Contact Info
Phone: 610-436-2739
Fax: 610-436-2873
musicinfo@wcupa.edu


Robert Bedford

Robert Bedford

Professor - Piano

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

Education

Artist Diploma - The Juilliard School
D. M. A., The Catholic University of America
Certification, Alexander Technique International
M. S., The Juilliard School
B. M., The Juilliard School

Thoughts on SOM

I have always had a passion for playing the piano. But it is my love of teaching piano to students, who share a vision of studying piano performance, that drives me. Students benefit from my enthusiasm, sense of humor and extensive experience teaching and performing that I bring to their piano lessons. Students will explore and learn from my studies at The Julliard School while incorporating the unique benefits of the Alexander Technique. I encourage students to influence the course of their lessons and the freedom to find their own way as I nurture the talent they were born with.

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 as a facilitator aiming at new ways of learning and preventing disturbing tensions; my specialized training and subsequent certification nationally as an Alexander Technique Teacher has prepared me advantageously to evolve on the journey.

Curriculum Vitae

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. Twenty three of Dr. Bedford's advanced piano majors have performed Concerti with the West Chester University Orchestra as winners of senior/graduate Keyboard Department piano competitions.

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 presented for the Philadelphia Music Teacher's Association, March, 2010, Faculty recital at West Chester University, April, 2011; was guest teacher at the University of Florida Young Pianists Summer Festival July, 2008; International Congress for Alexander Teachers, Lugano, Switzerland August, 2008.

Wellness Health for Musicians

Dr. Bedford shares an approach to learning that (appeals) 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. A second DVD, released fall 2011, "Keys To The Concert Stage," traces Bedford's dual career development over 45 years teaching piano performance at the university level.

Dr. Robert Bedford performing in the Gates Recital Hall, West Chester University