Music, Theatre, Dance Faculty & Staff
Last Name
Marlais
First Name
Helen
Email
marlaish@gvsu.edu
Title
Professor, Piano and Director of Piano Pedagogy
Website
www.helenmarlais.com
Office Address
1229 Haas Center for Performing Arts
Office Phone
616-331-3390
About
Youtube: Piano
Lessons Helen Marlais
See University and Advanced high
school student performances as well as many other videos!
Facebook: Succeeding
at the Piano Method
GVSU MTNA
Collegiate Chapter
Dr. Helen Marlais' performance schedule includes
concerts and pedagogical sessions throughout North America, Europe,
and Asia. Her travels abroad have included performing and teaching in
India, S. Korea, Taiwan, Italy, England, France, Spain, Hungary,
Turkey, Germany, Austria, Lithuania, Estonia, China, Australia, New
Zealand, Jamaica, and Russia. Marlais has recorded on Audite, Gasparo,
Stargrass and Centaur record labels. She has had performances
broadcast regionally, nationally, and internationally, on radio,
television, and the Internet. Her most recent recording with her
husband, concert clarinetist Arthur Campbell, Music for Clarinet and
Piano, was nominated for the International Classical Music Awards, one
of the most prestigious distinctions available to classical musicians
today. FonoForum, a leading European classical music magazine, writes:
"Seldom has one so clearly observed the bubbling substructure of
the piano part of Schumann's Fantasy Pieces Op. 73 and, thereby,
seldom have the Schumann pieces been played so elegantly and
delicately." They continue with: "Campbell's and
Marlais' playing is always exact, elegant, without excess. The beauty
of this genuinely joint playing is so engaging that it seems to lack
for nothing."
Dr. Marlais dedication to pedagogy for the young is sincere and
unwavering. She has given over 500 pedagogical presentations and
master classes for pre-college students since 2002. One of the joys of
her life has been creating materials to support piano teachers as they
guide young musicians. The piano series that she has developed and
published for The FJH Music Company have become an integral part of
piano students' repertoire across the country and abroad. Excellent
external reviews have come from the European Piano Teachers
Association (EPTA), Canada, and the USA. Her series, Succeeding at the
Piano®, and The All-in-One Approach to Succeeding at the Piano®,
Succeeding with the Masters®, The Festival Collection®, and In
Recital® all have companion recordings. Other series that round out
her catalog are: Sight Reading and Rhythm Every Day®, Energize Your
Fingers Every Day®, Play Your Scales and Chords Every Day®, The FJH
Intervallic Reading Series®. Write, Play, and Hear Your Theory Every
Day®, the FJH Adult Piano Curriculum, and In Recital® for the
Advancing Pianist. The Contemporary Keyboard Editions® focuses on
piano music by contemporary art-music composers. Several of the series
above have been translated for, and released in, South Korea, China,
and Taiwan.
Recipient of the Distinguished Contribution to a
Discipline Award at Grand Valley State University in Grand Rapids,
Michigan, Dr. Marlais teaches piano and directs the Piano Pedagogy
Certificate program for undergraduate piano majors and for
professional piano teachers. Dr. Marlais teaches applied piano lessons
to a select number of exceptional piano majors who come to GVSU
specifically to study with her, and she also teaches collaborative
piano and piano literature on a rotating basis. Many of Dr.
Marlais' pre-college through university majors are awarding-winning
pianists. She has demonstrated the ability to develop the highest of
standards while teaching with a joy-filled approach. She received her
DM in piano performance and pedagogy from Northwestern University and
her MFA in piano performance from Carnegie Mellon Univ