Keyboards

Whether your passion is performing as a solo pianist, collaborating with other musicians, developing your voice as a jazz artist, or studying the rich tradition of organ performance, each path at the Mary Pappert School of Music offers a distinct approach to musicianship, performance, and artistic growth. Explore your options by expanding each of the tabs to learn more about each type of keyboard study and find the pathway that best aligns with your interests, goals, and vision as a music major.

Our piano faculty consists of some of the finest performers and teachers in the country. To their credit are concert appearances in major cities from San Francisco to New York, and as far away as Vienna, Berlin, Paris, Buenos Aires, and Hong Kong. As active performers, they have won numerous awards and have served as adjudicators in national and international competitions.

The aim of the piano faculty is to develop the artistic personality of each individual student, regardless of degree emphasis. In addition to performance, piano majors have a wide variety of opportunities, including performing in weekly studio class, chamber music and piano ensemble coaching, instrumental / vocal accompanying, and piano pedagogy coursework. They also benefit from participating in master classes—at least five each year—taught by reputable pianist-pedagogues from around the United States.

Duquesne students enjoy a thriving, vibrant jazz scene in Pittsburgh. Home to jazz legends like Erroll Garner, Art Blakey, and Billy Strayhorn, the city also boasts a wide range of cultural amenities and performance venues including the Manchester Craftsmen's Guild and City of Asylum.

Students who pursue jazz piano are afforded many opportunities to hone their skills through performances in big bands, combos, and recitals. Mastery of the tenets of jazz piano also creates the ability to play other styles of music. Many of our jazz piano students and alumni have successful careers performing all over the world in jazz, rock, or various forms of popular music.

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With its rigorous training on the organ instrument and in a variety of liturgical aspects, the organ program at Duquesne has produced countless church music directors and organists throughout the country. Organ students have opportunities to work in Spartan Campus Ministry, and they receive mentorship towards taking the American Guild of Organists (AGO) certification exams.

Students practice performing on the organ in Duquesne University’s Chapel of the Holy Spirit, a three-manual, 24-stop, 1,458-pipe organ installed in 2015. They also often present recitals on concert-quality instruments throughout the Pittsburgh area, including Calvary Episcopal Church (1963 Casavant, four manuals), Church of the Ascension (1980 Austin, four manuals), St. Paul's Cathedral (1962 Beckerath, four manuals, mechanical action), Heinz Chapel of the University of Pittsburgh (1971 Moeller, four manuals), Christ Methodist Church (1987 Casavant, three manuals), and First Presbyterian Church (1988 Casavant, four manuals).

Duquesne graduate students in collaborative piano receive exceptionally close mentorship from piano faculty, with 1.5 hours of applied instruction per week. Students learn to collaborate with high-level peers in both instrumental and vocal areas, whose faculty also provide support. They also grow supportive skills towards their piano accompanying, in important courses such as Sight-reading Literature for Collaborative Piano, Piano Ensemble, and Chamber Music.

Students who graduate with a collaborative piano degree are positioned well to contribute as accompanists to Pittsburgh’s thriving music education scene. They have been hired as staff accompanists and faculty of music schools, music directors of churches, and band members.