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Louise Goss: The Professional Contributions of an Eminent American Piano Pedagogue

A document submitted to the

Graduate School

of the University of Cincinnati in partial fulfillment of the

requirements for the degree of

DOCTOR OF MUSICAL ARTS

in the Keyboard Studies Division of the College Conservatory of Music

July 2012

by

Judith Jain

B.M., Indiana University, 2001 M.M., University of Cincinnati, 2003

Committee Chair: Michelle Conda, Ph.D.

iii

ABSTRACT

This biographical doctoral document focuses on the pedagogical life of Louise Goss.

While several dissertations have been devoted to the work of Frances Clark, Goss’s long-

time friend and business partner, none has been written about Louise Goss herself. This

project presents Goss’s biographical background, her involvement in the development of

pedagogy programs leading to the creation of the New School for Music Study, and her role

in the establishment and growth of the Frances Clark Center for Keyboard Pedagogy.

This document also assesses Louise Goss’s endeavors as a writer, including her

ongoing Clavier Companion magazine column, “Questions and Answers.” Several of Goss’s

closest collaborators were interviewed and offered their recollections and views on her

contributions to the field of piano pedagogy. The project ends with a portrayal of Louise

Goss’s thoughts on pedagogical topics, culminating with the eminent pedagogue’s vision for

the future of piano pedagogy.

v

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Special thanks: To my husband Abhishek, for encouraging and supporting me all the

way through and always believing in me more than I do in myself. To my parents, for

ingraining within me the importance of education. To Dr. Michelle Conda, for suggesting

this as my document topic and for her vision and encouragement. To Jason Hibbard,

without whose editorial skills this project would not have been the same. To Alexis Ignatiu

for taking care of the logistics for me. To Louise Goss, for patiently providing me with

detailed and insightful information during our interviews. To Marvin Blickenstaff, Craig

Sale and Amy Glennon, for their thoughtful interview responses. To Professor Michael

Chertock and Dr. Miguel Roig-Francolí, for their assistance and support.

During my studies, two iconic figures have especially shaped me as a pianist and

pedagogue, which cannot be separated from my humanity and spirituality: Greörgy Sebök

and Frances Clark, for whom our development as pianists could not be separated from our

growth as humans.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT……………………………….……………………………………………………………………………………iii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS……………...…………………………………………………………………………………...v

Chapter

INTRODUCTION………………….………………………………………………………………………………..1

1. LOUISE GOSS’S MUSICAL EDUCATION, THE EARLY PEDAGOGY PROGRAMS AND THE NEW SCHOOL FOR MUSIC STUDY

Louise Goss’s Musical Education……….…….…………………………………………….3

Introduction to the Early Pedagogy Programs………………………………....…….7 The Pedagogy Curriculum at Kalamazoo College………………………….......7 Westminster Choir College’s Undergraduate Pedagogy Program………8

The Beginnings of the New School for Music Study………………………………11

The Certificate Program…………………………………………………..……….……13 The Joint Program between the New School for Music Study and Westminster Choir College……………………………………………………………15 The New School for Music Study’s Current Post-Graduate Piano Pedagogy Fellowship…………………………………………………………………….16 Summary...……………………………………………………………………………………17

2. THE FRANCES CLARK LIBRARY FOR PIANO STUDENTS

Introduction………………………………………………………………………………………18 ABC Papers and Reading Technique…………………………..…………………………18 The Music Tree’s Time to Begin……..………………………..……………………………19 The Continuing Volumes of The Music Tree…………….……………………………21 The Teaching Philosophy Behind The Music Tree…………………………………23 The Six Levels of the Core Curriculum…………………………………………….…...25 The New School for Music Study Press..………………………………………………27

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3. THE FRANCES CLARK CENTER FOR KEYBOARD PEDAGOGY

The Frances Clark Center for Keyboard Pedagogy as an “Umbrella” Organization………………………………………………………………………………………28 A Piano Teacher’s Legacy: Selected Writings by Richard Chronister………...32

The Conferences:

The National Conference on Piano Pedagogy……………………………….....34 The National Conference on Keyboard Pedagogy……….…………………..34

The Magazines:

Keyboard Companion Magazine………….……………………………………….....36 Clavier Companion Magazine…………….…………………………………………...37

“Questions and Answers:”

The Summer Workshops……………………………………………………………....38 “Questions and Answers” by Frances Clark…………………………………....38 “Questions and Answers” by Louise Goss………………………………...........39

4. REFLECTIONS ON LOUISE GOSS’S LEGACY

Introduction……………………………………………………………………………………....41 Goss and the New School for Music Study……………………………………………41 Goss’s Impact on the Frances Clark Library for Piano Students.....................46 Goss’s role in the Frances Clark Center for Keyboard Pedagogy……….…..47 Goss’s Influence on the Creation of Pedagogy Programs across the United States………………………………………………………………………………………………...48 Goss’s Legacy in the Field of Piano Pedagogy in General………….…………...48

5. LOUISE GOSS’S THOUGHTS ON PEDAGOGICAL MATTERS

Introduction………………………………………………………………………………………50 Early Age Music Education…………………………………………….…………….……..50 Composition and Improvisation from Lesson One…………………………..……51 Transfer Students…………………………………………………………………………....…51 Lesson Plans…………………………………………………………………………………..…..52 New Musical Concepts……………………………………………………...……………..….53 Introducing New Pieces…………………………………………………...………………....53 Teaching Philosophy……………………….………………………………………………….54

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Good Practice Habits…………………………………………………………………………..55 The Music Tree vs. other Method Books……………………………………………….55 Group Piano Teaching………………………………………………………………………...55 Group Teaching Philosophy………………………………………………………………..56 Group Class Instructors……………………………………………….……………………..57 College-level Pedagogy……………………………………………………………..………...58 Teacher-Training Curriculums……………………………...…………..………………..58 Goss on Clark……………………………………………………………………………………..59 Goss on Goss………………………………………………………………………………………59 What Makes Good Teachers…………………………...…………………………………...60 Teachers as Performers……………………………………………………………………...60 Hopes for the Future of Piano Pedagogy………………………….…………………..61

CONCLUSION……………………………………………………………………………………………………..62

APPENDICES

A. Timeline of Events in Louise Goss’s Career……………………………………..…...65 B. Photographs of Louise Goss…………..……………………………………………………68

BIBLIOGRAPHY…………………………………………………………………………………...……………..80

1

INTRODUCTION

Today’s piano pedagogy students take for granted that piano pedagogy programs

exist in many colleges around the United States. Few realize that it was only a little more

than sixty years ago, in 1945, that Frances Clark established the first piano pedagogy

degree program in the United States at Kalamazoo College in Kalamazoo, Michigan.1 Louise

Goss graduated in that premier class. This pedagogy program marks the beginning of

Louise Goss’s collaboration with Frances Clark and of her life-long involvement in the field

of piano pedagogy.

Goss’s life has been dedicated to the betterment of piano education and piano

teaching materials. Recognized as “one of our preeminent living pedagogues,” Goss

cocreated and cochaired the undergraduate piano pedagogy program at Westminster Choir

College, arguably the first piano pedagogy program in the United States, and cofounded the

New School for Music Study, one of the premier institutions for piano teaching training in

the country. 2 Goss is coauthor of the Frances Clark Library for Piano Students and editor of

two of the important pedagogical guides: A Piano Teacher’s Legacy: Selected Writings by

Richard Chronister and Questions and Answers.3

As chair of the board of the Frances Clark Center for Keyboard Pedagogy from its

inception until 2010, long-time committee member for the planning of the National

1 Allison Lynn Hudak, “A Personal Portrait of Frances Oman Clark through the Eyes of Her Most

Prominent Students and Collaborators” (D.M.A. thesis, The University of Texas at Austin, 2004), 1. 2 Craig Sale, “A Lifetime of Teaching: An Interview with Louise Goss,” Clavier Companion 1

(November-December 2009): 12. 3 Edward Darling, ed., A Piano Teacher’s Legacy: Selected Writings by Richard Chronister (Kingston, NJ:

Frances Clark Center for Keyboard Pedagogy, 2005); Frances Clark, Questions and Answers, edited by Louise Goss (Northfield, IL: The Instrumentalist, 1992).

2

Conference on Keyboard Pedagogy, and author of the ongoing column “Questions and

Answers” for Clavier Companion magazine, Louise Goss has left her stamp on the history of

piano pedagogy in the United States.

3

CHAPTER 1 LOUISE GOSS’S MUSICAL EDUCATION, THE EARLY PEDAGOGY PROGRAMS AND THE

NEW SCHOOL FOR MUSIC STUDY

Louise Goss’s Musical Education

Born in Kalamazoo, Michigan, on May 21, 1926, Louise Goss was the second of two

children born to Lindsey and Agnes Goss. Goss started her musical journey at the age of

seven, when she began taking piano lessons. Before high school, Goss had taken up the

clarinet, joined her school’s band and orchestra, and initiated voice lessons.

Goss started her formal piano studies when she was seven years old with “a young

teacher who, to our good fortune, had had some pedagogy training and used the Robyn

materials in teaching”4 Later on, Goss said she ”continued to study with an assortment of

[her] mother’s church friends, each worse qualified than the one before.”5 By middle

school, and without any real training in accompanying, Goss became “the accompanist of

choice for soloists and choirs” in her home town.6 In fourth grade, Goss started playing the

clarinet; three years later playing in band and orchestra became part of her every day

activities.7 Also during middle school, Goss studied voice: “I had a trainable mezzo-soprano

voice, and began to be used as a soloist. In high school I studied voice privately with an

elegant, sophisticated musical matron who really knew how to teach and showed great

4 Sale, “A Lifetime of Teaching,” 12-13. Goss refers to Louise Robyn’s piano method Keyboard Town.

See Louise Robyn, Keyboard Town, (King of Prussia, PA: Theodore Presser, 2000). 5 Ibid., 13. 6 Ibid. 7 Bruce Berr, “A Meeting of the Minds” The American Music Teacher 52 (December 2002-January

2003): 30-31.

4

interest in my progress and prospects.”8 Throughout her career as a piano pedagogue Goss

would draw on these experiences, particularly in her belief that students should sing and

feel the music with their bodies. During high school, when the music critic of the Kalamazoo

Gazette was drafted to World War II, Goss was invited to become the newspaper’s music

critic.9 Also with little previous experience, Goss became conductor for five junior high

school orchestras. “It goes without saying that I had no idea what I was doing, but

somehow I managed to keep discipline, polish some repertoire, and present spring recitals.

I’m only glad I can’t hear them now!”10 Summarizing her early musical experiences Goss

said, “I didn’t think about being a music critic at fourteen and conducting at seventeen as

anything but fun activities.”11 With these varied musical experiences it is not a surprise that

Goss was interested in continuing her music education through college.

