The Secret Ingredient for Successful Music Study: The Significant Role of Supportive Parents
Professor Christopher Fisher will guide participants to explore time-tested and research-driven strategies and resources that parents or caregivers can employ to create a positive, musical home learning environment; while inspiring effective, efficient, and joyful student practice; and fostering a life-long relationship with music in their young musician.
The workshop will feature discussion, a lecture, and giveaways from Columbus Symphony, Ballet Met, Piano Safari, and Chamber Music Columbus.
This public event is hosted by the Community Music School at The Ohio State University.
Open to the community. Attendance is free.
Please register by Monday, Aug. 25.
Christopher Fisher is professor of piano at Ohio University (Athens, OH) where he chairs the Keyboard Division and directs the internationally recognized undergraduate and graduate piano performance and pedagogy programs. He is the artistic director of the Ohio University Piano Pedagogy Seminar. Dr. Fisher served as director of the Ohio University School of Music (2020–2022) and assistant director (2019–2020). Recognized for his teaching, Dr. Fisher was the 2010 recipient of both the Ohio Music Teachers Association Collegiate Teacher of the Year Award and the Ohio University School of Music Distinguished Teaching Award. In 2025, he was designated a Foundation Fellow of the Music Teachers National Association.
Dr. Fisher is the author of Teaching Piano in Groups (Oxford University Press, 2010). He is a co-author of the revised and expanded edition of Piano Duet Repertoire (Indiana University Press, 2016) and a co-author of Functional Skills for Pianists (Oxford University Press, 2022). He is also co-editing the Oxford Handbook for Piano Pedagogy (Oxford University Press) with Dr. Sally Cathcart. He has published in leading keyboard journals including Keyboard Companion, American Music Teacher, Clavier, and Clavier Companion. He is a contributing composer for the innovative piano method, Piano Safari (www.pianosafari.com), which is used by piano teachers and students around the globe. His educational compositions are published by Alfred Music and Piano Safari.
In demand as a workshop clinician, Dr. Fisher has presented lectures nationally and internationally, including the National Conferences of the Music Teachers National Association, the National Conference on Keyboard Pedagogy, the International Society for Music Education, Centro para la Pedagogia de los Instruments de Cuerda (CEPIC), the Music & Drama Education Expo, the National Group Piano and Piano Pedagogy Forum, the Australasian Piano Pedagogy Conference, Encontro Internacional de Pianistas de Piracicaba, The Curious Piano Teachers Live Conferences and the American Music Therapy Association.
A native of Missouri, Dr. Fisher holds degrees from Wichita State University (Master of Music in Piano Pedagogy) and Northwest Missouri State University (Bachelor of Arts). He was awarded the Doctor of Musical Arts in Piano Performance and Pedagogy from the University of Oklahoma where he was the recipient of the prestigious Alumni Graduate Fellowship. His piano and piano pedagogy teachers include Edward Gates, Jane Magrath, Barbara Fast, Julie Bees, Sylvia Coats, Richard Bobo, and Betty Preston.
Christopher Fisher is a Yamaha Artist.
Visit www.chrisfisherpiano.com
Questions? Email CommunityMusicSchool@osu.edu or call 614-292-5495.
All events are subject to change.
Getting Here
Two garage options:
Arps Garage (open to visitors M–F after 4 p.m. and on weekends) — located just north of the Timashev Music building.
- A good choice for events in the Timashev Recital Hall, just inside the north end of the building.
Ohio Union South Garage (open to visitors 24/7) — located just south of the Timashev Music building, next to the Ohio Union.
- A good choice for events in Weigel Auditorium, just inside the south end of the building, across from the Oval.
- The only choice for visitors M–F, before 4 p.m.