Debra Dew, PhD
Piano, Jubilation Piano Class
Dr. Deb recently retired from Rockford University where she was a professor in the Education Department. She also served as a dean and directed a Teaching with Primary Sources grant from the Library of Congress. When The Music Academy was located at Rockford College, she taught piano there for three years.
Dr. Deb always has been an active musician. She attended West Virginia University where she majored in music education, with piano as her primary instrument. Following graduation, she returned to the Maryland Eastern Shore where she taught K-8 music and earned a master’s degree from Salisbury State University with a music and piano pedagogy emphasis.
During this period, she operated a private piano studio, accompanied for various churches and musicals, directed a children’s choir, and sang in choral groups. She was active in the Eastern Shore Association of Piano Teachers and attended a number of pedagogy sessions at the Peabody Institute of the John Hopkins University. In addition, she was a judge for the National Guild of Piano Teachers.
She then relocated to Carbondale, Illinois, where she earned a PhD in Curriculum and Instruction from Southern Illinois University. During that time, she taught piano ensemble for summer school camps and directed a childrens choir. One highlight of her time in Carbondale was performing in a monster concert with 10 pianos directed by Donald Beattie, music Professor Emeritus at SIUC.
Dr. Deb is excited to resume her piano teaching career at The Music Academy in Rockford. The piano has always been her first love, and her primary goal is to instill and enhance a love of music in her students. She firmly believes that aesthetic experience enhances the quality of life.