Dr. Ruth Morrow will be in Rapid City for a workshop and master class on Saturday, October 17th. The workshop and master class will be held at Batchelder's Event Center located at 1301 W Omaha Street. The workshop, for teachers and students, will be held from 10:00 a.m. until 12:00 p.m.; the master class from 1:00 p.m. until 3:00 p.m. Please RSVP to Batchelder's at (605) 342-5000. There is a $10.00 admission fee per person which includes both the workshop and master class.
The physical use of the entire body is the focus of a 2-hour talk by Dr. Ruth Morrow, Bolin Distinguished Chair of Piano, at Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls, Texas, and a Certified Instructor of the Feldenkrais Method. While we play piano with our fingers and arms at the keyboard, support for flexible and supple piano playing comes from the soles of our feet through the hips and into the torso, where an aligned back and shoulder girdle allow the arm, hand, and fingers to work with freedom and support. Tension is reduced, and replaced with heightened awareness of physical movements and integration of the whole body at the piano.
Dr. Morrow will work with students of various levels of piano performance on a piece of their choice. Her focus will be on how piano playing, itself, can be easier, so that the student is calmer at the piano, can have more awareness of their habits, and make musical decisions that they can implement with ease. The master class length is open, and students can be grouped according to age and ability from elementary (age and/or pianistic level) on up.
Ruth Morrow, NCTM, is the current Dolores P. Bolin and D. Phil and Aurora S. Bolin Chair of Piano and Chair of the Department of Music at Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls, Texas. She currently teaches piano, piano pedagogy, keyboard literature, music literature, and music history, and has previously taught basic music, class piano, and opera workshop. Additionally, she teaches private students from the Wichita Falls area and judges throughout Texas for various music organizations.
Dr. Morrow is a consummate solo performer and collaborative pianist, giving approximately fifty concerts annually. She is equally at home with the music of living composers as that of the established masters. She gives master classes and lectures in addition to performing, and enjoys working with students to make them more at ease onstage. Recent performances and master classes have been at Lewis and Clark College (Portland, Oregon), Indiana University (Bloomington, Indiana), Midwestern State University (Wichita Falls, Texas), King George the Fifth, 6th Form College, (Southport, England), and the University of Paris St. Denis (Paris, France).
Dr. Morrow holds degrees from Indiana University (DM, Piano Performance and Pedagogy), the Eastman School of Music (MM, Piano; MA, Musicology), and Whitman College (BA, Music, Philosophy). With a background spanning all musical styles and including performances throughout the United States and Europe, Dr. Morrow remains in demand as recitalist, collaborative pianist, and lecturer on topics from ragtime to movement. A founding faculty member of the Indiana University Piano Academy, she teaches piano at the Academy each summer, and is a Certified instructor of the Feldenkrais Method. In addition to her numerous musical endeavors, Dr. Morrow is an avid marathon runner.