2024 LECTURERS AND STAFF
Jackie Herbein
Pianist Jacqueline Herbein, honored with Pennsylvania Music Teachers Association Teacher of the Year award in 2005, is an active soloist, ensemble performer and teacher in the Pittsburgh area. She considers the development of physical perception to be a cornerstone of her teaching and she recently added the ProformaVision technology (sEMG biofeedback) to her studio as a teaching enhancement. A Certificate in Anatomy and Physiology from the Massage Therapy Institute of Western Pennsylvania provides a solid academic foundation while independent work in Alexander Technique and teacher certification in therapeutic yoga heighten the movement insights she brings to this new technology and her work in general.
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Jacqueline Herbein regularly works with teachers and students of all ages and performance levels both in private lessons and master classes. She has become known for her creative approach in unraveling musicians’ pain and injury issues by working with biofeedback, imagery and alternative therapies in order to awaken connections within the body. Her articles have been published in The American Music Teacher, The Canadian Music Teacher and Clavier Companion journals and she regularly presents sessions on technique, perception and wellness to organizations and university pedagogy classes around the country, including the MTNA National Conference in 2009, 2011, 2012 and 2013, the American Music Therapy Association Mid-Atlantic Region Conference, the Mississippi Piano Showcase, the Goshen College Piano Workshop and Academy and the Greater Pittsburgh Suzuki Institute.
Benjamin Steinhardt
Pianist Benjamin Steinhardt enjoys an international reputation for his innovative
teaching and regularly performs in the New York metro area. Placing an emphasis on
creativity and exploration his teaching incorporates concepts from the Taubman
Approach, Edwin Gordon’s Music Learning Theory, Dalcroze, and somatic education to
give students the tools to reach their highest potential.
His writings and webinars have been featured on the MTNA, American Music
Teacher, Clavier Companion, TheCuriousPianoTeachers.org, and iPianoTeacher.com.
An artist of great versatility, Steinhardt is equally at home as pianist in the concert hall,
and as conductor in the orchestra pit. Recital and chamber performances as a pianist
include Zankel and Weill Recital Halls at Carnegie Hall, Merkin Hall, and Greenwich
Music House. Work as a musical director includes Queens Theater in the Park, the
Edinburgh Fringe Festival, the New York Musical Theater Festival, Bravo television and
cabaret spaces throughout NYC including The Metropolitan Room, Studio 54, and
Birdland. Mr. Steinhardt served as musical director for the Emmy award winning, “News
in Revue.”
Steinhardt is on the board of the Fairfield County Music Teachers Association
and co-administers “The Art of Piano Pedagogy,” an online community for professional
piano teachers with over 20,000 members.
www.benjaminsteinhardt.com
Nancy Modell, Suzuki Teacher Trainer with Taubman Approach
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Nancy Modell, an Ithaca College School of Music graduate in both piano
performance and music education, is very passionate about teaching music. In the 1980s, as a Teacher Trainer, she pioneered the Suzuki Piano Approach in Israel where she taught students and trained local piano teachers in Jerusalem.
Since 1992 she has been teaching in Springfield, NJ, inspiring students to reach their potential through innovative learning opportunities, including original composition, music events and field trips. Nancy continues to train teachers in the Suzuki Approach at Suzuki Summer Institutes throughout the USA. She has explored ways to introduce composition to students of all levels and has presented her approach at various teachers’ forums, including NAfME, NJMEA, NJMTA, MEA-NJ, PTC of NY, PTF, The Taubman Festival, the SAA, and most recently at 1era Convención Suzuki de las Américas in Cancun, Mexico. She has trained piano teachers at institutes, college courses and privately, and frequently teaches ECC!©. She is Piano Coordinator of the NJ Suzuki Workshop and is the Immediate Past President of MEA-NJ.