Ithaca College

The Center for Faculty Excellence is pleased to host Ithaca College Community Artists each Friday at 5pm. In a mere 15-20 minutes, learn what our community brings to the arts, and the invariable ways art invigorates our lives. This week’s guest is Laura Amoriello.

To gain the Zoom link, send a message to Gordon Rowland (rowland@ithaca.edu).

Laura Amoriello is a pianist, piano pedagogy specialist, and budding mindfulness instructor. In her teaching at IC, she guides music majors through the development of keyboard skills, mentors piano majors as they learn to teach, and promotes student mental health. She is faculty advisor for the Mental Health Awareness for Musicians Association and frequently presents on mindfulness and self-compassion and their impact on music teaching, learning, and performance. Laura began playing the piano at the age of seven in order to learn holiday songs; thankfully, that purpose evolved to champion the music of underrepresented composers. In Fall 2019, Laura presented "The Girl Gershwin: Music of Dana Suesse" at IC. Her current project is exploring the piano music of Florence Price, a rich heritage for students of all levels. The three pieces by Price in this program--"Memory Mist," "Song without Words," and "Meditation"--represent stages of coping with suffering and uncertainty. Price's gift for melody and harmonic color comforts us, and her legacy emboldens our spirit.