studied with Doris Pridinoff Lehnert and David Burge. After 25 years of teaching music, and observing the bodies of her students, Judy decided to broaden her understanding of the body. After receiving Aston-Patterning sessions for a dance injury, she found a passion for that body of work. She completed the Aston Fitness Training program in 1993, the Aston-Patterning certification training under Judith Aston in 1995, and the Aston Arthro-Kinetics program in 1999. In 2002, she began the Certification training in Craniosacral Biodynamics, and completed requirements for certification in August of 2004. She is currently taking additional training in Somatic Experiencing from a Craniosacral viewpoint from Anna Chitty. Judy has always danced, from ballet and modern to international folk and African, to contact improvisation. At the age of 30, with two small children, she took up gymnastics and later, springboard diving. You can learn a lot about Judy Huston and her work, and read her thoughtful and informative monthly newsletter, at www.judyhuston.com. Judy Huston taught classes and gave individual sessions in movement and massage at The Balanced Pianist Colorado 2006. In addition to giving classes and individual sessions at The Balanced Pianist Colorado 2007, she also gave a talk with activities and discussion on Movement, Habit, Learning, and the Mind. At The Balanced Pianist Colorado 2008, she gave classes, individual sessions, and a lecture with activities, Brain twisters: challenging your brain to learn in new ways. She participated again in The Well-Balanced Pianist 2009 and The Balanced Pianist Colorado 2010. She will join us again at The Balanced Pianist Colorado 2012, with classes, individual sessions, and a class on anatomy. |
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Ariel Weiss
brings over 35 years of movement training to her teaching practice. She began
her study of the Alexander Technique in 1978 and was certified by The Alexander
Foundation in 1988, where she has also served as a teaching assistant. In
addition to her training with Bruce and Martha Fertman, she has studied with
Marjorie Barstow, Thommy Thompson, Bill Conable, and Ideokinesis with Irene
Dowd, among others. In 2002 she completed Level I training with the Upledger
Institute in CranioSacral Therapy, and is inspired by her ongoing exploration
of how the CranioSacral work can inform and be integrated with Alexander's
discoveries as a tool for helping her students. A modern dancer and choreographer, she received her Master of Arts in Liberal Studies from Wesleyan University with a concentration in Movement and Dance. Ariel has studied a wide variety of movement techniques including ballet, contact improvisation, T'ai Chi, Laban Movement Analysis, and Bartenieff Fundamentals. Active as a choreographer and performer, she is particularly attuned to performance issues and the analysis of complex movement sequences. Ariel enjoys teaching people of all ages and backgrounds using a lighthearted, practical approach to the work. She has taught Alexander Technique workshops for dancers at the American College Dance Festival Association and Temple University, actors at Allentown College and the Walnut Street Theatre, corporate employees at Cigna, opera singers at the Curtis Institute of Music and Academy of Vocal Arts, and for patients at Rhodes Chiropractic and Margolis & Shryer's Pain Group. Ariel Weiss instructed us in Alexander Technique at The Balanced Pianist Pennsylvania 2008,The Well-Balanced Pianist Pennsylvania 2009,, and The Well-Balanced Pianist Pennsylvania 2010, and The Well-Balanced Pianist Pennsylvania 2011 in Wyndmoor, Pennsylvania. |
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Bob
Schlesinger has been a professional musician for over thirty years - touring
the country playing jazz, the blues, and R&B. He received his degree in
composition from the University of Colorado. He first encountered the
Feldenkrais Method in the 1980’s when searching for relief from wrist pain
while playing piano. After twenty years of studying the Feldenkrais Method, Bob trained to become a practitioner with Yvon Joly in Santa Fe and Denis Leritook in Denver. Bob gigs regularly, is a studio musician, composes music for film, and teaches music and Feldenkrais in Boulder. Bob Schlesinger will teach classes and give private sessions at The Well-Balanced Pianist Colorado in July 2012. |
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Thomas
Mullaney teaches choral and general music at the Quibbletown Middle School in
Piscataway, New Jersey. He has taught K-5 general and choral music at the Bangs
Avenue Elementary School in Asbury Park, New Jersey and high school band in
Point Pleasant Boro, New Jersey. He is also working on his Master of Music
Education at Westminster Choir College of Rider University, where he studies
voice with Elem Eley. He has worked extensively as an electric bassist playing
salsa, Brazilian styles, jazz, musical theatre, rock, blues, reggae, and
original music. He currently plays bass for The Drifters featuring Rick
Sheppard. He holds a BA from Rutgers College, where he majored in Psychology
