Episode 31: How we are giving back!

Speaking of the Arts

Happy New Year Everyone! This is Mike Epstein and welcome to Speaking of the Arts. At the end of 2016 I made a special announcement on behalf of our booking agency, Epstein & Company. In case you missed it, starting in 2017, we have decided to give back in the form of a special fund for music students who would otherwise not be able to afford private lessons. This means that from now on, every time you book one of our artists, you are helping to empower a music student in need. To accomplish this, we are partnering with an organization called The MusicLink Foundation and today’s guest just so happens to be the founder and director, Dr. Joanne Haroutounian. Before we begin the episode, here’s a little about Joanne - She currently serves on the George Mason University piano faculty and coordinates the various piano pedagogy programs as well as the Music Education Graduate Seminars covering topics concerning artistic and musical talent development. Active internationally as a consultant in the areas of piano, music, artistic thinking, creativity, and the arts, Joanne regularly presents sessions at MTNA and NAGC conferences. She recently was plenary speaker at the Pacific Asian Conference on Giftedness in Singapore and the International Symposium on Gifted Arts in Seoul Korea, speaking on musical talent identification and gifted/arts education for all students. Joanne is well known for editing and writing almost 30 teaching publications including Explorations in Music, a comprehensive curriculum in theory, ear training, analysis, and creative composition. Her pedagogy text, Fourth Finger on Bb: Effective Strategies for Teaching Piano is a major text for college pedagogy programs across the country. The MusicLink Foundation is a non-profit organization located in Arlington Virginia with a twenty five year program history of developing the talents of promising students in financial need across the country. MusicLink professional teachers have provided over 450,000 hours of instruction to over 6500 students in 50 states and 4 Canadian provinces. equivalent to over $11million of in-kind service to the program.