In 1944 Louise Goss enrolled at Kalamazoo College to pursue a Bachelors of Arts

degree, where she carried a triple major in Music, English and Philosophy. “From high

school on, I assumed I would be a singer and teacher of singing. My musical mentors

advised me that to be a singer and teacher of singing, I needed to be a better pianist. They

shared the exciting news that Frances Clark was coming back to Kalamazoo College and

that they would intercede with her to take me as her student.”12 From this point Goss’s

emphasis would shift from voice to piano, and her life’s work in the field of piano pedagogy

8 Sale, “A Lifetime of Teaching,” 13-14. 9 Sale, “A Lifetime of Teaching,” 14. 10 Ibid. 11 Elaine Strauss, “Fifty Years Later, Still Tickling the Ivories,” U.S. 1 (July 21, 2010): 31.

12 Sale, “A Lifetime of Teaching,” 14.

5

began. During her sophomore year, Goss along with five other piano majors joined “what

Goss believes to have been the first four-year pedagogy course offered in an American

college or university, and probably anywhere in the world.” 13

In the fall of 1948, Goss started her graduate education at Wesley College but

dropped out by Thanksgiving.14 During her time away from graduate school, Goss says, “I

had a lot of singing experience; I did a lot of reading….Without knowing it I was trying to

figure out what my future was, where I should be going to school, what I should be

doing.”15 The next year Goss chose to attend The University of Michigan, in Ann Arbor,

where she earned a Master of Arts degree with high honors in Music Literature. She went

on to complete the course work towards her doctorate in Musicology, but not her

dissertation. Her dissertation topic, “The History of the Music Critic as Educator,” was not

approved by her dissertation committee. “I was going to write a really significant book, I

thought, on the role of a music critic as a teacher. I felt nobody understood what music

criticism should be. I was all fired up….They [the dissertation committee] wanted me to do

something on twelfth century neumes. Something that was so unexciting.”16

Despite the setback involving her dissertation, Goss became the first woman on the

Music Literature faculty at the University of Michigan. However, in 1953 Goss received a

request from Summy-Birchard Publishing to work with Frances Clark in the making of a

13 Hudak, 160.

14 Louise Goss, personal interview, 13 June 2011.

15 Ibid. 16 Goss interview, 13 June 2011.

6

new piano method. Goss did not hesitate to leave the University of Michigan and start a

new phase in her musical career. 17

17 Ibid.

7

Introduction to the Early Pedagogy Programs

In January of 1953, Louise Goss left the University of Michigan and returned to

Kalamazoo to join Frances Clark in creating a piano method for Summy-Birchard

Publishing. Goss and Clark’s mornings were devoted to what was to become the Frances

Clark Library for Piano Students; in the afternoons they taught at a piano studio they set up

in downtown Kalamazoo.18 The partnership of Clark and Goss went far beyond their

writing collaboration. Frances Clark founded three piano pedagogy programs in the United

States: the first, at Kalamazoo College in 1945, where Goss was Clark’s pedagogy student;

the second, at Westminster Choir College in 1955, where they were hired in conjunction to

head the program; and the third, a graduate piano pedagogy research center, the New

School for Music Study, which they cofounded.19

The Pedagogy Curriculum at Kalamazoo College

In January 1945, Clark joined the faculty of Kalamazoo College and initiated a piano

pedagogy program one semester later.20 “Kalamazoo College did not have a strong music

program. Frances thought it would be a good place to try her ideas. She was a very

persuasive person and was able to talk the dean into experimenting with her ideas about

piano pedagogy,” Goss said, regarding what is considered by many the first piano pedagogy

18 Hudak, 161. 19 Ibid., 44. 20 Fred R. Kern, “Frances Clark: The Teacher and Her Contributions to Piano Pedagogy” (D.A.

dissertation, University of Northern Colorado, 1984): 96.

8

curriculum established in the United States. 21 The program had no textbooks but the main

objectives were: what makes successful teaching and how these teaching principles apply

to teaching music at the piano. Clark and her students also worked on creating a better

course for beginners, planned curriculums, discussed Clark’s observations of their teaching,

observed Clark give teaching demonstrations, and did practice teaching.22 These objectives

continued to develop and evolve in the future pedagogy programs both Goss and Clark

would conjunctively create. Regardless of Clark’s development of a piano pedagogy

curriculum, a formal pedagogy degree was never established at Kalamazoo College.

Westminster Choir College’s Undergraduate Pedagogy Program

The first formal piano pedagogy degree program in the United States was

established by Clark and Goss, in Princeton, New Jersey, in 1955, at the undergraduate

level. According to Goss, the new program was established “because Dr. Williamson, then

president of Westminster Choir College, was very politically savvy, and his students were

coming to our teacher training programs, which we were doing over the country all

summer at different colleges and universities, and he began to get feedback from his

students that ‘hey, this is a unique program, and something that the Choir College has to

have.’”23 Goss and Clark were both hired as new faculty and put in charge of piano study on

the campus beginning in 1955.24

21 Strauss, 31. 22 Hudak, 47. 23 Goss interview, 13 June 2011. 24 Hudak, 51, Quoting a personal interview with Louise Goss, March 2002.

9

The Westminster pedagogy program consisted mainly of two elements: a weekly

philosophical lecture and practice teaching that consisted of observation and teaching of

group and private lessons..25 “They [Westminster College] had a lot of students who were

majors in organ, but almost none that were majors in piano…We had to make a piano

program out of nothing….The way the change came about was that we offered a course

called, I think, ‘The Basics of Piano Pedagogy.’”26 The course had an overwhelmingly

favorable response from the students, who enrolled in large numbers. At first it was Clark’s

course, but “gradually we taught it in rotation. It became our course.”27

Clark and Goss found that they needed local students for the apprentices in the

teacher-training program to practice their teaching. For that purpose, Goss was in charge of

creating and developing a preparatory department. “I interviewed the students; I had the

session with the parents; I did the demonstration lessons for the pedagogy students; I

watched them give lessons based on the one I had given; I did the feedback.”28

In 1959, Goss and Clark decided to change course and leave their positions at

Westminster Choir College. Regarding their decision Goss explained, “We decided, it’s too

much, it’s too heavy a program for undergraduates to carry. It is not the right time [in the

student’s career]. Let’s find a way to do it at the graduate level.”29 Since the graduate

25 Hudak, 52. 26 Goss interview, 13 June 2011. 27 Ibid. 28 Ibid. 29 Ibid.

10

program did not exist at Westminster, Goss and Clark decided to initiate their own

graduate pedagogy program and created the New School for Music Study.

11

The Beginnings of the New School for Music Study

In September 1960, the New School for Music Study opened its doors in Princeton,

New Jersey, after a year of planning in which Clark and Goss even planned the design of

their building. 30 Goss related how the name of the school came about: “We were going back

and forth, and Frances suddenly said: ‘What are we struggling over? It’s already named. It

is the New School!’ And I said ‘That is a great name, Frances, for now, and for five years

from now, but in ten years it may not be appropriate any longer.’ And she said: ‘Well, if in

ten years it won’t be new any longer, I won’t want to have anything to do with it!’”31

The initial faculty consisted of ten instructors: Clark, Goss, David Kraehenbuehl,

Martha Branden, Sanford Jones, Larry Lemmel, Doris Martin, Joyce McKell, Phyllis

Rappaport, and Elvina Trumann.32 Goss’s role at the New School for Music Study was three-

fold: as an administrator, piano pedagogue and teacher trainer. As an administrator, Goss

was in charge of the smooth running of the school; as a piano pedagogue, she taught private

and group lessons to children; and as a teacher-trainer, she was involved in the training of

the graduate students at the school. 33

In 1970, Clark and Goss agreed that the teacher-training program was the main

priority of the school and decided to downsize the piano department. That is how the New

30 Tracy Grandy, “The Piano Pedagogy of Frances Clark: Her Unique Method and Teacher-Training”

(M.M thesis, James Madison University, 2000): 49.

31 Louise Goss, personal interview, 20 June 2011. 32 Hudak, 162, Quoting a personal interview with Louise Goss, March 2002. 33 Goss interview, 13 June 2011.

12

School for Music Study came to move into a colonial building in Kingston, New Jersey, a few

miles north of Princeton, where it remains today. 34

From its inception, the New School for Music Study built a solid reputation in two

areas of expertise: as a professional center for the post-graduate training of piano teachers,

and as a school where students of all levels, especially children, come and learn the art of

music making through the playing of piano. The New School for Music Study’s goal, with

pedagogy immersion at graduate level, was to help skilled pianists become effective piano

teachers. The school’s teaching philosophy highlights that “every aspect of music and

musical learning is imbedded in the first lesson.”35

Teachers trained at the New School for Music Study provide more than just piano

skills, they build a foundation for complete musicianship. The piano students who attend

the school receive a high quality of instruction from teachers who are in the midst of

excellent training:

People come to us for piano lessons, but our philosophy is that what we’re trying to develop is not just pianists, but musicians….Our goal is to teach what you’ve just called comprehensive musicianship: rhythm, reading, theory, technique—all the parts of it as it applies to the piano. Our children move as if they were dancers, and they sing as if they were singers, and they compose as if they were composers, in addition to becoming skillful at the keyboard. We are not so much going out to touch every student in America with music education as we are to make every student who comes into our corridors, so to speak, as effective a keyboard musician as possible.36

The New School for Music Study was a pioneer in teacher-training, and the school’s

approach to piano teaching continues to be innovative even today.

34 Tracy, 50-51. 35 Strauss, 31.

36 Berr, 31.

13

The Certificate Program

The New School for Music Study was not formed as a degree-granting institution,

but instead all pedagogy students received a Certificate of Professional Achievement.

Students in the program were required to maintain their performance skills as well as

teach private and group piano lessons.37 “There were virtually no college pedagogy

programs at that time, so people came to the school who had undergraduate degrees, and

maybe graduate degrees, but didn’t have that real training in pedagogy,” Goss said. 38

As part of the teacher-training curriculum, since there were no textbooks written on

pedagogy, the work of philosophers, psychologists, and educational theorists was

integrated in the discussion of piano-teaching subjects.39 Regarding specific classes that

were part of the program, Goss stated: “There was always the Piano Pedagogy Continuum,

and that was Frances’s course until she got up to the point where she wasn’t able to do it

regularly. Then it became sort of cotaught, then eventually it just became my course.”40

Lecture topics included the learning theories of William James, Alfred North Whitehead and

other educational psychologists, as well as practicing skills, lesson planning, recital

preparation and memorization skills.41 Studio Management Practicum was a professional

course that taught how to advertise a studio, create studio materials such as brochures,

37 Hudak, 58-60. 38 Goss interview, 13 June 2011.

39 Hudak, 59. 40 Goss interview, 13 June 2011.

41 Grandy, 70.

14

business cards, and a calendar of events, and conduct an interview with incoming students.

