Kristin K. Yost
Director
Ms. Yost began studying piano at age six and when in high school decided to pursue music as a career. While an undergraduate student at Augustana College and the University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire, Ms. Yost studied with pianists Dr. Rick Andrews, Dr. Donald Patterson and Mrs. Penelope Ceccini. In 2004 she completed her undergraduate degree from the University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire and moved to Dallas to study with Dr. Sam Holland and Mr. Alfred Mouledous at Southern Methodist University. While there, Ms. Yost taught students of all ages in the preparatory department and also was an undergraduate class piano instructor for music majors and non-majors. In 2006 Ms. Yost graduated with a Master's Degree in Piano Performance and Pedagogy.
Professional highlights include competitions, awards, scholarships, honors, national publications and speaking engagements. In 2001 Kristin won the South Dakota Music Teachers Association Collegiate Piano Division and in 2004 she won the University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire Concerto Competition. In addition she has played with professional musicians at major performance venues around the country and abroad and with artists such as John Rojak, William Omar Butler, Bob Platt of the Berlin Philharmonic, Dr. Jeffrey Crowell, Mr. Robert Baca and many others. Awards Ms. Yost has received include the Ada Bors Service Award, Sigma Alpha Iota local and regional awards, Outstanding Senior in Music Award from UW-Eau Claire, Sempre Fidelis Award from the United States Marines and numerous academic and performance-based scholarships throughout her career. Recently Ms. Yost’s article, “Music Teaching as a Form of Cultural Preservation in Contemporary Society” was published in the summer 2008 issue of Keyboard Companion, the country’s leading periodical for piano teaching.
In addition to her performance and teaching abilities, Ms. Yost has served in leadership positions such as president of the UW-Eau Claire chapter of Sigma Alpha Iota, the Meadows Graduate Council, and is the current president of the Frisco Music Teachers Association while also being a member of the Music Teachers National Association (MTNA).
Sam Holland
Private Instructor
Sam Holland is a Professor of Music, Associate Director for Academic Affairs, and Head of Piano Pedagogy in the Division of Music at Southern Methodist University Meadows School of the Arts. Dr. Holland holds degrees in piano performance from The University of Texas and the University of Houston where he studied with John Perry and Abbey Simon, respectively. He received the Certificate in Piano Pedagogy with Distinction from the New School for Music Study and the Ph.D. in Music Education from the University of Oklahoma. Dr. Holland has authored over forty critically acclaimed books and recordings in The Music Tree series (Warner Bros., 2000--). His articles have appeared in every major English language piano journal in the US and abroad. He is the author of Teaching Toward Tomorrow: a Music Teacher's Primer for Using Keyboards, Computers, and MIDI in the Studio (Alfred, 1993) as well as the Frederick Harris Celebrate Composers editions (2004-), a 30-volume series of standard teaching repertoire with contextual and pedagogical commentary. Dr. Holland has pioneered in the application of electronic and MIDI technology to performing and teaching in both contemporary and classical idioms. His students have achieved top recognition in state, national, and international competitions. Dr. Holland has presented hundreds of concerts and lectures on four continents. He serves as a Trustee and Executive Director of the Frances Clark Center for Keyboard Pedagogy.
Eddie Gates
Private Instructor
Mr. Gates is both a successful pianist and vocalist. Classically trained since the age of six, Eddie continues to be a highly sought after musician with numerous awards and success in the music arena. Mr. Gates has won numerous piano competitions and festivals throughout the U.S. His most recent win at the President James Hefner National Piano Competition in 2005 received rave reviews and resulted in Mr. Gates receiving press in regional newspapers.
Mr. Gates comes to us having received his Diploma from Arts Magnet in Dallas, and his Bachelor's Degree in Piano Performance from Jackson State University where he studied with Pianist/Flautist Dr. Karen Laubengayer, and Vocalist Phyllis Lewis Hale. Mr. Gates has ten years of pedagogical experience in music. He has taught in private studios, universities, and classrooms across the region and has gathered a reputation for rapid musical growth among his students. Mr. Gates is currently a Southern Methodist University Graduate Student pursuing a Masters Degree in Music Education, & Piano Pedagogy where he studies with piano instructor Alfred Mouledous, and works under the direction of Dr. Sam Holland. At SMU Gates is an active instructor in the Piano Preparatory Department teaching private piano and class piano to undergraduate music majors. There he works closely with Dr. Catherine Lysinger and Matthew Kline organizing recitals and preparing students for numerous festivals and competitions. Mr. Gates is also a member of the Dallas Music Teachers Association, Texas Music Teachers Association, and Music Teachers National Association.
Lizbeth Arévalo
Private Instructor
Lizbeth Arévalo began studying piano at the age of three, appearing on the concert stage for the first time at the age of four with the Keene Camarata. Finding her passion for music early on, Ms. Arévalo decided to pursue a career in music at the age of eight while studying with Ms. Chee-Hwa Tan. During her high-school years, Lizbeth studied with Dr. Samuel Holland while working as a piano performer for NorthPark Center, private functions and other events such as the Trail Blazer Awards. She has also performed as a piano soloist and vocalist including performances at the Morton Meyerson Symphony Center, various conferences and televised events across the United States, Venezuela and Spain.
