Goshen College Piano Camp
Camp Dates: June 15-20 (day camp–stay tuned for details about a potential residential option!)
Registration Deadline: Monday June 2
Tuition: $275 (scholarship available for Reduced/Free Lunch)
Registration Fee: $25 (waived if registering by May 1!)
Age: rising 4th grade through 2025 HS grads
Prerequisite: Current and 2+ years of private piano instruction required
Required Repertoire: Students will bring a polished solo piece to perform
Lunch and snacks are provided!
Calling all piano players! Looking for a summer camp to hone your skills, learn some fantastic piano duets, perform in Goshen College’s Rieth Recital Hall and Elkhart’s beautiful Ruthmere historical home, and make friends with other musicians? Then the 2025 Goshen College Piano Camp is the place for you! Come join us Sunday June 15 through Friday June 20 for a day camp at the Goshen College Music Center. The camp is hosted by the Goshen College Music Department and the GC Community School of the Arts, and all events on campus will be free and open to the public.
The 2025 Goshen College Piano Camp kicks off on Sunday June 15 with a Faculty Recital, featuring Dr Matthew Hill, and Drs Luke and Mary Rose Norell. On Tuesday June 17, Guest Artist Marvin Blickenstaff will present a recital, and, on Wednesday June 18, will offer students masterclasses to campers and a pedagogy workshop. Students will come to camp prepared with a solo piece to perform, but will also be assigned a piano duet to learn and perform over the course of the camp. Student performances include a final duet recital in Rieth Recital Hall (June 20), daily masterclass performances for Guest Artist Marvin Blickenstaff or camp faculty, and a special field-trip performance at the incredible Ruthmere historical home in Elkhart (June 19).
Each morning, students will take part in music courses (Music History, Music Theory, and Musicianship), have practice sessions, come together for a group discussion session on a piano-related topic, and engage in social activities around campus. The afternoons will consist of studio classes, solo and duet practice time, and special events, such as the Guest masterclass, Guest artist recital, Ruthmere recital and final camp recital.
Tuition is $275, with financial aid available for those who qualify for Free or Reduced Lunch. Lunch in the GC cafeteria and snacks are provided. The Registration fee is $25, but will be waived if registering on or before May 1. The Registration deadline is Monday June 2. Eligibility is rising 4th grade through 2025 high school graduates, with a prerequisite of two years of playing experience and note-reading ability..
Game Room, Ruthmere Mansion located at 302 E. Beardsley Ave., Elkhart, IN .
Guest Artist and Clinician - Dr. Marvin Blickenstaff, piano
Join Marvin Blickenstaff for his piano concert and pedagogy workshop for area teachers on June 17-18. Workshop fee is $20. Fee includes June 17 Concert admission, and all June 18 workshop activities (including workshop, coffee hour, and camp masterclasses). Register by May 1 to save $5! The Registration deadline is Monday June 2.
Marvin Blickenstaff is known among piano teachers throughout the country for his teaching, lecturing, performing, and publishing. He has presented pedagogical workshops throughout the USA and abroad. The Marvin Blickenstaff Endowment Fund was established in his honor by the Music Teachers National Association Foundation. He was awarded in 2009 with MTNA’s highest honor, the MTNA Achievement Award, and was named Fellow of the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto in 2007. In 2022, The Frances Clark Center created The Marvin Blickenstaff Institute for Teaching Excellence, which states: “Created to amplify the extraordinary lifework of world-renowned educator and pianist Mr. Marvin Blickenstaff, the Institute serves to advance teaching practice and elevate the music teaching profession.”
Blickenstaff serves as a piano editor for the Frederick Harris Music Company (Toronto) and has published Celebration Series: A Handbook for Teachers with co-authors Cathy Albergo and Reid Alexander. Music Pathways, a 36-book instructional series was co-authored by Blickenstaff, Lynn Freeman Olson and Louise Bianchi. Notable editions by Blickenstaff include Grieg: Short Pieces and Bach: Dances. Blickenstaff has been on the editorial board of The American Music Teacher and is an associate editor of the periodical Keyboard Companion. Most recently, Blickenstaff published a compendium of pedagogical wisdom, Inspired Piano Teaching, amassed from over 60 years of teaching.
Blickenstaff’s teaching career is associated with the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and Goshen College, where he taught for over twenty years, and from 2000-2013 he was President of the Frances Clark Center for Keyboard Pedagogy. He now resides in the greater Philadelphia area and is teaching at The College of New Jersey (Ewing), the Westminster Choir College and Conservatory of Rider University and The New School for Music Study (Princeton). Blickenstaff holds degrees from The Oberlin Conservatory of Music and Indiana University where he received both performing and academic honors.