Denise Allen receives PTGF award - Piano Technicians Guild Foundation - Brief Article

Denise N. Allen, NCTM, of Sandy, Utah, is the recipient of the 2003 Piano Technicians Guild Foundation (PTGF) Grant, worth $1,000. This grant provides Nationally Certified Teachers of Music (NCTM) with advanced study opportunities related to piano.

Allen teaches private and group piano lessons and Musikgarten in her home studio. She is a member of the Sandy, Utah MTA and has been nationally certified since 1994. She also has been certified with the Early Childhood Music and Movement Association since 1994 and is a member of the Utah Orff Society. Allen began teaching early childhood music in 1991.

This past year, Allen taught the Musikgarten curricula entitled "Music Makers at the Keyboard," which bridges the gap between early childhood music classes and private piano lessons. She plans to use the PTGF grant to complete Musikgarten training with a co-author of the curriculum, Mary Louise Wilson. She will apply that training to teaching children early piano skills this fall.

Denise earned an AA. degree in music from Ricks College in Rexburg, Idaho, with an emphasis in piano pedagogy. While at Ricks, she taught group piano. She received a BA. degree in music from Utah State University, during which time she taught private piano at the Youth Conservatory. Following graduation, she worked at the Idyllwild School of Music and the Arts in Idyllwild, California, for a year, before receiving a scholarship and assistantship to George Washington University in Washington, D.C., where she completed a master's degree in musicology.

The PTGF Grant, awarded annually, is open to individuals who have earned and maintained MTNA Professional Certification for at least six years and are at least twenty-eight years of age.

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