Music, Theatre, Dance Faculty & Staff

Marlais

Helen

marlaish@gvsu.edu

Professor, Piano and Director of Piano Pedagogy

www.helenmarlais.com

1229 Haas Center for Performing Arts

616-331-3390

Dr. Helen Marlais' dedication to pedagogy for the young is sincere and unwavering. She has given well over 800 pedagogical presentations and master classes for pre-college students. 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®, In Recital®, Write, Play, and Hear Your Theory Every Day® 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®. 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 these series above have been released in South Korea, China, and Taiwan. One can peruse this library and teaching resources, including over 1,500 free teaching and performance videos, on Marlais’ website: www.HelenMarlais.com as well as on her You Tube channel: Piano Lessons Helen Marlais. 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 recording, Music for Clarinet and Piano, with husband Arthur Campbell, was nominated for the 2013 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: “…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.” 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 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 University. She received her BM in piano performance from the University of Toledo and was their 2008 Outstanding Alumna in the Arts.