This unique master’s degree program focuses on enhancing the performance artistry and increasing the pedagogical skills of each student. As part of the curriculum, students will complete a concentration in injury-preventive keyboard technique. This degree was created in response to a high rate of playing-related injuries among pianists and organists worldwide, often jeopardizing their futures in music. Students in the master’s program will have the opportunity:
Qualified pianists and organists with a BA in music or a BM who
Master’s students who are enrolled at least half-time may be eligible for federal loans after filing a valid FAFSA online. In addition, graduate scholarships and assistantships may be available through the School of Music.
For information regarding financial aid and application materials, please contact:
Dr. Amy Zigler, Graduate Admissions Coordinator
School of Music, Salem College
(336) 721-2798
amy.zigler@salem.edu
For further information regarding the degree program, please contact:
Dr. Barbara Lister-Sink, Director, Graduate Music Program
(336) 749-5715
barbara.lister-sink@salem.edu
“An anonymous survey was administered to 103 pianists and organists aged 22 to 82, with 74 (N=74) pianists responding (71.8%), and 26 pianists and organists were interviewed in-depth. Survey and interview results established that participants perceived the [Lister-Sink] Method as significantly helpful in facilitating recovery from PRNDs. …Additionally, both the survey and interview participants reported improvement of technique and musicality with many also reporting enhancement of their extra-musical lives.”
(“A Study of Students’ Perceptions of the Effectiveness of an Interdisciplinary Method for Teaching Injury-Preventive Piano Technique.” Lister-Sink Dissertation, Columbia University 2015.)
“…within the field of body mechanics, Lister-Sink operates at the genius level, both as a thinker and as a teacher. I have known only a handful of others in my own professional world who could be thus described. She has a deep understanding of the physical elements of playing the piano and how to release musical expression, but what makes her unique is that she knows how to transmit that understanding to others….”
ENOCH GORDIS, MD
(Retired Institute Director, National Institutes of Health)
Barbara Lister-Sink (BA, Smith College; Prix d’Excellence, Utrecht Conservatory; EdD Columbia University) is a renowned pianist and former Artist Faculty member of the Eastman School of Music who has collaborated and recorded with some of the world’s most distinguished performers and composers. Formerly keyboardist for the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam, she has also taught on the piano faculties of the Amsterdam Muziek Lyceum, Duke University, and the Brevard Music Center and is currently Director of the School of Music and Salem Distinguished Professor at Salem College. Her teachers include Edith Lateiner-Grosz, John Duke, Harold Rubens, Clemens Sandresky, and Guido Agosti. Dr. Lister-Sink is acknowledged as a global leader in injury-preventive keyboard technique. Her video/DVD Freeing the Caged Bird—Developing Well-Coordinated, Injury-Preventive Piano Technique won the 2002 Music Teachers National Association-Frances Clark Keyboard Pedagogy Award and was praised as “A monumental work!” by Vladimir Ashkenazy. Through her research, DVD, intensive training workshops, state, national, and international conferences, and hundreds of appearances at universities, conservatories, and summer institutes, Dr. Lister-Sink has dedicated her life to helping thousands of keyboardists worldwide remove technical obstacles and enhance their musical artistry.
Timothy Olsen (BM, Concordia College; MA, MM, and DMA, Eastman School of Music) holds a joint organ faculty position at Salem College and UNCSA, and is Cantor (Organist/Music Director) at Augsburg Lutheran Church in Winston-Salem. Past faculty positions include posts at Ithaca College and Oklahoma City University, as well as sabbatical replacements at Cornell University and Binghamton University. As a recitalist, Dr. Olsen performs solo organ, trumpet/organ duo, and organ duo recitals. He frequently presents masterclasses and workshops for universities and chapters of the American Guild of Organists. Dr. Olsen was the first-prize winner of the 2002 AGO National Young Artists Competition in Organ Performance. He has recorded on the NAXOS and Raven labels, and has been featured on American Public Media’s Pipedreams. Salem College’s historic 1965/2013 Flentrop pipe organ can be heard on his new CD, The German Muse, available for purchase at ravencd.com.