and minored in Music. Tom began working with O Passo in July 2009, when he attended a workshop with O Passo creator Lucas Ciavatta's workshops. Tom was drawn to its usefulness in empowering the understanding and correct performance of rhythmically complicated music from non-western musical cultures and was also moved by Ciavatta's notion that O Passo can improve quality of life. Rhythmic problems, caused by issues of coordination and timing, connect directly to issues of self-confidence, body image, and quality of life. Tom immediately began incorporating O Passo into his middle school choral and general music classes, as well as using it in his own electric bass practicing. Tom continues to communicate with Ciavatta, and work with him whenever possible. Thomas Mullaney taught us a class in O Passo at The Well-Balanced Pianist Pennsylvania 2011 in Wyndmoor, Pennsylvania. |
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Jan
Krzywicki is active as a composer, conductor and educator. His works have been
widely performed by ensembles such as the Colorado Quartet, the Pennsylvania
Ballet, the Chestnut Brass Company; at conferences of the Society of Composers
Inc., the College Music Society; and on National Public Radio. He has received
commissions from prestigious performers and organizations, and is the recipient
of ASCAP, Meet the Composer, Aaron Copland Fund awards, and a Pew Fellowship in
the Arts. His work is published by Alphonse Leduc Cie, Theodore Presser Co.,
Penn Oak Press, Lyra Music Company, and Heilman Music, and can be heard on the
Capstone, Albany, North/South, and De Haske labels. As a conductor he has led
chamber and orchestral groups in literature from the Middle Ages to the
present, and since 1990 has been particularly active as conductor for the
contemporary ensemble Network for New Music, leading a large number of local
and world premieres. Mr. Krzywicki is a member of the music theory department
at Temple University's Esther Boyer College of Music.
Jan Krzywicki guided us in an exploration of dances and styles in Mozart and Haydn at The Well-Balanced Pianist Pennsylvania 2009 in Wyndmoor, Pennsylvania. |
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Sarah E.
Church is an assistant professor at Hostos College, City University of New
York. She received an Ed.D in Instructional Leadership from St. John's
University, Ed.M in Human Development and Psychology at Harvard Graduate School
of Education, and A.B. in Psychology from Brooklyn College. Dr. Church has 25
years of experience in higher-education teaching and leadership. Her doctoral
degree adviser was Professor Rita Dunn, co-creator of the Dunn and Dunn
Learning-Styles Model.
Dr. Church collaborates with Teresa Dybvig on research in using the Dunn and Dunn Learning Styles Model in the private studio. The fruit of their collaboration can be seen in the lecture, "Teaching the Student, Not the Material," that Teresa Dybvig gave at The Balanced Pianist Long Island 2004, and revised for The Balanced Pianist Colorado 2006; and also in the poster, "Strengthening Musical Memory Using the Dunn & Dunn Learning Styles Perceptual Modalities." |
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YOGA Carol Eugenia Burns is a certified Yoga instructor in the tradition of B.K.S. Iyengar. She has practiced and taught this form of Yoga for over twenty-five years. Carol helped establish the Iyengar Yoga Institute of New York, in Manhattan, and served as Secretary and, later, President, of the Iyengar Yoga Association of Greater New York. EDUCATION Carol Burns studied with the Senior teachers Mary Dunn in Manhattan and Radames Silvestri in Venice, Italy, and with B.K.S. Iyengar in both India and the United States. She holds a Ph.D. in art and architecture, specializing in Venetian Renaissance Architecture. TEACHING Ms. Burns teaches Yoga to people of all ages and body types, in all stages of life and health. She introduced Iyengar yoga to the Brookhaven/Bellport area of Long Island in 1991, where she presently teaches private lessons, group classes, and workshops. Carol also teaches Yoga in Manhattan and in Tuscany, Italy, and teaches Pranayama (breathing practices) in Smithtown, Long Island. Ms. Burns has taught Yoga to artists and art historians since 1980, focusing on the architecture of the body. She has taught Yoga to musicians in Italy and New York for over 20 years, teaching her students how to avoid pain in the body from practicing and/or teaching, as well as demonstrating the beneficial effects of Yoga in playing music. Carol also delights in playing Classical music on the piano. Carol Eugenia Burns taught the yoga classes at Piano Camp in Setauket 2003 and The Balanced Pianist seminars in Long Island, NY in February and November 2004. |
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Chris Saudek
is the owner of The Yoga
Place in La Crosse Wisconsin where she teaches all levels of classes,
including a Special Needs class. She is a senior certified Iyengar yoga teacher
and a devoted student of the Iyengars. She has traveled to India on many
occasions to study yoga at the Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute.
