Friday, June 26

9:40 – 10:00 a.m.
Mindset Check-in and 4x4x4 Creative Sprint: Leila Viss

Leila Viss is a pianist, composer, and teacher who helps musicians connect with their creativity. With practical tools and playful approaches, she shows how to improvise, compose, and bring more curiosity, creativity, and connection into everyday music-making.

10:00 – 10:30 a.m.
From Echo to Ownership: Call & Response at the Piano: Lynda Lybeck-Robinson, NCTM

Discover how call-and-response transforms lessons into active music-making. Participants will echo rhythms, patterns, and melodies in real time while learning practical strategies that build listening, coordination, confidence, creativity, and joyful student engagement.

Lynda Lybeck-Robinson, NCTM, established the Aleutian Islands' first professional piano studio in Alaska in 1996, and has currently created an innovative and adventurous way to reach students in isolated villages throughout the islands.

10:30 – 11:00 a.m.
Group Improv Rote Starter: Bradley Sowash

Learn to teach Sowash’s catchy tune “Don’t Eat Green Bugs” by rote using a clever story and mnemonics in group lessons for intermediate C‑instruments. Includes a handout with additional lesson plans and improvisation prompts.

Bradley Sowash is a jazz pianist, multi-instrumentalist, and composer who enjoys introducing traditionally trained musicians to the joys of generative music making through live online classes and publications. Learn more at BradleySowash.com.

11:15 – 11:45 a.m.
Five Ways to Transform a Lead Sheet: Simple Techniques That Sound Advanced: Davis Dorrough, NCTM

Move beyond melody and chords by exploring five practical ways to elevate lead sheet playing. Attendees will apply techniques like intros, fills, harmonic color, texture, and melodic decoration to create expressive, polished performances.

Davis Dorrough, NCTM, is piano editor at Alfred Music and an active teacher, author, and clinician. He frequently presents on creative pedagogy and functional skills and is co-author of the Easy Piano Lead Sheets series.

11:45 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.
Exploring Mindful Moments in Music: Chee-Hwa Tan, NCTM

What does it look like to process our emotions through music? Chee-Hwa will workshop creative, mindfulness tools to connect emotion, story, and sound in this interactive session. Come with paper, pencil and some coloring supplies!

Chee-Hwa Tan, NCTM, composer and pianist-educator, is passionate about mentoring the next generation of musicians and supporters of the Arts. Founder of Dayung Sampan Music, she has taught at the University of Denver, Oberlin Conservatory and Southern Methodist University.

1:30 – 2:00 p.m.
Five Levels of Color: Play, Shape, Transform: Grant Kondo, NCTM

Explore five levels of musical color, building from simple roots through triads, added tones, seventh chords, and extensions. In this fast-paced session, participants transform ideas into music for immediate use across levels and genres.

Grant Kondo, NCTM, creator of Skills for the Modern Pianist and Life Off the Page online community, helps musicians go beyond the page through creativity and practical musicianship that connects technique, expression, and personal identity.

2:00 – 2:30 p.m.
Step into the Shallow End: A Simple 3-Step Path to Teaching Pop by Ear: Eden Esters Brown, NCTM

Eden Esters Brown, NCTM, is a pianist and educator specializing in culturally responsive piano pedagogy and community music. She teaches all ages and facilitates workshops on creative, ear-based approaches, expanding access to piano study.

2:45 – 3:15 p.m.
From Symbols to Sound: Bringing Chord Charts to Life: Olivia Ellis, NCTM

Olivia Ellis, NCTM, is associate professor of music and director of keyboard studies and chamber music at Messiah University. She holds a DMA degree from the University of Oklahoma and co-authors the blog creativepianoteacher.com.

3:15 – 3:45 p.m.
Creating Colorful Textures with Anchor Tones and Diatonic Shapes: Eric Jones

I explain my concept of "diatonic anchor tones” and how they can be used to flexibly reframe the “color” of an improvisation. I also present how to use various 2 and 3-note shapes to create interesting textures and get away from the "straitjacket" of typical chord voicings.

Eric Jones is a pianist, composer, and music teacher based in Colorado, with an education in music and audio technology from Indiana University. He enjoys exploring the intersection of classical, jazz, world, and electronic music.