MOBILE, Ala. – The Alabama School of the Arts Piano Festival V will present a music pedagogy workshop: “Freeing the Sound from the Printed Page” with Barbara Laurendine, a nationally certified teacher of music.
The free workshop will be held at 3 p.m. on Sept. 29 at Moorer Auditorium in Thomas T. Martin Hall on the University of Mobile campus. Please note that face masks are required in University of Mobile buildings.
For more information on the workshop, contact the Alabama School of the Arts at 251.442.2383 or visit umobile.edu/asota. For COVID-19 guidelines at UM, visit umobile.edu/coronavirus.
“The lecture will be based on teaching young students to look at the silence of notes on paper and put them into sounds of music from the paper,” said Laurendine. “What is the process, what to look for, how to gather information, how to approach learning so that when the music is played the composer’s wishes are conveyed. In other words, freeing the notes into sounds.”
Laurendine earned her Bachelor of Arts in piano from the University of Alabama and is a member of Phi Alpha Mu Music Honorary. She is a former adjunct instructor at the University of Mobile, where she was the founder of and director of a successful, 18-year summer music camp. She is currently a teacher of piano, repertoire, piano ensemble and a piano pedagogy consultant.
She maintains a private studio for preparatory and adult students. Many of her former students have gone into various fields of teaching, performing and composing music. In 2001, the Alabama Music Teachers Association named her Teacher of the Year. Her professional credits include a membership in the Music Teachers National Association and the Mobile Music Teachers Association. She is a co-founder of the DaCapo Fund, an Alabama Music Teachers Association revenue source designed to assist teachers and enrich worthy statewide projects in music education.
Laurendine frequently judges piano competitions and conducts pedagogy lecture workshops throughout the southeastern United States. She has taught and arranged music for piano ensembles and performed music in a multitude of piano groups, including local music organizations, schools, and churches.
In March of 2001, the Music Teachers National Association in Washington, D.C., established a Foundation Fellowship Award in recognition of her contributions to the field of music instruction. Named by Mobile Bay Monthly as one of Mobile’s Most Influential People in the Arts, she was the recipient of the Greater Mobile Arts Award for Outstanding Educator in the Field of Music in 2005.
Laurendine has held the presidencies of the Alabama Music Teachers Association and the Southern Division of M.T.N.A. along with services on the Board of Directors and the Board of Trustees. She has also been on the Board of Directors of the Mobile Youth Orchestra, the Mobile Symphonic Pops Band, the Mobile Chamber Music Society, and the director of many competitions and festivals of music.
About the University of Mobile
The University of Mobile is a Christ-centered liberal arts and sciences institution with a vision of higher education for a higher purpose, founded to honor God by equipping students for their future professions through rigorous academic preparation and spiritual transformation. Core values are: Christ-Centered, Academically-Focused, Student-Devoted and Distinctively-Driven. The university offers on-campus and online bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees in over 75 academic programs. Founded in 1961, the University of Mobile is affiliated with the Alabama Baptist State Convention and is located 10 miles north of Mobile, Alabama on a campus of over 880 acres.
For information about the University of Mobile, areas of study, admissions and more, visit umobile.edu, connect with UM on social media @univofmobile, or call Enrollment Services at 1.800.WIN.RAMS or 251.442.2222.
Sydney Snow is a University of Mobile 2022 graduate with a double major in English and Strategic Communications and a minor in Spanish. During her senior year, Sydney interned with UM’s Office for Marketing and Public Relations. Today, she works at the South Alabama Regional Planning Commission with the Employment and Economic Development Services department. Her focus is on the Senior Community Service Employment Program.