Ms. Arévalo is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Music degree in piano performance at Southern Methodist University where she studied with Dr. Carol Leone and most recently with Mr. Alfred Mouledous. Career highlights include artistic scholarships, awards, and competition placements. A strong background in sacred music has allowed Lizbeth to be greatly involved in the directing, arranging and composing of sacred music, some of which has gained radio play on international radio broadcasts. With a private studio of twenty students and experience with other establishments of musical education, Lizbeth aims for her students to develop self confidence and other invaluable qualities which can be applied to all areas of life. Lizbeth also seeks to make the arts accessible and relevant to each of her students by exploring contemporary, popular, and classical music in a manner that highlights the humanity found in all forms of artistic expression.
Melinda Goodwin
Musikgarten Instructor
Melinda Goodwin is a wife and proud mother of two who currently teaches piano at her home in Plano, TX. She opened the Goodwin Piano Studio in 1998 and has been teaching piano, her passion, for 16 years. She is also a certified Musikgarten teacher, enjoying bringing music into the lives of babies, small children and their parents. She teaches the Kindergarten Choir and assists with summer music programs at Grace Presbyterian Church in Plano. Mrs. Goodwin held an adjunct faculty position for two years in the Piano Pedagogy department at SMU. She has a MM in Piano Performance and Pedagogy from Southern Methodist University and a BM in Piano Pedagogy and Performance from the University of Oklahoma.
Susan Geffen
Recreational Music Making (RMM) Faculty Member
Susan Geffen has maintained a piano studio in Plano since 1983. She received her M.A. under the tutelage of composer Robert Xavier Rodriguez, University of Texas at Dallas, and has a permanent certification from the Music Teachers National Association. Her extensive and diverse musical education also includes certification in group teaching techniques from the Pace Institute as well as intensive training in the use of digital instruments. A Dallas native, Ms. Geffen studied with local teachers Frances McIntosh (cofounder of the Piano Pedagogy program at Southern Methodist University) and Stephen Nielson. Since 1997, she has studied with Taubman Method-inspired master teacher Sheila Paige.
Ms. Geffen has taught pupils of all ages, and she is a specialist in Recreational Music Making. These days, she teaches both RMM groups and private piano students.
In addition, Ms. Geffen is active as an adjudicator, presenter, panelist, and writer. A recent article, "Recreational Music Making: One Educator's Perspective," appeared in the Fall, 2007, edition of the National Piano Foundation's Piano Notes. She will present "Senior Moments: Maintaining a Relaxed Atmosphere in the Recreational Music Teaching Class" at the 2009 Music Teachers National Association Conference in Atlanta.
Ms. Geffen has been an arts educator since she was in her teens. In addition to her work as a music educator, she has taught creative dramatics at the Dallas Theater Center, Dallas Gifted Students Institute, The Children's Arts and Ideas Foundation, Jewish Community Center of Dallas, and Eastfield College Continuing Education Department. She has served on the boards of both the Dallas and Plano Music Teachers Associations and has worked as a freelance orchestral score proofreader and orchestrator.
Brenda Dillon
Recreational Music Making (RMM) Faculty Member
Brenda Dillon is Project Director for the National Piano Foundation (NPF), the educational arm of the Piano Manufacturers Association International (PMAI). She is on the Advisory Board for the Frances Clark Center for Keyboard Pedagogy and is a past associate editor of Adult Piano Study for Keyboard Companion magazine. She serves as editor of PianoNotes, the newsletter for NPF. She also serves as an education clinician for Roland U.S. A former college professor, she now teaches Recreational Music Making classes at a senior center in Plano, TX. Her RMM articles have appeared in Keyboard Companion, the American Music Teacher, and PianoNotes and she developed Piano for Fun and Fulfillment, a beginning curriculum for RMM classes. She has been a presenter of RMM and group piano sessions for Music Teachers National Association Conference and the National Conference on Piano Pedagogy and is a national teacher trainer at RMM workshops and seminars.
Mary Dawson
Songwriting
Mary Dawson is a published, professional songwriter and president of CQK Music Group, an umbrella organization comprising three music publishing companies, and many other products and services for songwriters, artists and music fans. A lifetime songwriter herself, Mary's own songs have been recorded by artists such as country music sensation, LeAnn Rimes; Island Records' Mikaila; Grammy Award winning Gospel singer, Cynthia Clawson; Dove Award winner, Babbie Mason, and many others.
Mary's critically acclaimed book, How to Get Somewhere in the Music Business from Nowhere with Nothing, answers the literally thousands of questions about the "business of music" that she has received from aspiring writers and artists during her 25-year career. For several years she has been an instructor in Southern Methodist University's Continuing Arts Education Department where she has taught a course of the same title as her book, as well as another course called Build-A-Song, on the creative aspects of songwriting. She is a frequent seminar speaker and her articles on songwriting appear in both Internet and print periodicals around the world. (See the Internet Writing Journal at www.writerswrite.com and her column and forum at www.musesmuse.com).
Mary is the creator and host of the radio talk show, I Write the Songs—an on-the-air songwriting workshop especially designed for "the songwriter in all of us." The show, which includes instruction and critiques of original songs submitted by listeners, is also available through the Internet at www.iwritethesongs.com. Interview guests on I Write the Songs have included: Willie Nelson, Janis Ian, Paul Williams, Richard Carpenter, Jimmy Webb, Mathew Knowles, Andrew Gold, Sheila Davis, Jim Brickman, Michael McDonald and others.
Mary is married to Dave Dawson, director of Equipping the Saints Ministries, and resides in the Dallas area. They are the parents of four grown children and five fabulous grandchildren.