Master of Music in Piano Pedagogy
The Master of Music in Piano Pedagogy degree challenges students to pursue leadership in the teaching profession. Significant teaching opportunities (private and group) are available through the Butler Community Arts School for graduate students who are passionate about serving the greater Indianapolis community. Our graduates are thriving studio owners, owners of academies and multi-teacher organizations, successful doctoral degree candidates, and adjunct/full-time faculty.
The piano pedagogy program at Butler University is nationally recognized for its innovative curriculum. Pedagogy classes are designed around essential teaching topics (Organization and Materials, Psychology of Teaching, Technique, Style and Interpretation) instead of general levels or types of students. These topics are explored in-depth, with practical applications to all levels and types of students. Within each topic, students are encouraged to explore various approaches and to assimilate in their teaching the methods that most resonate with their teaching style and future career plans.
Important Dates:
February 1: Application deadline for fall entry, including pre-screening materials.
March 15: Interview and audition deadline for fall entry.
Steps for Applying:
Step 1: Complete the Application for Graduate Admission. NOTE: To submit a graduate application, you need to have previously completed a bachelor’s degree from a regionally accredited college or university and be seeking an advanced degree. Your Application for Graduate Admission should include:
- Butler Application
- A Professional Statement
- Official transcripts or copies of official transcripts from all colleges and universities where candidates:
- Earned a degree
- Earned more than 15 credits (undergraduate and graduate)
- Completed any program prerequisite (regardless of number of credit hours)
- Completed courses for which candidates are applying for transfer credit
- Resumé
- Two letters of recommendation
- International applicants must provide proof of a minimum level of proficiency in the English language as well as submit additional financial documentation. See the International Student Application process.
Transcripts
Copies of official transcripts may be uploaded in the online application for application review only. Applicants who receive an offer of admission will be required at that time to submit official final transcripts issued directly from the institution(s) for verification prior to enrollment. More information is available in the application for admission.
Step 2: Complete the JCA Graduate Music Supplement. The supplement will appear on your application status page after submitting your Application for Graduate Admission. The supplement is required in order for your application to be considered complete.
Step 3: Submit Pre-Screening materials which includes a video demonstrating your teaching abilities should be submitted as a link on the JCA portion of your graduate application or emailed to JCAadmissions@butler.edu. The video should include footage of you teaching two different students for a total of 20 minutes in length. It is preferred that video recordings be submitted as a link to an online source such as YouTube, DropBox, GoogleDrive, etc. If emailed, the email subject line should include your full name plus the words “Piano Ped Pre-Screen”. Either the video or the email should include the age of each child in your video(s), the number of years of piano study for each child, and the number of years each child has studied with you. For pedagogy pre-screening questions, please contact Dr. Becky Baker at bbaker2@butler.edu.
Step 4: Complete an interview and a performance audition with appropriate piano faculty. You will be contacted by the School of Music regarding the results of your pre-screening. If you pass the pre-screening, you will be invited to interview with the Piano Pedagogy faculty as well as complete a piano performance audition with the piano faculty. Students will be asked to perform two solos from two different historical style periods (Baroque, Classical, Romantic, Impressionist, or 20th/21st Century). Memorization is required. Auditions will also include sight reading. If you have questions or have not been contacted regarding the results of your pre-screening, please email JCAadmissions@butler.edu. For audition repertoire questions, please contact Dr. Kate Boyd at kboyd@butler.edu.
Total Credit Hours: 30 credit hours
Anticipated Duration: 2 years
Degree requires the presentation of a full recital and two-hour pedagogy workshop, both of which will be open to the public.
Required Courses:
- Piano Major lessons
- Piano Studio Class
- Piano Pedagogy Recital
- Piano Pedagogy Workshop Presentation
- Piano Pedagogy Major
- Piano Teaching Practicum
- Piano Pedagogy 1
- Piano Pedagogy 2
- Final Comprehensive Exam
- Piano Literature
- Research in Music
- Music Theory Elective
- General Music Electives
We offer a limited number of graduate assistantships, fellowships, and tuition waivers to graduate music students in the fall of every academic year. Graduate awards are reviewed and renewed annually. To view a full list of graduate assistantship positions visit the Graduate Studies homepage. NOTE: New students applying for entry in the spring semester will not be eligible for a graduate assistantship, fellowship, or tuition waiver, but may apply for the following academic year.
Piano Pedagogy Graduate Assistantship
Eligibility: Full-time, degree-seeking graduate students seeking fall-term entry only. Preference will be given to students pursuing a MM in Piano Pedagogy or Piano Performance; however, students pursuing other degree plans are welcome to apply.
How to apply: Select the Piano Pedagogy assistantship when prompted on the Graduate Application. A pedagogy interview is required, students pursuing the MM in Piano Pedagogy degree will automatically be considered for the assistantship and do not need to complete a separate interview.
Award Details: Includes a full tuition waiver of graduate tuition for 15 credit hours per year plus a stipend.
