Goshen College Piano Camp

Camp Dates: June 9-14 (day camp)
Registration Deadline: Friday May 31
Tuition: $250 (scholarship available for Reduced/Free Lunch)
Registration Fee: $25 (waived if registering by May 1!)
Age: rising 4th grade through 2024 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 2024 Goshen College Piano Camp is the place for you! Come join us Sunday June 9 through Friday June 14 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 2024 Goshen College Piano Camp kicks off on Sunday June 9 with a Faculty Recital, featuring Dr Matthew Hill, and Drs Luke and Mary Rose Norell. On Monday June 10, Guest Artist Dr. Garik Pedersen will present a recital, and will also offer a masterclass to campers. On Tuesday June 11, Dr Matthew Hill will collaborate with Strings Camp Guest Artist Dr. Solomia Soroka  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 14), daily masterclass performances for Guest Artist Dr. Pedersen or camp faculty, and a special field-trip performance at the incredible Ruthmere historical home in Elkhart (June 13).

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 $250, 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 Friday May 31. Eligibility is rising 4th grade through 2024 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 .

Student performances in Rieth Recital Hall

Daily Studio Classes with Camp Faculty

Students learn and perform duets at the end of camp!

Daily classes in Theory, History and Technique

Students learn to listen to and support colleagues

Ruthmere Game Room, where students perform solo pieces!

Guest Artist Dr Garik Pedersen, piano

Guest Artist and Clinician - Dr. Garik Pedersen, piano

Dr. Garik Pedersen, a Steinway artist, has performed as soloist and chamber musician throughout the United States and in Europe, Canada, Central America, Taiwan and the Philippine Islands. He has presented programs for the U.S. State Department, the National Federation of Music Clubs, Music Teachers National Association, the European Piano Teachers Association, Canadian Federation of Music Teachers Associations, the Royal Conservatory of Music, and on numerous public television and radio broadcasts. Currently a professor of piano at Eastern Michigan University, Dr. Pedersen has taught undergraduate and graduate students from many U.S. states and 13 other countries, producing prize winners in national and international—as well as numerous regional and state–competitions.


Dr. Pedersen has appeared at numerous summer music festivals, including Cleveland’s International Music Festival, Spokane’s Musicfest Northwest, the World Piano Conference (Serbia), Tunghai Summer Music Festival (Taiwan), Michigan’s Interlochen and Blue Lake camps, and other music camps and festivals in Arizona, Iowa, Missouri, Colorado, Kentucky, and Indiana. A student of Wesley True at the University of Central Missouri, which awarded him its Distinguished Alumnus in Music in 2010, he was the final DMA piano student of John Simms at the University of Iowa, graduating in 1986.  Other major influences have been Gyorgy Sebok, Eugene Bossart, and Edwin E. Gordon.

Garik is a past president of Michigan Music Teachers Association, which honored him with its Distinguished Service Award in 2016.  He received the Michigan Touchstone Award in 2017 in recognition of his “commitment to Michigan’s artistic excellence and his advocacy for the arts.”  He is listed in the 2018 edition of Who’s Who in Fine Arts Higher Education.

“Victory Vertical Project” Concert – Monday June 10: Garik Pedersen first heard about the O.D.G.I. “Victory Vertical” pianos during an impromptu interview with Henry Z. Steinway in his office at Steinway Hall in New York City a few months before Mr. Steinway’s death in 2008.  Since then he has become increasingly fascinated with this incredible story.