Group piano courses present numerous opportunities for performance anxiety, whether a student is performing for a classmate, rehearsing in a group, or demonstrating for an instructor.  Despite the significant work on performance anxiety by luminaries such as Vanessa Cornett and Julie Jaffee Nagel, scholarship addressing performance anxiety in the group piano classroom remains limited. In this session, we aim to equip instructors with tools that augment and supplement traditional curricula to teach coping mechanisms surrounding performance anxiety. 

As group piano coordinators at our respective institutions, we saw a need to address performance anxiety in our students. We drew upon our experience with RMM (Recreational Music Making) to design and implement a series of curricular activities in our courses; these were aimed at helping first-year group piano students create awareness of reactions to different performance situations, improve focus and minimize anxiety, and encourage active reflection throughout the learning process. This semester-long progress of strategy development and critical reflection culminated in a performance-focused capstone project. Based on the results of this curricular implementation in our respective classes, we will suggest strategies to make the group piano classroom a training lab for confident performers.  

While our focus is on collegiate group piano programs, the concepts from this session are intended for a wide range of formats and approaches to teaching coping skills. Attendees of this presentation will leave with curricular strategies to implement in their own piano instruction, and an enriched understanding of the factors that trigger performance anxiety.  

Dr. Curtis Pavey is a pianist, harpsichordist, and educator based in Columbia, Missouri where he serves as Assistant Professor of Piano Pedagogy and Performance at the University of Missouri. As an active performer, his recent residences include the University of Alabama and the University of Akron as well as performances at Bruno Walter Auditorium at Lincoln Center, Forte|Piano 2025 (Cornell University), the Oklahoma Mozart Festival, Montreal’s Kin Experience, the Bloomington Early Music Festival, and the Oregon Bach Festival. Beginning in 2025, Pavey will perform the complete solo piano music of Maurice Ravel in a series of interdisciplinary concerts marking the 150th anniversary of his birth. 

In addition to his performances, Pavey has presented talks at prominent conferences including the MTNA National Conference, The Piano Conference: NCKP, and the College Music Society National Conference. At The Frances Clark Center, Pavey serves as Manager of Online Publications, assisting with the Piano Inspires Discovery Page, managing the Journal of Piano Research, and serving as digital copy editor for Piano Magazine. 

Pavey received his DMA from the University of Cincinnati under the tutelage of James Tocco and Dr. Michael Unger, as well as piano and harpsichord degrees from Indiana University under Edward Auer and Elisabeth Wright. 

View Dr. Lagrimas' bio here!