Chris's training as a physical therapist gives her a special insight into students' physical limitations and challenges. In addition to teaching and directing The Yoga Place, Chris trains teachers of yoga and is a guest workshop instructor at studios throughout the United States. Chris Saudek taught classes and individual sessions in Yoga at The Balanced Pianist Wisconsin 2007 at Viterbo University in La Crosse, Wisconsin. |
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 Photo by Christina Larsen |
Gulchin
Tarabus has been teaching music in elementary schools for 14 years, and
currently teaches in the Oak Park Public School District in Oak Park, Illinois.
She specializes in Orff-Schulwerk, in which
she received the Level 3 certification from St.Thomas University. She served
for four years on the Greater Chicago American Orff Schulwerk Association as
historian, assistant program chair and program chair. Gulchin also has a
private studio of piano students from children through
adults. Ms. Tarabus attended Mannes College of Music as a Theory major and went on to receive her music education degree from Elmhurst College. She is currently the publicity chair for Chicago Area Music Teacher's Association. Gulchin currently studies piano with Heidi Mayer and Teresa Dybvig. Ms. Tarabus has had a varied career in piano performance, ever since playing her first hour-length recital by ear when she was four years old. When she was 9 she won the Honorable Mention Prize for the Chicago Youth Symphony Auditions and she played with the symphony at age 10. She continued to compete nationally and received a full scholarship to attend both the Interlochen Arts Academy and the summer camp. After many years of performing mainly with her school choruses and a rock and roll band, she is performing solo music again. Recently she performed Shostakovich's Three Fantastic Dances at a her local Chicago Area Music Teacher's Association workshop, and also performed a few Scarlatti sonatas at the William Browning Memorial concert held at the Fazioli Studio in Chicago's Fine Arts Building. Ms. Tarabus is currently working on preparing a full length solo recital. Ms. Tarabus is thrilled to be playing piano again at a level of ease and enjoyment she had never experienced before. Gulchin Tarabus presented a special evening program, Integrating Our Senses, at The Balanced Pianist Wisconsin 2008 at Viterbo University in La Crosse, Wisconsin. |
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Diane Foust
has been on the Viterbo University music faculty since 1985. She has a Doctor
of Education degree in Music Education from the University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign, where she gave several recitals and sang with the Illinois
Opera Theatre. She has also sung solos with the La Crosse Symphony Orchestra,
the Mississippi Opera, the Jackson (Miss.) Symphony Orchestra, the Memphis Pops
Orchestra, the Choral Society of Greensboro, and has toured with the Children's
Opera Theatre of the Arkansas Opera. She has given recitals in Wisconsin,
Illinois, Ohio, North Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Mississippi.
Besides teaching voice at Viterbo, Dr. Foust also directs the 9th Street Singers and teaches music theory. She has been Music Director for a number of Viterbo productions on the Main Stage and in the La Croix Black Box Theatre. In 1996 Dr. Foust was named the Viterbo University "Teacher of the Year." In La Crosse, Dr. Foust has sung with the La Crosse Chamber Chorale and has been involved on stage and in production roles with the La Crosse Community Theatre. She is a member of the American Choral Directors Association, Music Educators National Conference, and past president of the Wisconsin Chapter of the National Association of Teachers of Singing. In April 2006, Dr. Foust graduated from the Alexander Alliance in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where she studied in a three-year teacher training program with Martha Hansen Fertman and Bruce Fertman. She is a trainee member of Alexander Technique International and plans to teach for sponsoring members this year to become a teacher certified by ATI. She has also studied in intensive workshops with Meade Andrews, Jan Baty, Dale Beaver, Barbara Conable, William Conable, Michael Frederick, and Frank Ottiwell. Diane Foust taught classes and individual sessions in Alexander Technique at The Balanced Pianist Wisconsin 2007 and 2008 at Viterbo University in La Crosse, Wisconsin. |
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Gil Kelly was
privileged to train personally with Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais. He has maintained a
private practice in the method for more than 25 years. During that time he has
helped thousands of people create more ease and coordination in all of their
movement through this fascinating process of exploration and
discovery. Gil has presented his work in many forums including conferences for the national Music Teachers Association and the Colorado Music Teacher's Association, and classes for the performing arts at The Drama Studio Of London in Berkeley and in Naropa University. Gil Kelly offered private sessions and classes in The Feldenkrais Method® at The Well-Balanced Pianist Colorado 2009 and The Well-Balanced Pianist Colorado 2010 in Lakewood, Colorado. |
