Music, Theatre and Dance Department Faculty

Carleen Graff is Professor of Music at Plymouth State University in Plymouth, New Hampshire, where she teaches piano performance, class piano and piano pedagogy.  Dr. Graff received her D.A. in Piano Performance and Pedagogy from the University of Northern Colorado, the M.A. in Applied Piano from the University of Denver and the B.M.E. from Illinois Wesleyan University. She is the recipient of the Master Teacher Certificate from the Music Teachers National Association and the New Hampshire Music Teachers Association's Teacher-Member of the Year Award.  She has served Music Teachers National Association for two terms as the National Coordinator of the MTNA Collegiate Artist Performance Competition and as National Chair of the MTNA Composition and Performance Competitions.  As past-president of MTNA Eastern Division, she completed a two-year term on the Board of Directors in March 2004 and served as Chair of the Collegiate Chapter Forum and Chair of the Collegiate Chapter Task Force.  She just completed two two-year terms on the national nominating committee.  In addition, she has held many offices in the NHMTA and, in 2005, was elected Treasurer.

Dr. Graff is the founder of the biennial Piano Monster Concerts (1982), the summer Junior and Senior Piano Monster Festivals (1993), and the Contemporary Piano Festival (1999) at PSU.  She is a workshop clinician for music teachers' groups, presenting master classes, and sessions in digital keyboard ensembles, technology for the piano studio, class piano techniques and numerous piano pedagogy topics.  A frequent adjudicator for competitions and evaluations throughout the United States and Canada, she has performed solo and chamber recitals in New England, the Mid-West and Germany, and her students have received numerous awards for their performances and studies.  In addition, she directs the Plymouth Digital Keyboard Orchestra for young students and recently had 5 digital keyboard works published by Ogilvy Music in Denton, Texas: Carnival of the Animals for two pianos, two original works, Determined Drummer and Thoughts, and two arrangements of Beethoven’s Fifth and Haydn’s Surprise, Dr. Graff also teaches pre-college piano students, and oversees the community young piano students at PSU.

Piano Events and Programs