Piano Studies

Degrees

Students interested in piano studies have several degree options, including:

• Bachelor of Music in Performance
• Bachelor of Music Education, with emphases in either piano-choral or piano-instrumental
• Bachelor of Arts
• Master of Music in Performance
• Master of Music in Collaborative Piano

For more information about our degree offerings, please see our degrees page.

Performance opportunities

The campus offers many performance opportunities, including weekly master classes, piano ensemble/accompanying class, chamber music coaching and solo, studio recitals, and chamber music recitals. Opportunities to accompany singer and instrumentalists in lessons and recitals abound. The Orchestra Solo Competition is held annually and winners perform with the orchestra in concert.

The vibrant performing arts scene at the university helps to enrich the student’s musical growth. The Northern Arizona University Horizons Concert Series, Faculty Artist Series, and Flagstaff Symphony Orchestra present a myriad of prominent artists on campus, many of whom are then presented in master classes. Recent participating artists include pianists Andre Watts, Martin Katz, Jeffrey Swann, Enrique Graf, Paavali Jumppanen, Stanislav Ioudenitch, Olga Kern, Christopher Taylor, Francisco Alvarez, Marian Hahn, and Carolyn Bridger as well as mezzo-soprano Marilyn Horne, violinist Ani Kavafian, the Chicago String Quartet, and clarinetist Eddie Daniels.

Teaching opportunities

Students may gain valuable experience and financial remuneration through teaching in the NAU Community Music and Dance Academy.  The School offers lessons to young children, non-music students and the Flagstaff community.

Auditions and scholarships

Auditions requirements for admission and scholarships are:

• 3-4 memorized selections, including a work by Bach (or of Baroque period),
• Movement(s) of a classical sonata (Beethoven, Haydn, Mozart),
• Romantic and/or Twentieth-Century work.
• 4-octave scales and arpeggios played in a steady tempo with correct fingerings
• Sight-reading
• Scholarships are available for a limited number of qualified pianists by audition.

Faculty

Dr. Silvan Negrutiu, Associate Professor of Piano, Director of Piano Studies

José Ramón Méndez, Assistant Professor of Practice, piano

Dr. Aimee Fincher, Assistant Professor of Practice, Collaborative Piano

Tiantian Liang, Assistant Teaching Professor, Piano Pedagogy and Class Piano

Dr. Jeffrey Swann, President’s Distinguished Artist in Residence