Last week, July 23-26, 2025 I attended the National Conference on Keyboard Pedagogy (NCKP) — an event held by the Frances Clark Center biennially in Lombard, Illinois, near Chicago. Here are some highlights from Day 1, Wednesday the 23rd. Hope you enjoy!
I drove out early Wednesday morning, leaving my home near Ann Arbor, Michigan at 4am. (Perhaps I am in the minority, but I would rather make a 4-hour drive in the early morning than the evening prior!)
This year, NCKP kicked off with a new event: an optional, one-day Innovation Summit. Because I had volunteered to be a discussion leader for the summit, I arrived around 7:30am to report for a brief meeting.
At 9am, the Innovation Summit began. We were welcomed by Jennifer Snow, President and CEO of the Frances Clark Center, and Andrea McAlister, Innovation Summit Director. We were told over 400 teachers registered for this optional day-long event — a great turnout!
Jarrell McAlister, an innovation strategy consultant, was our guide throughout the day.
The morning was themed “Imagining the Future of Piano Education.” We enjoyed a keynote address by Randall Faber.
Then, we were led through a series of exercises to discuss and brainstorm in groups at each table. One exercise, for example, involved writing down challenges and predictions in our field. We then used those challenges and predictions to brainstorm a news headline from the future. Each table’s headlines were posted for all to see during the breaks.
After lunch with a few teachers friends, we returned for the second half, themed: “Designing the Future of Piano Education.” For this, we broke out into separate rooms by strand: independent teachers, college faculty, and new professionals. In small groups, we used a process called “design thinking” to identify a problem and ideate a possible solution.
My group came up with “Center Stage Arts Cafe” — a performance venue for young pianists and their families that would provide unique programming for performance opportunities combined with food. The venue would be housed in a historical building and feature nothing less than the finest pianos and a coffeeshop-bakery with ice cream. 🙂
At the end of the day, the strands joined back up into the same room. The work of certain groups were highlighted, and then the day was brought to a close. It was a big day, but inspiring. I’m looking forward to seeing more of the resulting innovative ideas to be posted on the Frances Clark Center’s website soon!
For dinner, I met up at an Indian restaurant with a dear friend-collegue-mentor, Mary Ellen Pinzino, and her husband.
Back at the hotel, I enjoyed conversation with my conference roommate, Amy Chaplin of PianoPantry.com before heading to bed.
Stay tuned for Day 2! Click to read about Day 2.
Obrigada por compartilhar suas vivências na NCKP 2025! Para mim é uma oportunidade de reflexão e participação das principais ideias!
You’re welcome, Marcia. Thanks for reading!
Joy
Thanks for your summary of the Summit. I wasn’t able to go but it sounds like it was creative and fun.
That it was! Thanks for reading and leaving a comment, Molly!