Biography
Dr. Gayle Kowalchyk teaches class piano, piano, piano pedagogy, and coordinates the BA piano program. A graduate of Ohio University (BM), she received the Achievement in Music Award in 2003, presented by the Society of Alumni and Friends and the Ohio University School of Music. She also has degrees from Northwestern University (MM) and Teachers College, Columbia University (Ed.D.).
Dr. Kowalchyk was Senior Keyboard Editor for Alfred Music from 1988-2017. She was formerly on the faculty of Eastern Illinois University, Charleston, where she coordinated the class piano program, directed the piano preparatory program, and taught piano pedagogy. She has taught piano pedagogy and class piano at Oklahoma Baptist University, Shawnee, and the University of Oklahoma, Norman, and beginning piano and piano ensemble classes at the Interlochen Arts Camp.
A frequent clinician and adjudicator, Dr. Kowalchyk has presented sessions for national conventions of the Music Teachers National Association and the Music Educators National Conference, as well as for the National Group Piano Symposium, the National Piano Teachers Institute, the International Pedagogy Workshops, the National Conference on Piano Pedagogy and the World Piano Pedagogy Conference. She has presented piano workshops for teachers in Australia, Austria, Canada, New Zealand, and South Korea.
With her husband, Dr. E. L. Lancaster, she operated a large independent piano studio in Norman, Oklahoma (1981-1996). Together, they have co-authored more than 300 educational piano books.