History and Evaluation of Piano Study Materials reviewed keyboard instruction books from

Baroque collections to the most recent modern methods. The continuation of this class was

called Piano Literature for Pre-College Teaching.42 A main component of the certificate

program was Supervised Teaching about which Goss said, “We have much more supervised

teaching because one learns by teaching, not by being talked at about teaching.”43

Another class included in the curriculum was Piano Literature for Pre-College

Teaching. The course discussed repertoire of intermediate and early advanced levels, how

to teach the material, and how to address potential technical and expressive difficulties

encountered in the repertoire. It evaluated teaching materials and included performances

of the repertoire by the teachers in training.44 This course was geared towards Goss’s

expertise. “That [class] would very often be mine,” said Goss. “I was considered, more so

than Frances, I believe it’s modest to say, I was the expert on the beginner. And I felt that I

had more to contribute to the first and second years of study than I had any other.”45

According to Martha Braden, a founding faculty member of the New School for Music Study,

another class that was mainly Goss’s responsibility was Music History.”46

The different components of the curriculum for the New School for Music Study’s

Certificate Program were continuously adjusted. “Clark revised her ideas of what should be

42 Ibid., 85.

43 Ibid., 61-62.

44 Ibid., 80-82. 45 Goss interview, 13 June 2011.

46 Hudak, 119-120.

15

included in a pedagogy curriculum every year from 1960 until her death,” wrote Allison

Lynn Hudak.47 The teacher-training program at the New School for Music Study has served

as a model for many other pedagogy courses and teacher-training programs in the United

States.

The joint program between the New School for Music Study and Westminster Choir College

In 1982, Westminster Choir College and the New School for Music Study joined

forces to create a Masters in Piano Pedagogy and Piano Performance program. This new

graduate program was a joint curriculum, though Westminster granted the actual degree.

Goss recounted, "The degree had to be given by Westminster because they had the

certification. We did the entire teacher-training aspect, but they [the students] took their

lessons with Westminster faculty, and they took their graduate curriculum at Westminster,

not with us.”48 Students fulfilled a dual requirement in both performance and pedagogy.

According to Goss, “That was very important because there were primarily degrees only in

piano performance, or only in pedagogy, but none that made the demands of all courses. It

was a very hard program. It was almost too hard, to be realistic, but some fabulous teachers

came out of it.”49 Students who did not wish to be part of the masters’ program were still

able to join the New School for Music Study’s certificate program.

47 Ibid., 60. 48 Goss interview, 13 June 2011.

49 Ibid.

16

Goss’s duties remained consistent with the new program, though over time she was

relieved of her administrative duties. “I just continued to teach the teachers’ courses, and to

work with the children, and observe the teaching.”50 In particular, Goss oversaw the

teaching of children by the program’s pedagogy students: “I would go in and watch them

teach. If I was watching the lesson and I felt that I could help something go in a better

direction, I was free to step in and say: ‘Lets see what would happen if we did such and

such.’ I never really took the lesson over, but I felt free to make suggestions.”51 In addition

to her teacher-training duties, Goss also had her own private students as well as group

classes at the New School for Music Study.52

The New School for Music Study’s Current Post-Graduate Piano Pedagogy Fellowship

In 1999, after Frances Clark’s death, the joint program with Westminster Choir

College ended. But in 2002, the New School for Music Study created a post-graduate piano

pedagogy fellowship for select masters or doctoral candidates interested in developing

their teaching expertise. Allison Lynn Hudak was granted the first Post-Graduate Piano

Pedagogy Fellowship at the New School for Music Study.53 It was through this fellowship

that I became acquainted with Louise Goss, the New School for Music Study, and the other

branches and the outstanding personnel of the Frances Clark Center for Keyboard

50 Ibid. 51 Ibid. 52 Ibid. 53 Hudak, 275.

17

Pedagogy. Although Goss retired from teaching at the New School for Music Study during

my internship, she was in charge of the orientation program and the organization and

teaching procedures related to The Music Tree method. She also attended some of the

Parent Classes, a yearly event at the New School for Music Study that takes place in the

month of December, when parents are invited to attend and participate in their children’s

private and group classes.

Summary

As the result of the intensive pedagogical training at the New School for Music

Study, many of its graduates became teachers of piano pedagogy. Several have gone on to

be lead pedagogy departments across the United States. The New School for Music Study

has been responsible for the propagation of college and university degree programs in

piano pedagogy throughout the country, most of which model their pedagogy curriculum

on the New School for Music Study’s teacher-training program. Furthermore, the New

School for Music Study became home to other important contributions to pedagogy

education, especially the creation and proliferation of teaching materials through the

Frances Clark Library for Piano Students discussed in the next chapter.

18

CHAPTER 2 THE FRANCES CLARK LIBRARY FOR PIANO STUDENTS

Introduction

In 1953, Frances Clark asked Louise Goss to join her in the making of a piano

method for Summy-Birchard Publishing. According to Clark, “David Sengstack came to

Kalamazoo to ask me to write the course….The one requirement I made was that I wouldn’t

do it unless I could get Louise Goss to give up her teaching at the University of Michigan

and come and help me. And here she was getting her doctorate, and she had a good

position at the University of Michigan, and as you know I won and she came.”54 This was

the start of the milestone project that would eventually become the Frances Clark Library

for Piano Students, for which Goss acted as coauthor and general editor. Before their first

official editorial collaboration, Clark and Goss worked together on two earlier books, ABC

Papers and Reading Technique.

ABC Papers and Reading Technique

Although Goss’s name does not appear as coauthor of either ABC Papers or Reading

Technique, both books were the result of a collaborative effort between Clark and Goss. The

books focus on how to read music through intervallic-reading exercises and sight reading

examples that were compiled from material used during Clark’s pedagogy courses. 55 ABC

54 Conversations with Frances Clark: Her Books and Methods (VHS, Kansas City: SH Productions, Inc.,

1992).

55 Hudak, 49-50.

19

Papers was first published in 1947 by Clayton F. Summy, and it remains in print, now

issued by Alfred Publishing Company. The following year the next volume, Reading

Technique, was created. Goss summarized her collaborative role in these early books: “In

addition to working on text and format for each of these books, I was also encouraged to be

critical of the concepts, sequence, and presentation….There could not possibly be a better

training ground for my eventual role as editor and co-author.”56 ABC Papers and Reading

Technique presented the intervallic approach to music reading that would become a

trademark of the subsequent materials of the Frances Clark Library for Piano Students.

The Music Tree’s Time to Begin

“Time to Begin is the milestone of everything we created. Time to Begin is the

nugget.”57 In 1953, when the first version of Time to Begin was prepared for the publisher,

Clark and Goss suddenly changed their minds about the book. Goss recounts, “The

manuscript was literally packed and ready to go up [to the Summy Company] on the 5am

train. The engravers and everybody were standing by to start work that morning at 9, and

we called and said: ‘We’ve taken it off the 5am train. We can’t send it at this time. A lot of it

was to be rethought.’ And I remember hearing our publisher say: ‘I could have wrung their

necks.’”58 Clark and Goss’s strong commitment to their teaching principles led them to

completely rewrite Time to Begin, “except for the basic idea.” According to Goss, “The basic

idea was that this was going to be holistic music study at the piano. One of Frances’ great

56 Sale, “A Lifetime of Teaching,” 16.

57 Ibid. 58 Goss interview, 20 June 2011.

20

sayings was that, in the priority of teaching, the student comes first, music comes second,

and the piano is only third. That principle remained true with the new [revised] book as

with the old book.”59 Time to Begin appeared in its first edition two years later, in 1955, and

was revised and republished in 1960, 1973, and 1993. Most of the later revisions have

come as a result of experimentation done at the New School for Music Study.

Goss worked on the ideas, wrote the text and organization of the materials, and

composed some of the music for Time to Begin as well as for other Frances Clark Library

projects.60 “Frances was brilliant in an improvisatory manner. Ideas just flew out of her.

But, if she sat down to write it, it didn’t work as well. I wrote much more easily that she

did.”61 The text in Time to Begin helps teachers recognize the pedagogical purpose of pieces

and guides the student through the flow of the material. Regarding her role Goss said, “I

was the wordsmith.”62 Although she does not claim to be a composer, some of the pieces

found in Time to Begin were written by Goss: “People that did most of the material were

much better composers than I…but, at that level, I could sometimes come up with

something that worked.”63

The most significant contributions of Time to Begin lay in the use of off-staff notation

and the intervallic approach to music reading. According to Hudak, “Clark was the first to

59 Ibid.

60 Ibid.

61 Ibid. 62 Ibid. 63 Ibid.

21

use off-staff notation in a twentieth-century piano method.”64 Time to Begin starts the

student with off-staff and limited-staff notation before it extends to the grand staff.

According to Fred Kern, “the reading approach used by Clark and Goss was revolutionary in

1955.” 65 It has now become widespread in many piano methods because the intervallic

approach to music reading has proven to be the fastest, easiest, and most comprehensive

approach available and results in sight reading effectiveness.

The Continuing Volumes of The Music Tree

“I would like people to get excited about the fact that The Music Tree is a holistic

approach,” Goss has stated. “We offer a much broader concept than most approaches.”66

The first edition of the continuing levels of the elementary series of the Frances

Clark Library—what is known today as The Music Tree levels 1, 2A and 2B—was published

in 1973, after a period from 1960 to 1967 when the music for the first edition was

created.67 Later editions date from 1993 and, most recently, 2000. New original materials

and revisions were developed out of a continuing need for teaching materials at the New

School for Music Study that corresponded with the school’s teaching philosophies. One of

the main revisions of The Music Tree came in relabeling the books themselves. The primer

level, Time to Begin, remained under the same name, but the continuing levels changed

names:

64Hudak, 71. 65 Kern, 133. 66 Strauss, 31.

67 Hudak, 33.

22

First edition Corresponding books of current edition

The Music Tree Time to Begin

The Music Tree Part A

The Music Tree Part B

The Music Tree Part C

The Music Tree Time to Begin

The Music Tree Level1

The Music Tree Level 2A

The Music Tree Level 2B

By the end of level 2B of The Music Tree series, students have completed the

elementary part of the series and are prepared to play the music from the starting level of

the core curriculum books in the Frances Clark Library for Piano Students. In 2001 and

2002 respectively, The Music Tree Level 3 and The Music Tree Level 4 were added to the

previously published volumes. The Music Tree Level 3 is considered the series’ early

intermediate level, and The Music Tree Level 4 is considered the intermediate level.

