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Mission at SOM

Curriculum Vitae

Robert Bedford
Professor – Piano

Room 321, Swope Music Building
Phone: 610-436-2821
rbedford@wcupa.edu
www.bedford-alexander-prof.com

Thoughts on SOM
When I think back over my 40-year career, I recall my mission since I was a young professor. I have continued to serve at West Chester University, always with the objective of generating enough enthusiasm in my students and myself to advance the process of learning piano performance, while helping students improve as they learn. It is still imperative for me to foster safe learning, while building a positive relationship with each student I encounter, all of whom must cope in unique ways with the excitement and inevitable frustrations that come from progressing toward excellence.

Mission at SOM
Our culture both feeds and challenges music education and performance. Students and teachers engage in a duet of edification and effort, even struggling at times, often moving from the unknown to the known and onward toward the next unknown. When all is right, we learn, unlearn, and then relearn better ways to approach mastery in both education and performance.

I am most fortunate to have been trained in dual roles of teacher and facilitator; my specialized training has prepared me well to advance on the journey.

Curriculum Vitae

Education
Artist Diploma - The Juilliard School
Bachelor of Music - The Juilliard School
Master of Science - The Juilliard School
Doctor of Musical Arts - The Catholic University of America
Certification - Alexander Technique International

Dr. Robert Bedford is the winner of many competitions and awards including the Piano Guild International Recording Competition, the Gottschalk International Competition for Pianists and Composers and the National Federation of Music Clubs Award of Merit. (Bedford) He has been soloist with the Delaware Symphony, The Little Orchestra Society of Philadelphia and the Catholic University Orchestra. Bedford’s distinguished mentors include Guiomar Novaes, William Masselos and Sascha Gorodnitsky. Prize winning students have performed with the Hershey Symphony, Newark Symphony, Kennett Square Symphony, Bridgeton Symphony, Pottstown Symphony, and performed frequently with the West Chester University Symphony.

Over the last 40 years, Dr. Bedford’s Master degree graduates have secured tenured positions throughout the country as University Faculty members. They have served as chairs and supervisors of music faculties in prestigious public and private music schools including the Upper Darby School district and the Wilmington School of Music in Delaware. His graduates have established assistantships and full tuition scholarships at many Universities including Florida State University and Cincinnati University. One of his graduates, Barbara Mason Benglian, B. Mus. Ed., WCU, 1970, M. Mus Ed.., WCU, 1973, District Music Supervisor for the Upper Darby School District, was recently named 2006 Pennsylvania Teacher Of the Year.

Tangential to his teaching responsibilities at West Chester University, Dr. Bedford directs the Alexander Technique Center for Musicians in West Chester, PA, a distinctive private piano teaching setting featuring week-long summer workshops for musicians. As a member of the Music Teachers National Association, he frequently adjudicates piano competitions and festivals.

Dr. Bedford will present at the PMTA/DMTA State Conference in November; in 2008, a Faculty recital at West Chester University in April, 2008; as guest teacher at the University of Florida Young Pianists Summer Festival in July, 2008; at the International Congress for Alexander Teachers, Lugano, Switzerland in August, 2008.

Wellness Health for Musicians
Dr. Bedford shares an approach to learning that (appeals) applies to all teachers. A working knowledge of the physical basis for gaining mastery of human coordination offers several advantages for teaching. As one of the few professors of piano nationally certified to teach the Alexander Technique, pianist Robert Bedford’s DVD leads students through exact routines for teaching and performing using the principles of the F.M. Alexander Technique.

Read more about Dr. Bedford at http://www.wcupa.edu/PR/10.9bedford.asp

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