Duties: Serve as Teaching Fellow for the Butler Community Arts School, including teaching private and/or group piano classes. Provide support for the pedagogy and/or piano department, including the MTNA Collegiate Chapter. Position will require 15 hours of service per week. Schedule and exact number of hours per week are determined at the beginning of the semester.
Faculty supervisors: Karen Thickstun, Instructor of Piano Pedagogy and Lauren Shelton, Director of the Butler Community Arts School
Collaborative Piano Graduate Assistantship
Eligibility: Full-time, degree-seeking graduate students seeking fall term entry only. Preference will be given to students pursuing a MM in Piano Pedagogy or Piano Performance; however, students pursuing other degree plans are welcome to apply.
How to apply: Select the Collaborative Piano assistantship when prompted on the Graduate Application. A collaborative piano audition is required of all applicants.
Award Details: Includes a full tuition waiver of graduate tuition for 15 credit hours per year plus a stipend.
Duties: Serve as collaborative pianist for vocal ensembles and/or vocal classes. Position will require 10-20 hours of service per week. Schedule and exact number of hours per week are TBD.
Faculty supervisors: Amanda Hopson, Coordinator of Collaborative Piano and Kate Boyd, Professor of Piano and Piano Area Coordinator
An active soloist and chamber musician, American pianist Kate Boyd has performed solo recitals at Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall, Schubert’s birth house in Vienna, the National Concert Hall in Dublin, the Musikhalle Hamburg, in addition to many places throughout the US, Europe and Canada. As a faculty member at Butler University, she has appeared as a soloist with each of the University’s large ensembles in performances ranging from Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy to Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue.
Dr. Boyd’s first solo CD, Music for the End of Winter (Ravello), consists of previously-unrecorded works for solo piano by composers Daniel Koontz, Michael Schelle, Frank Felice, Howard Frazin and John Halle. Her most recent solo CD, Sonatas and Interludes by John Cage (Navona), was met with critical acclaim and has received hundreds of thousands of downloads and streams to date.
For more than ten years, Dr. Boyd was a founding member of the New York-based Oracle Trio, a trio that performed works from the 18th century to the present. She has performed dozens of chamber music works, including a televised performance of George Crumb’s Music for a Summer Evening, for two pianos and two percussionists; and John Corigliano’s Chiaroscuro, for two pianos tuned a quarter tone apart. In addition to her work as a soloist and chamber musician, Boyd has performed in multimedia collaborations with other disciplines, including the Orbit Dance Centre dance troupe in Northern Ireland and live performances with the dance program at Butler University.
As an educator, Boyd has presented lectures and workshops at state, regional, and international conferences, including the International John Cage Conference in Malaysia, the European Piano Teachers Association International Conference, the MTNA National Conference, the College Music Society Great Lakes Regional Conference, and various state conferences. As an adjudicator, she has judged for events including the Walgreens National Concerto Competition, the ISSMA state competition, the MTNA Southern Division Competitions, and Stickley Piano Competition. For three years Dr. Boyd served on the national Fulbright screening committee for piano applicants. She regularly gives invited masterclasses and workshops to students through teacher organizations and universities, and has worked with students of all ages.
Boyd received the 2019 Teacher of the Year award from the Indiana Music Teachers Association and the 2017 Outstanding Professor of the Year award from Butler University, a Creative Renewal Fellowship from the Arts Council of Indianapolis (2009), and an Indiana Arts Commission Grant. Other awards and prizes include a Fulbright scholarship and fellowships at the Tanglewood Center, Blossom Music Center, the Banff Centre for the Arts, and Prussia Cove (England).
Boyd received her Bachelor of Music from Oberlin Conservatory, her Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts from Stony Brook University, and a Diploma from the Hannover (Germany) Academy of Music. She also received a Fulbright Grant to attend the Cologne (Germany) Academy of Music. Major teachers include Gilbert Kalish, Arie Vardi, Arbo Valdma, and Sedmara Rutstein. In addition to her major teachers, she received extensive coachings and attended residential masterclasses with Leon Fleisher, Peter Serkin, Gyorgy Sebok, John Perry, Reinbert DeLeeuw, and Ronald Copes, among others.
Kate Boyd is Professor of Piano and Piano Area Coordinator at Butler University. For eleven summers she taught at the internationally-renowned Interlochen Arts Camp in northern Michigan, where she was head of piano faculty for four of those years. Before coming to Butler, she was on the faculty of Heidelberg University, in Tiffin, Ohio, and for ten summers taught at Kinhaven Music School, in Weston, Vermont.
In 2021, Dr. Boyd started a YouTube Channel, The Piano Prof, where she uploads instructional videos geared toward high school, collegiate, graduate, and adult amateur pianists, as well as piano teachers. You can find it here.
Dr. Boyd has a weekly newsletter with practice tips and updates on her performance schedule. You can subscribe to the newsletter here.
Interested in learning more about how to study piano with Dr. Boyd? Fill out this contact form!
For application or general questions, contact the JCA Admission office at JCAadmissions@butler.edu or 317-940-9656
To discuss piano performance audition repertoire, contact Dr. Kate Boyd at kboyd@butler.edu.