Among the most useful components of The Music Tree are the practice steps given

throughout the books. These were created because Clark and Goss believed that the

student who was home alone practicing needed a guided routine. The steps change from

volume to volume of The Music Tree and were developed through experimentation at the

New School for Music Study. The practice steps are to be introduced and reinforced during

the lesson for easy implementation by the student at home. Goss warns that the purpose of

the practice steps can be misinterpreted. At times, the practice steps have become the

focus of teaching by some teachers using The Music Tree books, instead of tools to help the

23

student develop necessary skills, such as feeling rhythm internally and possessing

knowledge of the score before getting to play the piece.68

When asked whether The Music Tree could be taught incorrectly, Goss replied: “I’ve

seen it taught wrongly. If there is a weakness to the course it’s the fact that it can’t be really

absorbed and understood without some help. The teacher who is learning it has to have

some help. And that is not true of the courses which are less comprehensive and less

sophisticated.”69 While the main purpose of many piano methods is to present a series of

enticing pieces so that the student is motivated to continue learning, The Music Tree is a

curriculum designed to facilitate the implementation of the teaching principles developed

over the years by the Clark-Goss team and the New School for Music Study.

The Teaching Philosophy behind The Music Tree

The Music Tree operates on guiding philosophical principles that should be

described in order to fully do justice to the method. The following teaching principles are

not readily evident from looking at the books of The Music Tree. Instead they represent my

understanding derived from my association with the method, with Louise Goss, and from

my experience as a fellow at the New School for Music Study:

Our goal as teachers is to develop our student’s minds so they grow to be

independent learners, and we become expendable as teachers. For that reason,

68 Goss interview, 20 June 2011.

69 Ibid.

24

understanding and adapting our teaching styles to fit each student is our foremost priority,

followed by teaching musical understanding not mere reproduction.

Lesson planning is an integral part of teaching. The creation of long-term goals,

short term goals, and the planning of each lesson ahead of time will keep our teaching

focused and on target.

All new musical concepts that appear in The Music Tree books must be introduced

and reinforced in advance, and prepared with enough time that all concepts are fully

“owned” and understood by the student prior to their first appearance in a piece.

New musical concepts must be introduced through the senses: first, the ear, then

experience through body movements, next the symbol, and only last its name. Here is an

illustration of how to introduce half notes:

The teacher claps and swings back and forth a short rhythmic pattern that involves half notes, as well as the familiar quarter note; the student claps and swings back. At a later lesson, the teacher does the same thing except that counting is added; the student repeats the counting. At another later lesson, the teacher writes the rhythm he has been practicing with the student on the board and the student discovers for the first time how two-beat notes look. Finally the teacher discloses the symbol’s name by identifying it as a half note.

This teaching order is the exact opposite of a common and much less effective procedure

for presenting new material that typically is introduced by the teacher in this way: “Here is

a new rhythm pattern in your piece; it is called half note and you hold it for two. Let’s tap

and count the rhythm in this piece. Now let’s play the piece and count.”

There are three ways of introducing new pieces: walking the student through the

piece from beginning to end; introducing the most challenging sections of a new piece and

leaving the rest up to the student; and letting the student learn the piece completely by

himself without any help or guidance from the instructor. The first of these is reserved for

25

pieces that contain a concept that has not yet been fully assimilated by the student, the

second is used with pieces that contain a mix of challenging passages and content the

student is familiar and comfortable with, and the third is saved for reinforcement of old

concepts with which the student is fully familiar.

The sequencing and pacing of the materials throughout the different volumes of The

Music Tree was carefully planned to match a student’s most natural way of learning, and

the method’s underlying philosophy has not yet been matched by any other piano method

on the market.

The Six Levels of the Core Curriculum

The six levels of the core curriculum of the Frances Clark Library for Piano Students

are labeled today as Piano Literature of the 17th, 18th and 19th Centuries, levels 1-6, and

Contemporary Piano Literature, levels 1-6. These are accompanied by the correlating books

Piano Technic and Keyboard Theory, also in six levels. Regarding her work with Clark in the

making of the core curriculum Goss said: “It is only fair to say that the idea for the

curriculum in this area started with her. I was the organizer, the person that put things into

words, but she was the idea person. She created the curriculum, and I organized it and

disciplined it.”70

The materials in the six levels of the core curriculum were selected to represent

significant works by great composers and to appeal to children of various ages while

70 Ibid.

26

fulfilling the components of their course of study.71 Regarding the arduous undertaking of

seeking out appropriate pieces for each level, Goss stated: “I spent many weeks at the

Library of Congress in Washington, going through everything. A lot of it had to be done by

eye, but there was also a room with a piano which I could use….They generously allowed

me, free of charge—I don’t know how it would be today—to copy anything I wanted. So, I

came home for the weekends, week after week, with material, material…that is all I did for

months!”72

The Frances Clark Library was designed a pre-college curriculum in six levels. “We

started with where our most advanced high school students were[at the New School for

Music Study], and picked the material for their level [level six], and back to the material for

five…when we got all the way down to level one, there were no materials by great

composers easy enough for level one. So, the solution was to use great folk music in

pianistic arrangements that would prepare the child, ideally, for level two, which was

where the first little pieces by Mozart, Haydn, and Beethoven could go.”73

In order to facilitate the learning of the compiled repertoire, Clark and Goss created

corresponding technique and theory books. “Every other part of the curriculum had to fit

every other part of the curriculum.” 74 The role of the correlating books was to fit,

complement, and prepare the student for the pieces found at that level of the curriculum.

71 Ibid. 72 Ibid.

73 Ibid. 74 Ibid.

27

The Frances Clark Library for Piano Students embraces many other books, including one

devoted to teaching the adult beginner, Keyboard Musician for the Adult Beginner.75

The New School for Music Study Press

Due to the high demand for the Frances Clark Library for Piano Students, Goss

worked with Clark to develop an in-house publishing company. The New School for Music

Study Press was founded in 1983 and played an important role in the dissemination of the

method materials before it was absorbed by Warner Brothers Publishing in 1996, due to

financial sustainability issues. Warner Brothers also absorbed Summy-Birchard Press and

agreed to publish the revisions of The Music Tree. Currently, Warner Brothers owns the

copyright to the entire Frances Clark Library for Piano Students.76

75 Frances Clark, Louise Goss, and Roger Grove, Keyboard Musician for the Adult Beginner (Miami:

Summy-Birchard, 1980).

76 Hudak, 181.

28

CHAPTER 3

THE FRANCES CLARK CENTER FOR KEYBOARD PEDAGOGY

The Frances Clark Center for Keyboard Pedagogy as an “Umbrella” Organization

The Frances Clark Center is an umbrella organization founded in 2000 that

currently encompasses three different projects: the New School for Music Study, the

National Conference on Keyboard Pedagogy and Clavier Companion magazine. The first

issue of Clavier Companion declared the organization’s goals: “The mission of the Frances

Clark Center is to extend the influence of her inclusive and revolutionary philosophy of

music education at the keyboard. In so doing, the Center conducts research, develops and

codifies successful methodologies and application, and disseminates its work in the form of

publications, seminars, and conferences that focus on improving the quality of teaching.”77

The Frances Clark Center was formed after Clark’s death in 1998. According to Goss,

“The burning question around the New School [for Music Study] and my colleagues was:

What’s next? Is there life without Frances? Will the New School [for Music Study] continue,

and if so, how will it continue?”78 After casting about for ideas and much deliberation,

several associates of the New School for Music Study decided to carry out an idea that

Richard Chronister had originated before Clark’s death—to create a center that would

perpetuate Clark’s legacy. The primary organizers held planning sessions in Princeton in

May and November 1998. Shortly thereafter the Frances Clark Center became official and

77 Clavier Companion 1 (September-October 2009): 2.

78 Goss interview, 20 June 2011.

29

its organizers formed the nucleus of the Board of Trustees.79 When asked why the Center

was named for Clark, Goss recalled: “We talked about it, and we decided that we would

name it after her, since it was her legacy: the Frances Clark Center for Keyboard Pedagogy.

Clearly easier to understand than ‘Holistic Music Study at the Piano.’”80 Goss described the

center as a natural outgrowth of the methods she and Clark had developed through the

New School for Music Study and the Frances Clark Library.81

While the Frances Clark Center was being organized, Richard Chronister, its first

president, grew ill and died unexpectedly. “Even in our shock and grief, we knew a new

president had to found,” said Goss. 82 That is how Marvin Blickenstaff, who had recently

become faculty at the New School for Music Study, was invited to join the Board of Trustees

and to succeed Chronister as the center’s president. At first, according to Goss, “He

[Blickenstaff] agreed to join the Board, but refused the presidency, claiming the boots were

too big to fill. One September afternoon, before he started teaching, I invited Marvin to my

home, sat him down in my most comfortable chair, and persuaded him that if anyone could

fill those boots, he was the man. An hour later, his resistance worn down, he had agreed,

and the rest is history.”83 Blickenstaff became the Center’s new president in 2000 and has

remained in that position ever since.

Explaining the work done at the Center, Goss said:

79 Hudak, 133. 80 Goss interview, 20 June 2011. 81 Ibid. 82 Louise L. Goss, “A Tribute to Marvin Blickenstaff,” Piano Pedagogy Forum 10 (January 1, 2007):

<http://www.music.sc.edu/ea/keyboard/ppf/10.1/10.1.PPFGoss.html> [Accessed January 2, 2012] 83 Ibid.

30

The relevance of what we do as music teachers is our prime topic. We have the luxury of every in-depth focus, and that focus is how to make the best educational principles apply most practically and effectively to the teaching of music at the piano. This reveals itself in two closely related areas: the most effective music lesson at the keyboard for the individual student or group of students, and how to make that lesson more practical and meaningful for the teacher so that teaching skills can continue to improve. When I do my work in this setting, my goals for the teacher are specific and professional; my goals for the children are simply general and humane.84

Goss served as the first chair of the board of the Frances Clark Center for Keyboard

Pedagogy from its founding through December 2010. Regarding her responsibilities at the

center, Goss stated: “My role is to chair the Board of Trustees and to work on the

development of the broadest of our goals, materials and projects. And of course, try to raise

money.”85 More specifically, Goss described her primary duties as lead responsibility for

revisions and new publications in the Frances Clark Library for Piano Students and

oversight of projects of the Frances Clark Center, mainly its magazine, Clavier Companion,

and the National Conference on Keyboard Pedagogy.86

In December 2010, Goss stepped down as chair of the Center’s board. In January

2011, the new chair of the board was instituted, Leslie Vial Owsley. Goss and the Owsley

family had been church friends for years. Moreover, Owsley and her siblings studied at the

New School for Music Study from age seven through high school and have continued to

have active musical lives. “During all of her years at the New School [for Music Study] she

