Laura Amoriello joined the Ithaca College faculty as Assistant Professor of Piano in Fall 2015. Her expertise in piano pedagogy, combined with musical and scholarly achievement, offers a rich array of experience from which her students benefit.
Passionate about sharing pedagogical ideas with teachers, Amoriello has presented her research locally, nationally, and internationally. Recent workshops include “From Living Room to Stage: Helping Students Fight Performance Anxiety” for the 2014 Pennsylvania Music Teachers Association State Conference and “Asking Questions in the Secondary Piano Class” for the 2014 National Group Piano and Piano Pedagogy Forum. A paper based on Amoriello’s dissertation, “Teaching Class Piano: A Study of Varied Perspectives,” was presented at the 2011 National Conference on Keyboard Pedagogy. Additional presentations include Westminster Choir College’s 2012 Piano Camp for Teachers (“What the Best Teachers Do”), the South Jersey Music Teachers Association, the 2007 European Piano Teachers Association Conference, and the 2009 World Piano Conference (“Musical Teamwork: Strategies for Student-Centered Piano Instruction”), and the 2010-2011 World Piano Conferences (“Addressing Learners’ Needs in the Secondary Piano Class”). Amoriello’s research interests encompass performance anxiety, the music of Prokofiev, secondary piano, and learning theories for piano teachers. She has been published in Piano Pedagogy Forum and Clavier Companion.
Amoriello is former President of the Bucks County Association of Piano Teachers, having previously served as Publicity Chair. She is an active member of the Music Teachers National Association (MTNA) and has served as adjudicator for NJMTA, Shore Music Educators Association, and Piano Teachers Forum. Amoriello previously served the National Conference on Keyboard Pedagogy for two terms as a member of the Student Committee, and has contributed to the National Group Piano and Piano Pedagogy Forum as Group Discussion Leader. She is an MTNA Nationally Certified Teacher of Music.
A former winner of the Westminster Choir College Undergraduate Piano and Concerto Competitions, Amoriello frequently performs as soloist and collaborator. Most recently, she presented “Four-Hand Gems: Favorite Duets for Piano” for Jacobs Music in Willow Grove, PA and “The Music of Prokofiev,” a recital of select solo and chamber works, at Westminster Choir College. Annual lecture recitals for Summer at Westminster include the music of Debussy, Haydn, Liszt, Schubert, and Prokofiev.
Amoriello holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in piano performance and pedagogy from Westminster Choir College of Rider University and Penn State University, respectively. During her studies, she received numerous awards and honors, including the MTNA Student Achievement Recognition Award, the Arthur Judson Scholarship for Outstanding Undergraduate Piano Majors, and the Associated Board of Royal Schools of Music Scholarship for Promise as a Creative and Inspirational Teacher. Her principal teachers include Mary DeTurck, Ingrid Clarfield, and Timothy Shafer. Amoriello holds the Doctor of Education degree in college music pedagogy from Teachers College of Columbia University with the dissertation “Teaching Undergraduate Class Piano: A Study of Perspectives from Self, Students, and Colleagues.”