Amy E. Zigler (BM, University of Alabama; MM, Belmont University; PhD, University of Florida) is Assistant Professor of Music in music history and musicology, and Graduate Admissions Coordinator. Her research specializes in the sociocultural study of music of the 19th and 20th centuries, with a focus on the study of gender and sexuality in music, and the works of Dame Ethel Smyth.
Donna Rothrock (BMEd, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; MMEd, University of Colorado at Boulder; MLIS, University of North Carolina at Greensboro; EdD, University of North Carolina at Greensboro) is Associate Librarian and Assistant Professor of Music at Salem College and is a distinguished researcher in the field of Moravian music.
Robert E. Frazier (BA, East Tennessee University; MM, MA, and DMA, Eastman School of Music) is adjunct graduate faculty for Salem College and Director of Music and the Arts at Centenary United Methodist Church, Winston-Salem, NC.
Susan C. Perkins (BM, University North Carolina School of the Arts; MM, Florida State University) is a Nationally Certified Teacher of the Alexander Technique since 2004, and teaches the Alexander Technique at Salem College, Wake Forest University, and University of North Carolina School of the Arts.
Barbara Lister-Sink (BA, Smith College; Prix d’Excellence, Utrecht Conservatory; EdD Columbia University) is a renowned pianist and former Artist Faculty member of the Eastman School of Music who has collaborated and recorded with some of the world’s most distinguished performers and composers. Formerly keyboardist for the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam, she has also taught on the piano faculties of the Amsterdam Muziek Lyceum, Duke University, and the Brevard Music Center and is currently Director of the School of Music and Salem Distinguished Professor at Salem College. Her teachers include Edith Lateiner-Grosz, John Duke, Harold Rubens, Clemens Sandresky, and Guido Agosti. Dr. Lister-Sink is acknowledged as a global leader in injury-preventive keyboard technique. Her video/DVD Freeing the Caged Bird—Developing Well-Coordinated, Injury-Preventive Piano Technique won the 2002 Music Teachers National Association-Frances Clark Keyboard Pedagogy Award and was praised as “A monumental work!” by Vladimir Ashkenazy. Through her research, DVD, intensive training workshops, state, national, and international conferences, and hundreds of appearances at universities, conservatories, and summer institutes, Dr. Lister-Sink has dedicated her life to helping thousands of keyboardists worldwide remove technical obstacles and enhance their musical artistry.
Timothy Olsen (BM, Concordia College; MA, MM, and DMA, Eastman School of Music) holds a joint organ faculty position at Salem College and UNCSA, and is Cantor (Organist/Music Director) at Augsburg Lutheran Church in Winston-Salem. Past faculty positions include posts at Ithaca College and Oklahoma City University, as well as sabbatical replacements at Cornell University and Binghamton University. As a recitalist, Dr. Olsen performs solo organ, trumpet/organ duo, and organ duo recitals. He frequently presents masterclasses and workshops for universities and chapters of the American Guild of Organists. Dr. Olsen was the first-prize winner of the 2002 AGO National Young Artists Competition in Organ Performance. He has recorded on the NAXOS and Raven labels, and has been featured on American Public Media’s Pipedreams. Salem College’s historic 1965/2013 Flentrop pipe organ can be heard on his new CD, The German Muse, available for purchase at ravencd.com.
Amy E. Zigler (BM, University of Alabama; MM, Belmont University; PhD, University of Florida) is Assistant Professor of Music in music history and musicology, and Graduate Admissions Coordinator. Her research specializes in the sociocultural study of music of the 19th and 20th centuries, with a focus on the study of gender and sexuality in music, and the works of Dame Ethel Smyth.
Donna Rothrock (BMEd, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; MMEd, University of Colorado at Boulder; MLIS, University of North Carolina at Greensboro; EdD, University of North Carolina at Greensboro) is Associate Librarian and Assistant Professor of Music at Salem College and is a distinguished researcher in the field of Moravian music.
Robert E. Frazier (BA, East Tennessee University; MM, MA, and DMA, Eastman School of Music) is adjunct graduate faculty for Salem College and Director of Music and the Arts at Centenary United Methodist Church, Winston-Salem, NC.
Susan C. Perkins (BM, University North Carolina School of the Arts; MM, Florida State University) is a Nationally Certified Teacher of the Alexander Technique since 2004, and teaches the Alexander Technique at Salem College, Wake Forest University, and University of North Carolina School of the Arts.