84 Berr, 30. 85 Sale, “A Lifetime of Teaching,” 20. 86 Hudak, 164.

31

[Leslie Vial Owsley] was my private student. As her graduation gift from high school I gave

her a year of lessons for her freshman year of college.”87

Goss refers to Owsley as “an incredibly well-qualified person [with] great passion

for music and the arts, piano and piano pedagogy.”88 Owsley has been part of the Board

almost from its beginning and is a lawyer by profession. Regarding her choice of Owsley as

her replacement, Goss said: “Because of my way of thinking, because of her own

[background] and her family’s, she would be an ideal board member. And for those same

reasons and the fact that she is a very skillful administrator, she would make an ideal

second chairman of the board; and she is doing a wonderful job with that.”89

87 Goss interview, 20 June 2011. 88 Ibid. 89 Ibid.

32

A Piano Teacher’s Legacy: Selected Writings by Richard Chronister

Richard Chronister was an important American pedagogue who was heavily

influenced by the Clark-Goss pedagogical legacy. Chronister worked with Clark and Goss

from 1956 until 1959, and again from 1961 until 1967. After 1979, they collaborated

together through the National Conferences on Piano Pedagogy, and, in 1998, in the

formation of the Frances Clark Center for Keyboard Pedagogy.90 A Piano Teacher's Legacy:

Selected Writings of Richard Chronister is a compendium of articles on the topic of teaching

children that discuss both philosophical approaches and practical advice. The book was

edited by Edward Darling, a student and lifelong friend of Chronister, and was published in

2005 by the Frances Clark Center. Goss wrote the preface and “worked extensively with Ed

Darling in putting the book together.”91 In the introduction to his book, Darling thanks

Goss: “Her faith in this book and her encouragement and advice sustained it from the

beginning.”92

The website of the Frances Clark Center cites the book as one of the “publications

that are clearly supportive of its [the center’s] mission.”93 The first chapter includes

Chronister’s discussions of eight lectures given by Frances Clark at Westminster Choir

College and the New School for Music Study, titled “Eight Fallacies of Education and Eight

90 Darling, 3.

91 Goss interview, 20 June 2011. 92 Darling, 3.

93 “The Frances Clark Center for Keyboard Pedagogy,”

<http://www.francesclarkcenter.org/homePages/Mission.html> [Accessed March 27, 2011]

33

Basic Principles of Education.” These lectures focus on deciphering several false

assumptions upon which much teaching is based and rerouting the teacher to fulfill the

goal of guiding students to develop their own minds.94

Chronister began his pedagogical career at the New School for Music Study, but also

established a significant legacy of his own. Chronister established the first piano pedagogy

degree program to be approved by the National Association of Schools of Music at the

University of Tulsa, and taught pedagogy at several different college and institutions in the

United States. He also founded National Keyboard Arts Associates, an organization that

conducts research in piano pedagogy, serves as independent certification agency for

private instructors, develops teaching materials, and conducts national workshops for

teachers.95 Throughout his career, though, Chronister’s work was connected the New

School for Music Study: “He was always spiritually, musically and intellectually related,”

Goss commented. 96

94 Darling, 9.

95 Darling, 265-266.

96 Goss interview, 13 June 2011.

34

The Conferences:

The National Conference on Piano Pedagogy

In 1979, Richard Chronister invited James Lyke to join him in organizing a meeting to plan

the first National Conference on Piano Pedagogy. At this point Chronister assumed the role of

Executive Director of the conferences. The first National Conference on Piano Pedagogy was held in

1980; subsequent conferences took place biannually until 1994, when the eighth and last National

Conference on Piano Pedagogy was held.97 According to Goss, “Richard started the first National

Conference on Keyboard Pedagogy. He kept it going as long as he could, financially. But he

eventually couldn’t keep going any longer, and had to give it up, with great reluctance on his part

and our part.”98

The National Conference on Keyboard Pedagogy

With the creation of the Frances Clark Center for Keyboard Pedagogy, the Conference was

reinstated with a new name—the National Conference for Keyboard Pedagogy. The announcement

for the new conference appeared in the Autumn 2000 edition of Keyboard Companion and made

direct reference to reactivating the conference originally run by Chronister and Lyke.99 At the

Conference’s revival in 2001, a posthumous Lifetime Achievement Award was dedicated to Richard

Chronister.

97 Darling, 266-267. 98 Goss interview, 20 June 2011. 99 Elvina Pearce, “The Editor’s Page,” Keyboard Companion 11 (Autumn, 2000): 3.

35

Marvin Blickenstaff, who has been on the planning board for the conference from its

inception, stated, “Louise was part of the Executive Planning Committee for each of the conferences,

2001–2009.”100 Craig Sale added, “Louise was very involved in discussions with Sam [Holland] and

Marvin [Blickenstaff] regarding the planning of the conferences. It was clearly a source of great

pride and excitement for her.”101

100 Craig Sale, personal interview, 2 December 2011.

101 Ibid.

36

The Magazines: Keyboard Companion

Richard Chronister cofounded, with his wife Marjore Chronister, Keyboard

Companion magazine in 1990 and acted as Editor-in-Chief until his death in 1999.

According to Elvina Pearce, Chronister held a clear vision of the magazine’s purpose from

its beginning, writing in the inaugural issue, “We want KEYBOARD COMPANION to provide

you with exactly what it says—companions in the wonderfully complex profession we have

chosen.”102 After a brief hiatus, Keyboard Companion became part of the Frances Clark

Center for Keyboard Pedagogy and was reinstated with the Autumn 2000 issue. Pearce,

who became the new Editor-in-Chief, stated in her first column, “One of his [Chronister’s]

desires was to have the magazine become part of the Center and now, that, too, has come to

pass.”103

Until the Spring 2003 edition, Keyboard Companion’s subheading read, “A Practical

Magazine on Early-Level Piano Study.” Beginning with the next issue, the subheading was

changed to “A Practical Magazine on Piano Teaching.” Later, starting in the Autumn 2007

issue, subheadings for the magazine were removed in order to broaden the spectrum of

articles and subscribers. The same year Pete Jutras joined the magazine as its new Editor-

in-Chief.

102 Pearce, “The Editor’s Page,” 3. Quoting Richard Chronister, Keyboard Companion 1 (Spring, 1990).

103 Pearce, “The Editor’s Page,” 3.

37

Clavier Companion

In 2009, two important keyboard magazines, Clavier and Keyboard Companion,

merged. Clavier Companion magazine was born as the result of the merger. Marvin

Blickenstaff, who held the position of Associate Editor of Keyboard Companion from 1990

to 2006, said, “I believe Louise was originally contacted by the owner/publisher of Clavier

magazine to determine if the Frances Clark Center would be interested in buying Clavier.

The primary negotiations were handled by Sam Holland, but Louise was an integral part of

the process and decision-making.”104 Craig Sale, who was later Associate Editor of the

magazine, stated, “As chair of the board [of the Frances Clark Center] she oversaw any

guidance/direction and board decisions regarding the publication.”105 With the merger,

Goss’s column “Questions and Answers” was instituted as a regular feature of the new

magazine.

104 Marvin Blickenstaff, personal interview, 5 December 2011.

105 Sale interview, 2 December 2011.

38

“Questions and Answers:” The Summer Workshops

Long before the New School for Music Study was founded, the Clark-Goss team

executed pedagogy enterprises. In an effort to reach out to other teachers, the Frances

Clark Summer Workshops were started at Kalamazoo College in the summer of 1948.106 At

the workshops Goss taught ensemble and repertoire classes and lectured on effective

practicing skills and music history. Beginning in 1953, their workshops expanded to other

locations around the country.107

“Questions and Answers” by Frances Clark

The summer workshops were the springboard for “Frances Clark Answers,” a

regular column in The Piano Teacher magazine from 1961 to 1965, and “Questions and

Answers,” a column in Clavier magazine from 1966 to 1991.108 In the format for both

columns, Clark answered questions submitted by piano teachers from across the country.

Goss later said, “I thought the fun thing about Frances’s column was that it was specifically

addressed to the teacher of the younger ages, and the common problems that we all

share.”109

106 Grandy, 18. 107 Hudak, 49.

108 Ibid., 39. 109 Goss interview, 20 June 2011.

39

Although the byline was attributed to Frances Clark, in reality the magazine column

was the result of yet another collaboration between Clark and Goss. Blickenstaff noted,

“Louise worked closely with Frances Clark on the ‘Questions and Answers’ column that was

part of each issue [of Clavier].”110 Goss clarified, “The questions came sometimes from

readers, but not enough to fill the column. So, when there was a blank, either she or I would

write the question, and then either she or I would answer it, or probably both of us would

answer it. In reality that column was always a joint effort.”111

In 1992, the best of Clavier magazine’s “Questions and Answers” column was

compiled into a book, edited and with a preface written by Goss.112 According to Goss, “I

was instrumental in putting the columns into the book. We worked together on that all one

summer, maybe it was two summers. It was a big, big job because we went through all the

columns and picked out the most important ones.”113

“Questions and Answers” by Louise Goss

When Keyboard Companion expanded to become Clavier Companion in 2010, Goss

revived and took over authorship of the “Questions and Answers” column.114 According to

Goss:

110 Blickenstaff interview, 5 December 2011. 111 Goss interview, 20 June 2011.

112 Clark, Questions and Answers.

113 Goss interview, 20 June 2011. 114 Louise L. Goss, "Questions and Answers,” Clavier Companion 2 (January-February 2010): 64.

40

The reason I accepted that assignment was that we were told over and over again by the staff of the original magazine, that Frances’s column was always on the back page, as mine is. We were told over and over by different editors and different associate editors that the first thing that people turned to when they opened the magazine was not the beginning, but they wanted that page. That was what encouraged me to agree, just now at the time when I was letting other things go, to think that maybe this was a piece of the legacy which was my particular responsibility to keep going. Perhaps I could keep it going by attempting to continue to talk to the part of the teaching field that most of the rest of the magazine doesn’t address.115

Goss’s focus in the column is to address teachers of the younger ages. Goss says, “That was

my goal, to keep that emphasis alive and well in the magazine….I wanted to make sure that

we didn’t lose our touch with that part of the piano teaching public. The higher levels are

well served by very skillful people, and this could easily disappear.”116

According to Craig Sale, “While some houses may have a Bible in a special place in

their home, Louise had a beautiful dictionary in a place of honor on a stand in her living

room. This says it all! Louise crafted sentences like a musician shapes a phrase – with deep

understanding and care.”117 Amy Glennon agrees: “I don’t think they make writers like

Louise anymore! It all seems to come so naturally to her.”118 Marvin Blickenstaff added,

“Louise has an elegant writing style, and consummate command of the language.”119

115 Goss interview, 20 June 2011. 116 Ibid. 117 Sale interview, 2 December 2011. 118 Amy Glennon, personal interview, 23 January 2012. 119 Blickenstaff interview, 5 December 2011.

41

CHAPTER 4 REFLECTIONS ON LOUISE GOSS’S LEGACY

Introduction

Throughout her pedagogical career, Louise Goss has worked with and influenced the

professional lives of many who have become pedagogues in their own rights. This chapter

will portray Louise Goss as viewed by some of her closest collaborators. They relate

memorable accounts of their interactions with the prominent pedagogue throughout their

years at the New School for Music Study and express what they consider to be Goss’s

contributions to the New School for Music Study, the Frances Clark Library for Piano

Students, the Frances Clark Center for Keyboard Pedagogy, and the development of

pedagogy programs and the piano pedagogy field.

