University of South Florida School of Music in collaboration with the Performing Arts Medicine 
Association and The Music Gallery Presents

Free to Play: Piano Pedagogy Symposium
"Playing free is to master the art of mind-body connection"

Course Description:
The effective use of the body for the pianist will help produce good tone, develop sound technique, 
prevent injury, and maintain longevity as performer. The Symposium will focus on how to become 
more aware of the body and to maximize mind-body connection in learning, teaching

and playing. Six internationally renowned pianist-pedagogues with expert training in pianists’ 
psyphysiological mechanics will conduct a two- day Piano Pedagogy Symposium at University of 
South Florida School of Music Bareness Recital Hall.

Target Participants
Piano teachers at all levels (university, schools, private), graduate and undergraduate collegiate 

pianists, and advanced pre-college pianists.

Objectives
Participants will learn:
- how tones are produced by well-coordinated movements of the upper body to finger tips
- how mind and body work together in this process
- how knowing the individual hand biomechanics can help effective and injury-free use of the mind-body-hand coordination
- how to apply the psychophysiology in playing various techniques and styles

Personnel:
Sang-Hie Lee, Professor of Music, University of South Florida, Director 
Martha Thomas, Professor of Piano, Associate Dean of University of Georgia Hugh Hodgson School of Music
Douglas Johnson, Associate Professor of Piano, Berklee College of Music
Kevin Robert Orr, Professor of Piano, School of Music, University of Florida
Grigorios Zamparas, Associate Professor of Piano, University of Tampa
Ken Hanks, Professor of Piano and Director of Arts Program, Hillsborough Community College
Carina Joly, Pianist-Physiotherapy, Zürich, Switzerland
Shuyuan Tsai, President, Mid-State FMTA
Jeffrey Chodil, MM in Piano Performance, Pedagogy, and Chamber Music, Researcher in Hand Biometrics
Tina Tidwell, E-RYT, BA, Artistic Director, Spec Performance