Featured Clinicians
Dr. Joann Marie Kirchner, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor of Piano at Temple University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where she coordinates the secondary piano program and teaches applied and class piano. Dr. Kirchner has published in American Music Teacher, Keyboard Companion, Medical Problems of Performing Artists, Piano Guild Notes and Work: A Journal of Prevention, Assessment and Rehabilitation. She has presented at the 2011 World Piano Conference, the National Music Teachers Convention, the National Conference on Keyboard Pedagogy, the College Music Society National Conference, the Hawaii International Conference on Arts and Humanities and for numerous state and local music teachers organizations. Dr. Kirchner is active in the Music Teachers National Association (MTNA) and is immediate past Co-President for the Philadelphia Music Teachers Association. Kirchner is also Co-Chair of the Research Committee for the National Conference on Keyboard Pedagogy. Her research interests include musical performance anxiety, the relationship between flow and musical performance anxiety and intermediate teaching repertoire.
Dr. Gerald Lee is Professor of Piano at West Liberty University (West Liberty, West Virginia), where he has been a full-time faculty member since 2002. He won the 2007-08 Excellence in Professional Activity Award at WLU. He earned three piano performance degrees: Bachelor of Music, Master of Music, and Doctor of Musical Arts from Illinois Wesleyan University, Indiana University, and the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, respectively.
Dr. Lee was a winner in the 2009 Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania) Concert Society Major Auditions. In addition, he won 1st place in the 2002 National Society of Arts and Letters Piano Competition (Lansing, Michigan), 2nd place in the 2002 National Finals of the MTNA (Music Teachers’ National Association) Collegiate Artists’ Piano Competition (Cincinnati, Ohio), and 3rd place in the 2003 International Beethoven Piano Sonata Competition (Memphis, Tennessee).
He enjoys maintaining an extensive schedule of solo and chamber music performances, the latter including recitals with such artistic luminaries as Faith Esham, soprano, John Rommel, trumpet, Jeremy Black, violin, and Erina Laraby-Goldwasser, viola. Solo recitals have been performed throughout the U.S. on numerous concert series, at colleges and universities, and for chamber music societies. His 2010 solo recital for the Charleston (West Virginia) Chamber Music Society was lauded by the Charleston Daily Mail as an “overwhelming musical success…Gerald Lee upheld the Charleston Chamber Music Society’s reputation for bringing top-rated artists to their Christ Church United Methodist venue.”
He is dedicated to and passionate about piano teaching. Dr. Lee has presented numerous master classes at venues such as Virginia Commonwealth University, Mary Baldwin College, Duquesne University, Mansfield University, Marshall University, Fairmont State University, and Shepherd University among others. He is pleased and proud of his students’ accomplishments, which include 1st place awards in the 2013, 2014, and 2015 West Virginia Music Teachers’ Association’s Mountain State Collegiate Piano Competition. Dr. Lee recently completed his 2013-15 term as Chair of Competitions and 1st Vice President for the West Virginia Music Teachers’ Association. He has also served WVMTA as 2nd Vice President, Secretary, and Historian. He is a frequent adjudicator for piano competitions, such as those held by MTNA at both the state and division levels. Passionate about the works of Alexander Scriabin, he has presented lecture- recitals featuring Scriabin’s piano sonatas at numerous College Music Society conferences, including the 2014 National Conference in St. Louis, Missouri.
He is forever grateful to the following artist-teachers for their unconditional support, vast widsdom, and artistic guidance: Virginia Sandford, the late Lawrence Campbell, Andrew Cooperstock, Reiko Neriki, Logan Skelton, Arthur Greene, and the late distinguished professor György Sebök.
Dr. Jacob Womack, NCTM, is Instructor of Music and Collaborative Pianist at Concord University. He also serves as Immediate Past President and Teaching Certification Chair of the WV Music Teachers Association. Womack has given workshops and recitals in Texas, Illinois, Alabama, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. He holds a DMA in Piano Performance from West Virginia University, a MM in Piano Pedagogy and Performance from The Pennsylvania State University, and a BM in Music Education from West Virginia University.
German pianist and WVMTA Teacher of the Year 2017 Henning Vauth serves as Associate Professor of Piano, Coordinator of Keyboard Studies, Co-Director of the Center for Wellness in the Arts, and Program Director of the School of Music (Interim, 2018/19) at Marshall University in West Virginia. He is President-Elect of the West Virginia Music Teachers Association and a member of Pi Kappa Lambda (U.S. National Music Honor Society).
A laureate at international competitions in Italy and Norway (IBLA and Grieg), Henning Vauth has performed in North and South America, Europe, and Asia. His professional engagements in 2018 include the National Taiwan University of the Arts in Taiwan, the World Piano Conference in Novi Sad, Serbia, the International Summer Academy of Music “Lüneburger Heide” in Germany, the Global Summer Institute of Music in Richmond, Virginia, the Festival of the American Liszt Society in Greenville, South Carolina, and competition adjudication for the Music Teachers National Association (Eastern and Southern Division). Henning Vauth holds a Doctor of Musical Arts in Piano Performance and Literature from the Eastman School of Music (University of Rochester, USA), in addition to further degrees and certificates in piano performance and pedagogy from the Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien (Hannover, Germany), the Ecole Normale de Musique "Alfred Cortot" (Paris, France), and Western Michigan University. He studied piano under Nelita True, Einar Steen-Nøkleberg, and Nelson Delle-Vigne Fabbri, and harpsichord under William Porter. Master classes with Philippe Entremont.