Goss and the New School for Music Study

Valerie Cuppens Bates was associated with the New School for Music Study

beginning in 1988. She obtained her Certificate in Piano Pedagogy and later served eight

years as Senior Faculty and Director of Admissions. Cuppens Bates collaborated closely

with Clark and Goss in the preparation of The Music Tree and other materials for the

Frances Clark Library for Piano Students.120 In an interview with Allison Lynn Hudak,

Cuppens Bates discussed her experiences with lesson observations by Clark and Goss: “She

[Cuppens Bates] observed Clark and Goss each teach one of her students weekly, so she

120 Hudak, 100-101.

42

learned a great deal from watching them and from their constructive written criticism and

individual conferences on group and private lessons.”121

Mary Brostrom Bloom obtained her master’s degree through the joint program

between Westminster Choir College and the New School for Music Study in 1988, after

which she became coordinator of the Preparatory Division at the New School for Music

Study. Bloom has been involved with the National Conference on Keyboard Pedagogy, has

served as an educational consultant for the Frances Clark Library and has presented

workshops on The Music Tree.122 Bloom recounted her lesson observations with Clark and

Goss in an interview with Hudak: “Bloom was to teach one of The New School [for Music

Study] students while the student’s teacher, Clark, and Goss observed…After the lesson,

Bloom met with Clark and Goss and together they discussed what was positive about the

lesson and what could be improved.”123

Prior to joining the faculty of the New School for Music Study in 1999, Marvin

Blickenstaff was invited by Richard Chronister to be one of the original Associate Editors of

Keyboard Companion, a position he held until from 1990 to 2006. After Chronister’s death

in 1999, Blickenstaff became President of the Board of Trustees of the Frances Clark

Center. As one of his duties, Blickenstaff has been part of the Executive Planning Committee

for the National Conference on Keyboard Pedagogy since its inception in 2001.124

Blickenstaff, observing of Goss’s ability to introduce new material, recounted:

121 Ibid., 105. 122 Ibid., 106-107. 123 Ibid., 108. 124 Ibid.

43

Several decades ago while teaching at the University of North Carolina, I contacted Frances and Louise and asked if I could bring a group of pedagogy students to visit the New School [for Music Study]. They suggested their spring break would be a good time. So three carloads of us drove up from Chapel Hill and we spent an entire day with the two of them. Videotaping technology was in its infancy, but lessons were being videotaped at the New School [for Music Study], and we watched several examples of those sessions. I remember well a videotape showing Louise teaching an introductory piece in 5ths. I had taught that piece numerous times, but her teaching was a revelation to me in how a very simple piece could be filled with excitement and drive.125

Craig Sale completed the two-year Certificate Program in Piano Pedagogy at the

New School for Music Study in 1983. In 2000, he became Associate Editor for Keyboard

Companion and then for its successor Clavier Companion, in charge of the Music Reading

department. He joined the Board of Trustees of the Frances Clark Center in 2011. Sale has

been involved in the planning of the National Conference on Keyboard Pedagogy and

worked closely with Goss as co-author of The Music Tree Activities 3 and The Music Tree

Activities 4.126 Concerning Goss’s teaching priorities, Sale remembered: “When concerned

that I was moving a class of 6 yr olds too slowly, she told me that covering the materials

was secondary to the students’ readiness and success—an important lesson for a young

teacher!”127 Sale also described Goss’s presentation of new concepts:

I remember a lesson in which I was trying to have a student play their first slurs. I was being dutiful the importance of the ear, having the student listen and then try again over and over. Louise’s comment was ‘They can listen until the cows come home. They have to learn how it feels.’ This was a great lesson in teaching technique—acknowledging the importance of sound and yet realizing that technique is a motor skill….Louise had the best way with words. Her presentations

125 Blickenstaff interview, 5 December 2011. 126 Ibid. 127 Sale interview, 2 December 2011.

44

of elementary concepts were the most precise and efficient examples I have ever seen. I use them still to this very day. They never fail.128 Amy Glennon graduated from her pedagogy studies at the New School for Music

Study in 1989. She later joined the New School for Music Study as a faculty member and

became Admissions Director; she currently holds the position of Educational Director.129 In

an interview conducted for this document, Glennon gave an account of Goss’s approach to

teaching young children:

Louise [was] marching along with the students to Yankee Doodle. First, she marched the pulse, then the notes of the song. She chanted the words with great enthusiasm. It was so important to Louise that the students experience the rhythm in their bodies. The students were learning all about eighth notes, but the words ‘eighth notes’ were never spoken at this time. Furthermore, the students were not learning pieces with eighth notes and wouldn’t for several weeks. Each new concept was prepared with great care so that students grew naturally as pianists.130 Glennon also related the following story that illustrates the importance of relating to

children in a way that is relevant to them: “Another memory that comes to mind is a class

that I taught all by myself when Louise was away. I taught a piece called ‘Herman the

Hippo.’ Off the top of my head I asked: ‘What kind of teeth do you think Herman had?’

When Louise later saw the tape of the class with me, she paused the tape when I asked that

question and said, ‘Now, that’s great teaching!’”

Regarding Goss’s ability to draw the best out of the student, Glennon recalled: “Over

the years, I have often asked Louise to hear one of my students and offer advice on how to

improve a performance. She unfailingly knows the one thing that will bring the

128 Ibid. 129 Ibid. 130 Glennon.

45

performance to the next level. She listens keenly, indeed. She never, ever, talks down to the

student, but always with respect.”131 Glennon added, “Louise has been a mentor to me for

nearly half my life now and continues to be a source of great inspiration. She gives me great

confidence, as she always starts her critiques of my teaching with the positive and moves

into suggestions. This is a model for my own critiques of other teachers. She provides a

model for excellence, as a teacher, administrator, and as a human being.”132

Concerning Goss’s influence on the teachers she trained at the New School for Music

Study, Blickenstaff stated: “No one left the New School [for Music Study] pedagogy program

without having been indelibly influenced by Louise’s teaching procedures and

philosophy.”133 On the topic of Goss’s legacy at the New School for Music Study, Blickenstaff

reflected: “The recent celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the New School for Music

Study was largely a celebration of Louise’s legacy at the school….In my 13-year tenure at

the New School [for Music Study], scores of different teachers have been on our staff.

Louise has interacted with them all, mostly having observed their teaching and discussing

her observations with them. Without exception, they know that they have grown as an

effective teacher through her mentoring. In her work with teachers she is honest, direct,

and unfailingly kind.”134

Regarding Goss’s leadership at the New School for Music Study, Glennon expressed:

“Louise is an unparalleled leader. She is unfailingly enthusiastic, articulate, and intelligent.

131 Ibid. 132 Ibid.

133 Blickenstaff interview, 5 December 2011.

134 Ibid.

46

Her first thought does not seem to be how something can be done, but that it must be done.

I believe that though Louise is a meticulous person in every way, she is always a dreamer

first, and she dreams big.”135 Blickenstaff’s corroborated: “Everyone who knows anything

about the NSMS [New School for Music Study] pays testimony to the fact that Louise was

the grease that made the machinery run smoothly. In the early years, she was heavily

invested in faculty training and supervision….Even after the end of the collaboration

between the New School [for Music Study] and the Westminster Choir College graduate

pedagogy program, Louise continued her role as mentor of the New School [for Music

Study] faculty, frequently observing lessons and holding conferences. Her sage advice was

eagerly sought by all staff members.”136

Goss’s impact on the Frances Clark Library for Piano Students

Describing Goss’s role in the Frances Clark Library for Piano Students, Sale stated:

“Louise has always been the driving force [as primary editor] for all publications of the

Library. Her editorial skills in music and text have touched every product published and

made it the standard against which all others can be measured.”137 Sale also added: “Louise

was a driving force behind the editing and publication of the landmark literature books of

the Frances Clark Library. These materials set a new (and desperately needed) standard in

graded repertoire publications for piano students.”138

135 Glennon. 136 Blickenstaff interview, 5 December 2011.

137 Sale interview, 2 December 2011.

138 Ibid.

47

Glennon expressed her view of Goss’s role in the development of the teaching

materials by saying, “The contributions of Frances Clark have been well-documented as

one of the most influential figures in 20th century piano teaching in the United States. One

might argue, though, that without the unique partnership of Frances Clark and Louise Goss,

Frances’ teaching materials might have not reached such a level of perfection nor have

reached such a wide audience.”139 Blickenstaff affirmed: “[I] know that it was largely

Louise’s project. The success of the Library is due to Louise’s research and careful

editing.”140

Goss’s role in the Frances Clark Center for Keyboard Pedagogy

Regarding Goss’s responsibilities as a leader for the Frances Clark Center for

Keyboard Pedagogy, Sale articulated: “Louise has been the driving force and inspiration for

this organization.”141 Blickenstaff explained further: “She worked tirelessly on fund-raising

and board development. She carefully planned and successfully moderated the annual

meetings of the Broad of Trustees. The work of the Center was always on the front burner

of her concerns and time investment.”142

139 Glennon.

140 Blickenstaff interview, 5 December 2011. 141 Sale interview, 2 December 2011. 142 Blickenstaff interview, 5 December 2011.

48

Goss’s Influence on the Creation of Pedagogy Programs across the United States

Goss’s role in American pedagogy has impacted beyond the Frances Clark Center

and its immediate influence. She has also help with the propagation of pedagogy programs

across the country. According to Hudak, “When John T. O’Brien was offered a faculty piano

position opened at Goshen College in Indiana, Goss helped him create the curriculum for

his pedagogy program and helped him establish a preparatory department so his students

could practice-teach with observation, just like he had done at The New School [for Music

Study].”143 O’Brien received his Piano Pedagogy diploma from the New School for Music

Study and later served as its Director of Teacher Training.144

Goss’s Legacy in the Field of Piano Pedagogy in General

Regarding Goss’s work in the creation and dissemination of pedagogy programs,

Sale expressed: “Louise’s work in the 1980s with the committee on pedagogy certificate

programs for the National Conference on Piano Pedagogy helped many schools, including

my own, start their own non-degree programs in piano pedagogy.”145 Sale also considered

Goss’s legacy for the piano teaching profession in general: “I believe that Louise created a

whole new image of what a piano teacher was. The piano teacher of the 1950’s and 1960’s

was shown to be articulate, vivacious and completely professional. She and Frances took

great pride in calling themselves ‘piano teachers.’”146

143 Hudak, 186-187.

144 Ibid., 183-184. 145 Sale interview, 2 December 2011.

146 Ibid.

49

Finally, Sale added: “Louise’s devotion to the continuation of the work of Frances

Clark through the FC [Frances Clark] Center has been a driving force through these first

years. Once when asked what she would do when Frances was gone she replied, ‘I’ll be off

to the Bahamas and never come back.’ The world of piano pedagogy can be very thankful

that she did not do that!”147

147 Ibid.

50

CHAPTER 5

LOUISE GOSS’S THOUGHTS ON PEDAGOGICAL MATTERS

Introduction

In this chapter, I have made an attempt to compile Louise Goss’s most significant

and clearly stated musings on pedagogical matters. The cited sources are varied and cover

the many aspects of music education that are part of her philosophy as they have been

expressed in Goss’s own writings, in writings about her work and through interviews.

