Dr. Kathleen Riley

Kathleen Riley's work opens the door to a significant area of pedagogy at the interface between the scientific study of learning and musical pedagogy. She has incorporated biofeedback (auditory, video recording, movement analysis, and recording of muscle tension) in enhancing the transfer of learning necessary to achieve high-level performance mastery. Dr. Riley has worked with pianists, guitarists, violinists and other instrumental musicians as well as non-musicians in retraining proper muscle use and fine motor control following injury.

An internationally known clinician, Dr. Riley presents workshops and lectures on technique and alignment and injury prevention and retraining. Her work has been featured in articles in peer-reviewed journals. Dr. Riley teaches piano and conducts research in music pedagogy and injury retraining at New York University. In addition to her work with ProformaVision, she is a research consultant for Yamaha Corporation of America.

Dr. Riley has performed nationally as piano soloist and collaborative artist.

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In addition to her class of private piano students, Dr. Riley teaches group keyboard classes and keyboard harmony.

Nationally she is know for her workshops and presentations. Below is a partial list of recent workshops:

2009 Piano Technique:Proving What Works

Lecture Demonstration with Dr. John Chong, MTNA, Atlanta, Georgia

2009 Essential Elements of Piano Technique

Lecture and Workshops, Ohio University Keyboard Pedagogy Seminar

2009 Quantifying Piano Technique

Presentation with Dr. John Chong, Performing Arts Medical Association, Aspen, Colorado

2009 Uses of sEMG with Musicians

Credited Workshop with Dr. John Chong, AAPB, Albuquerque, New Mexico

2009 Pre-Conference Wellness Seminar

National Conference on Keyboard Pedagogy, Illinois

 

Dr. Riley's primary areas of research are piano pedagogy and technique, injury prevention, and improving students' listening skills, especially at the grade school level; in particular, how technology, aural/visual feedback and/or biofeedback on muscle tension can be effective tools in the above areas.

Comparing Feedback Methods for Teaching Music Articulation to Children, a funded research study with Dr. Edgar Coons, investigated the effect of aural/visual feedback on learning of music by grade school children.

In collaboration with Dr. John Chong, Director of the Musicians' Clinics of Toronto Dr. Riley is analyzing video, muscle tension and MIDI data of high level pianists' performances to show students how the body works effectively in performance.

Kathleen Riley's work introduces a revolutionary pedagogical and technological tool that enables students and their teachers to finally see what is taking place physiologically as they play. Her research and input into the development of this software is a tremendous benefit to pianists everywhere. Physical tension is a huge obstacle to a student achieving their best. With this constant stream of feedback as they play, they are able to make changes in their physical approach to the instrument to achieve greater efficiency and effortlessness in their playing. This allows them to focus on the musicality they wish to communicate and less on the mechanics required to play. The work that Dr. Riley continues to pursue is a positive addition to the body of piano, piano pedagogy and injury-preventative literature. She is a tremendous asset to the profession and has contributed significantly to the musical community.

Gail Berenson, Past President, MTNA

In the jungle of various piano pedagogy approaches I have come across, Kathleen Riley is a bright light of clarity. Not only have I finally found a colleague who similarly realizes that absolute importance of the arch structure of the hand, its integrity and functionality, but with her work using electronic sensors she has refined and extended my own work to a new level of exactitude and empowerment. Working with Kathleen has allowed me to do what I do not just better but MUCH better, showing how the state of the hand reflects back through the entire body, and how the state of the body can have a deep positive influence on the effectiveness of the hand on the keyboard, bringing the naturally rich tone of our instrument into its full glory and deeply enriching the musical expression thereby made available.

Alan Fraser, author, The Craft of Piano Playing

Riley, K. (2007).

The Art of Listening: Putting First Things First, Piano Pedagogy Forum, vol. 10, no. 2.

Riley, K. (2007).

New Views of Piano Playing through Motion Analysis and MIDI Technology, Journal of Technology in Music Learning, vol. 4, no. 1.

Riley, K. (2007).

Performance Under the Microscope, Proceedings of Medical Problems of Musicians & Dancers, Aspen, Colorado.

Riley, K., & Coons, E. E. (Spring Summer 2005).

Improving pianists' rhythmic performance in score reading through imitation and feedback. Journal of Technology in Music Learning.

Riley, K. (June 2005).

Understanding piano playing through MIDI: Students' perspectives on performance analysis and learning. American Music Teacher. download article »

Riley, K., Coons, E. E., & Marcarian, D. (June 2005).

The use of multimodal feedback in retraining of complex technical skill of piano performance. Medical Problems of Performing Artists. download article »