Early Age Music Education

Regarding the importance of providing children with musical education, Goss

stated:

[It is] essential that every child should have good music education as early as possible. It should also be for as long as possible, because I think it counteracts, more effectively than anything else I know, some of the things that are wrong with today’s society. A child who has good music instruction becomes a stronger and more creative person, and a more independent learner. They become participants rather than passive consumers….To actually be creating in some kind of musical way is going to change their lives—their minds, their spirits, their health—especially their mental health. Creating leads to health, happiness and successful lives. I agree with Aristotle that music is one of the basic cornerstones of education.148 Goss also believes: “Every child in the world should have piano lessons. Those who

take piano lessons as a child are also the ones who purchase symphony orchestra tickets as

148 Berr, 30.

51

an adult, participate in their church’s choir, and encourage their own children to take an

interest in music.”149

Composition and Improvisation from Lesson One

At the New School for Music Study, composition and improvisation are an integral

part of the curriculum from lesson one. Regarding the importance of both, Goss has

asserted: “In learning any new language the greatest reward is being able to speak. Starting

piano study without the idea that you can very soon speak piano would be discouraging.

Students use what they have learned in the first lesson to say something of their own,

something meaningful. Therefore, music becomes their language.”150

Transfer Students

Goss believes every transfer student should be interviewed before accepting them

into a program or teaching studio. “The purpose of the interview is threefold: spend time

getting to know the student in a relaxed and friendly way; encourage [her] to talk—about

life, about [her] music study, and about the kind of music [she] most enjoys; and, hear [her]

play some of the music [she] has most recently studied, being careful to pick pieces about

which [she] seems most enthusiastic.”151

149 Candace Braun, “Profiles in Education,” Town Topics (June 15, 2005): <http://www.towntopics.com/jun1505/other7.html> [Accessed January 2, 2012]

150 Strauss, 31. 151 Louise L. Goss, "Questions and Answers” (January-February 2010), 64.

52

Lesson Plans

In one of her “Questions and Answers” columns for Clavier Companion, Goss

describes the relevance and procedures for lesson planning. This applies to both private as

well as group classes. “Begin by making a long-range lesson plan from September to June

[i.e., through the whole academic year], and then break the long-range plan into shorter

segments, perhaps ten-week plans, before planning individual weeks.”152 Regarding the

importance of long-term planning, Goss says, “This is a general statement of our goals for

this class or student in repertoire, theory, technique, and skills such as sight-reading,

transposing, accompanying, and memorizing.”153 She also makes it clear that short-term

planning should not be overlooked. “The ten-week plan lists specific music, technical

etudes and exercises, and theoretical concepts and materials, with books and page

numbers for everything we expect to assign. The ten-week plan is detailed and time

consuming, but it saves hours of time in planning weekly lessons.”154

Goss emphasizes the importance and care required in lesson planning by declaring,

“In general, I believe that planning a lesson consumes about as much time as giving it, a fact

that ought to be taken into consideration when teachers determine their fees!”155

152 Louise L. Goss, "Questions and Answers,” Clavier Companion 4 (January-February 2012): 64. 153 Ibid. 154 Ibid. 155 Ibid.

53

New Musical Concepts

An integral part of the teaching philosophy of Louise Goss and the New School for

Music Study is the presentation of new musical concepts long before they appear for the

first time in a student’s repertoire piece. When asked how far in advance a teacher should

introduce a rhythmic concept before a student gets to play it in a piece, Goss replied, “Far

enough ahead to be sure they [the students] respond securely to the new rhythm every

time they meet it before you assign it in a piece to be practiced alone at home. Just when

this preparation should begin depends entirely on the age and ability of the student and, of

course, on the teacher’s standards for readiness.”156

A vital component of Goss’s teaching approach is preparing the student to “own” a

new musical concept before he is required to use it in a piece, and verifying his ownership

of the concept before moving on to the next concept. According to Grandy, “Goss asserts

that teachers have not taught a new concept until students can do it naturally. Ending with

success before moving on to the next challenge is essential.”157

Introducing New Pieces

Louise Goss explains two effective but very different ways for teaching new pieces:

1) Merely make the assignment, calling it to the students’ attention, pointing out special problems, but leaving the actual workout for them to do largely on their own. This approach implies that students already understand and can do everything required in the score, know how to make and follow a practice plan, and are able to develop progressive goals for a week’s work.

156 Louise L. Goss, "Questions and Answers,” Clavier Companion 3 (May-June 2011): 72. 157 Grandy, 76.

54

2) Work out new music in such detail that the students leave the studio able to play securely and accurately any piece (or section of the piece) you assigned. This approach should leave nothing, or very little, to correct at the next lesson.158

Teaching Philosophy

One of Frances Clark’s most important truisms is that we first teach the child,

second music, and only third the piano. Goss sees that many teachers too often take the

wrong approach: “It’s all been turned backwards, world-wide it has been turned

backwards, it’s piano first, music second, and the child [at a] not very important, third.”159

Goss’s teaching philosophy is expressed in her statement, “Good education in all fields

needs to be holistic.”160 According to Elaine Strauss, Goss sets musical study in the larger

context of living; she is convinced that living and learning require working out how the

whole and the parts relate, without preconceptions. 161 Goss also asserts: “We [as teachers]

see not just piano study, or not just pedagogy study, but the culmination of them, at its best,

as the outgrowth of a real understanding of what holistic education is. By that [holistic

education] I mean not learning to play the piano, not learning how music is made, not

understanding theory, none of those things, but the holistic reality of what music education

at the piano means. And it [music education at the piano] means, I think, the growth and

158 Louise L. Goss, "Questions and Answers,” Clavier Companion 3 (January-February 2011): 64. 159 Goss interview, 20 June 2011.

160 Strauss, 31. 161 Ibid.

55

development of the whole human being.”162 Goss is convinced that only through a holistic

education will our students achieve true enrichment.

Good Practice Habits

While many believe that teaching is the art of correcting mistakes, Goss warns: “The

more time you spend developing wise practice habits, the less you will have to spend

correcting mistakes. Your time can be spent, instead, turning accurate performances into

musical ones.”163

The Music Tree vs. other Method Books

Comparing The Music Tree to other method books, Goss explained, “The cleverest of

our [The Music Tree’s] competitors were smart enough to analyze a lot of what we were

doing and to copy it. But there were two ways in which they didn’t get it. One was the

holistic aspect: they didn’t see that through in every area of every subject.”164

Group Piano Teaching

Regarding the significance of group instruction, Goss wrote: “The many special

values of group study [are]: the fun, challenge, and companionship of the group; the way in

which students learn from one another better than they can ever learn from a teacher; the

162 Goss interview, 13 June 2011.

163 Louise L. Goss, "Questions and Answers” (January-February 2011), 64. 164 Goss interview, 20 June 2011.

56

stimulation of shared learning experiences; the healthy nature of peer completion; and the

peer as a believable model.”165

Goss asserts that there are several particular benefits of group instruction: “The

aspects of music that can be taught both more effectively and more efficiently in groups are

such things as reading, rhythm, singing, moving to music, ear training, improvising, etc.”166

Group Teaching Philosophy

At the New School for Music Study, group classes are integrated with private

teaching. In an interview with Craig Sale, Goss details the intricacies of group teachers and

teaching:

I think successful group learning begins with a teacher who is truly musical, has had excellent training in group teaching, and believes passionately in the importance of a group experience as part of music education at the piano. The dynamics of group learning begin with the skill of the teacher in involving every student in every activity of every minute of the lesson. This means obvious things such as straightforward group activities—for example, singing a song while moving to the rhythm, clapping and counting with a strong rhythmic pulse, standing at the piano for technical exercises, which are played in unison, etc.167 About the challenges of keeping the attention of all students in the group engaged at

all times, Goss continues: “In addition, every other moment of the class must involve a

learning experience for every student. For example, as one student plays a repertoire piece

at the piano, the rest of the class plays at dummy keyboards and sings along, or point to the

notation or taps the rhythm while counting out loud. At the end of the performance,

165 Louise L. Goss, "Questions and Answers,” Clavier Companion 3 (March-April 2011): 80. 166 Ibid. 167 Sale, “A Lifetime of Teaching,” 19.

57

students eagerly evaluate what went well and why or what might be improved and

how.”168

Regarding the defining role of a clearly drafted lesson plan towards the effectiveness

and smooth-sailing of the group class, Goss stated: “This kind of dynamic teaching succeeds

only if the teacher plans the lesson in detail, rehearses its presentation, and comes to the

lesson with energy, enthusiasm, and high musical expectations. Students are very quick to

sense and respond to the teacher’s excitement about learning and musical beauty. And they

respond just as quickly to the absence of these qualities.”169 Goss underlines that the

teacher’s personal qualities will emerge during his teaching; this is one more example of

Goss’s emphasis on the development of the whole individual and not just the learning

materials at hand.

Group Class Instructors Goss’s teaching style is characterized as relevant, direct, and to the point. The

following advice for group class instructors matches this style:

• Stay on your feet and keep moving around the room to check on and involve all the students. • Be careful to call on students in rotation so that no one feels left out. • Change activities frequently and move quickly from one activity to another. • Alternate frequently between full group activities and those in which one student creates the sound while the others perform in a different way. • Make clear questioning a basic part of your teaching, and encourage concise answers. • Use frequent and reasonable praise, avoiding blanket “goods!” and “greats!” • Call on students by name and use their names as often as possible.

168 Ibid.

169 Ibid.

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• Be sure to speak with warmth and energy at a brisk pace but without any sense of hurry. • Show in every way that beautiful musical performance is your highest priority.170

College-Level Pedagogy

In an interview, Goss and Bruce Berr discussed the commonly held opinion that

college piano majors can afford to miss out on pedagogy training while they nurture their

playing abilities in the belief that their teaching skills will develop once they begin to take

on students. 171 Goss stated, “I think the reason that you’re still hearing comments like that

is part and parcel of what happens to bad thinking, which is that it perpetuates itself. What

you’ve quoted is the result of someone who has been too lazy to think through what

pedagogy is or might be…. You simply have to demonstrate how different life can be if you

are considering these things, as opposed to the way your life is if you’re not considering

them.”172

Teacher-Training Curriculums

Louise Goss believes that there are essential components to teacher-training

curriculums. The following are key aspects:

170 Ibid. 171 Berr, 31. 172 Ibid.

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• Detailed lesson planning. Each lesson grows out of the one before and prepares for the ones to come. The lesson must not only be planned, but thoroughly practiced, so that not a minute of precious lesson time is wasted. • Thorough knowledge of the repertoire. The teacher must be able to play the piece so beautifully and convincingly that the student is immediately excited or captivated by it. It also means being able to present it to students efficiently and effectively.

• Having a comprehensive curriculum of skills and drills for every level. Each lesson contains work on every aspect of musicianship.173

• Supervised teaching. “We [at the New School for Music Study] have much more supervised teaching because one learns by teaching, not by being talked at about teaching.”174

Goss on Clark

Louise Goss’s close work with Frances Clark was based on shared beliefs that Goss

has described on many occasions: “[Clark recognized] that the quality of musical

experience is directly related to the teaching-learning experience. Thus she placed singular

importance on the preparation of teachers.”175 “She believed that music was neither magic

nor mystery. To her it was a precise science and an exact art that could be taught.”176

Goss on Goss

When asked what she considered her most important contributions to piano

pedagogy, Goss told Allison Hudak: “This has been a very difficult question to answer

because it is so hard to separate ‘me’ from what Frances and I did together. But here are

173 Sale, “A Lifetime of Teaching,” 20. 174 Hudak, 61-62. 175 Sale, “A Lifetime of Teaching,” 10. 176 “In Remembrance of Frances Clark,” American Music Teacher 48 (1998): 25.

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some specific details that I feel made a significant contribution to our field. I codified all the

pedagogical concepts, materials, and projects that Frances and I worked on as a team and

brought them into final form. This includes the organization, curriculum development, and

teaching models for the New School for Music Study. In addition I organized, co-authored,

and edited the entire Frances Clark Library for Piano Students.”177

What Makes Good Teachers

In an interview with Craig Sale, Goss explained her belief that great teachers are

almost always born that way, but new or inexperienced teachers can be taught to become

excellent if well trained.178 Goss also emphasized the importance of the teacher’s ease of

communication and stated: “Those who are the most comfortable expressing themselves

non-verbally are often the most effective communicators.”179

Teachers as Performers Teaching is more than what we say to our students, which Goss emphasizes further:

“Probably the most effective non-verbal coach of all is our own performance of our

student’s music. But beware! So often when we perform a phrase or line or entire piece,

students watch the music. They should be watching us to see how we communicate our

interpretive suggestions.”180

177 Hudak, 164. 178 Sale, “A Lifetime of Teaching,” 20.

179 Louise L. Goss, "Questions and Answers,” Clavier Companion 2 (March-April 2010): 72. 180 Ibid.

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Hopes for the Future of Piano Pedagogy

In one of the interviews conducted for this document, Goss stated, when asked

about her hopes and wishes for the future of the piano pedagogy profession: “My hope for

the future is that a much larger group of people will come to see what piano pedagogy in its

fullness means; how exciting it is, how important it is, and that lots of people will get on the

bandwagon and make it become what it can become.”181 Goss later stated, “[I hope]

everybody would begin to grasp this notion that it’s the child first, music second, and only

third is the piano.”182

181 Goss interview, 13 June 2011.

182 Ibid.

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Conclusion

The Clark-Goss team embarked on a mission to change the fate of piano pedagogy in

the United States from their first professional collaboration during the making of ABC

Papers in 1947, while Goss was still a college student. But it is not in Goss’s nature to seek

public recognition for her work, as Blickenstaff reaffirms: “Louise is not one to covet the

spotlight and willingly relinquishes that position.”183 During our interview together, Goss

remembered, “When she [Frances] was getting a lot of praise, she many times said to me,

‘Just remember, I couldn’t have done one bit of this work without you.’”184

The success of the Clark-Goss team was made possible by the diverse set of skills

they both brought into their work together. “It was always clear that Frances was the

brilliant thinker, the innovator, and the creative force behind all of the work at the New

School [for Music Study],” remembers Craig Sale. “However, it was equally clear that

without Louise’s organizational skills, drive, and communication skills none of those things

would have come to fruition. Louise may not have been the inspiration but she was the one

who saw to it that things got done and got done in the most excellent way.”185 Cuppen

Bates confirmed this statement. “Frances’s thoughts were often quite abstract, but Louise

was able to take Frances’s message and communicate the concepts in a manner that

everyone could readily understand. They made a great team.”186

183 Blickenstaff interview, 5 December 2011. 184 Goss interview, 20 June 2011. 185 Sale interview, 2 December 2011. 186 Hudak, 103.

63

The scope of the Clark-Goss partnership was achieved due to the complementary

nature of their talents. According to Goss, “I could do a lot of things she couldn’t do, and she

could do an infinite variety of things that I could not do. But we couldn’t either have done it

alone, I believe. And I say that for the whole scope of our work together. It couldn’t have

happened if there hadn’t been two of us, with two complementary and yet very diverse skill

sets.”187

One aspect of Goss’s and the New School for Music Study’s philosophy that made a

deep impact on my teaching and performance philosophy was their commitment to

providing comprehensive, highly polished music education from the student’s very first

encounter with the piano. According to Goss, “Frances always said that the start of

everything was in the beginning, and that the beginning of a successful piano student was

in the first lesson.”188

The professional contributions of eminent American piano pedagogue Louise Goss,

during and after Clark’s lifetime, are countless. Her tireless efforts include the

establishment of arguably the first piano pedagogy program in the United States, the

creation of the New School for Music Study, the development of the Frances Clark Library

for Piano Study, countless workshops, the creation of the Frances Clark Center for Keyboard

Pedagogy, the proliferation of the National Conference for Piano Pedagogy, the publication

of Keyboard Companion and later Clavier Companion magazines, as well as the editorship of

books and articles on piano pedagogy.

187 Goss interview, 13 June 2011. 188 Goss interview, 20 June 2011.

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Goss’s work has touched the lives of innumerable piano students, piano pedagogy

interns, and piano teachers. "I would say that my mission in life and the mission of the

school [New School] has been to do everything we can to improve piano teaching methods

and materials, so that every child who takes piano lessons can have a wonderful, joyful,

growthful experience," stated Goss. 189 Piano pedagogy will always be indebted to her

professional contributions.

189 Braun.

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APPENDIX A TIMELINE OF EVENTS IN LOUISE GOSS’S CAREER

1944: Louise Goss’s college education begins at Kalamazoo College in Michigan. Frances Clark joins Kalamazoo College as piano faculty.

1945: Louise Goss becomes a student at Frances Clark’s first pedagogy class at Kalamazoo College.

1947: The book ABC Papers by Frances Clark is first published.

1948: The first session of The Frances Clark Summer Workshops is held on the campus of Kalamazoo College.

1948: ABC Papers’s sequel Reading Technique, by Frances Clark is first published.

1948: Louise Goss graduates from Kalamazoo College with a Bachelors Degree.

1949: Louise Goss begins her graduate studies at the University of Michigan, in Ann Arbor.

1952: Louise Goss becomes faculty of the University of Michigan.

1953: Louise Goss left the University of Michigan and moves back to Kalamazoo to join Frances Clark in creating a piano method for Clayton F. Summy Company.

1953: The Frances Clark Summer Workshops spread throughout the United States.

1955: Frances Clark and Louise Goss join Westminster Choir College in Princeton, New Jersey, and set up the undergraduate degree in piano pedagogy.

1955: Time to Begin, the primer level of The Music Tree piano method by Clark, Goss and others, is first published.

1960: Frances Clark and Louise Goss cofound the New School for Music Study in Princeton, New Jersey.

1961-1965: Frances Clark’s column “Frances Clark Answers” runs in The Piano Teacher magazine.

1966-1991: Frances Clark’s “Questions and Answers” column is published in Clavier magazine.

1970: The New School for Music Study is relocated to Kingston, New Jersey.

66

1980: Richard Chronister and James Lyke found the National Conference on Piano Pedagogy.

1982-1999: The New School for Music Study joins Westminster Choir College to offer a combined Masters Degree in Piano Pedagogy and Performance.

1983: The New School for Music Study Press is founded.

1990, Spring: Keyboard Companion magazine’s inaugural issue.

1991: Frances Clark retires from Clavier magazine.

1992: The book Questions and Answers is published.

1994: The eighth and last National Conference on Piano Pedagogy is held.

1996: Warner Brothers buys the New School for Music Study Press as well as the Summy-Birchard Press and agrees to publish the revisions of the piano method The Music Tree.

1998: Louise Goss is awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Music from Kalamazoo College.

1998, April 18th: Frances Clark dies in Princeton, New Jersey. 1998: Kalamazoo College awards Goss an Honorary Doctorate in Music. 1999: The Frances Clark Center for Keyboard Pedagogy is founded.

1999-2010: Louise Goss acts as chair of the board of the Frances Clark Center for Piano Pedagogy.

1999, Winter: last issue of Keyboard Companion magazine with Richard Chronister as editor in chief.

1999, December 31st: Richard Chronister dies.

2000, Autumn: Keyboard Companion is revived. Elvina Pearce becomes the magazine’s new Editor-in-Chief.

2000: Keyboard Companion magazine becomes part of the Frances Clark Center for Keyboard Pedagogy.

2001: The inception of the National Conference on Keyboard Pedagogy.

2001: Westminster Choir College of Rider University awards Goss an honorary doctorate in music.

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2002: The New School for Music Study creates its post-graduate piano pedagogy fellowship.

2005: Louise Goss receives the 2005 Music Teachers National Association Achievement Award, at the Music Teachers National Association Conference in Seattle, Washington. 2005: A Piano Teacher’s Legacy: Selected Writings by Richard Chronister is published by the Frances Clark Center for Keyboard Pedagogy. 2007: Pete Jutras becomes Editor-in-Chief of Keyboard Companion magazine. 2009, January/February issue: first issue of Clavier Companion magazine. 2009-present: Louise Goss’s “Questions and Answers” column is published in Clavier Companion magazine. 2010, December 31st: Louise Goss steps down as Chair of the Board of the Frances Clark Center for Keyboard Pedagogy.

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APPENDIX B

PHOTOGRAPHS OF LOUISE GOSS

Louise Goss at six months old.

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Louise Goss and her sister.

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Louise Goss in 1948.

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Louise Goss and Frances Clark sailing, c.1950.

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From left: Richard Chronister, Frances Clark, Louise Goss, and David Kraehenbuehl at the New School for Music Study.

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Louise Goss with a group of teachers at the New School for Music Study.

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Louise Goss in 1992.

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The New School for Music Study in Kingston, NJ.

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Louise Goss speaking at the 2009 National Conference on Keyboard Pedagogy.

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Louise Goss singing a Bach chorale at the 2009 National Conference on Keyboard Pedagogy.

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Louise Goss in 2009.

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Louise Goss and Judith Jain after Jain’s New School for Music Study Faculty Recital in 2011.

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