Michael Clark, DMA
Lecturer of Piano
Piano Pedagogy
Michael Clark is a pianist and teacher devoted to practical solutions in pedagogy. Clark researches historical approaches to piano fingering, particularly those of prominent composers and pianists, and is the founder of Piano Tricks, an online database of fingerings and redistributions for over 800 passages from the piano repertoire.
Clark has appeared in fifteen states as a soloist, chamber musician, and clinician, specializing in twentieth- and twenty-first-century repertoire. An advocate for the music of Florence Price, he has presented numerous lecture recitals on her piano music and is preparing an album of her complete solo piano waltzes and selected character pieces for release by Navona Records in February 2024.
Active in Music Teachers National Association (MTNA) since 2010, Clark engages the profession through service and leadership at the local, state, and national levels. He is currently a member of the planning committee for the 2024 MTNA National Conference and has previously served on the Executive Board of Texas Music Teachers Association, as Chair of the Texas MTNA Competition, and as president of Forum Music Teachers Association. Clark recently contributed to From the Artist Bench, Inspiring Artistry, and Quick Teaching Tips, three video series produced by the Frances Clark Center for Keyboard Pedagogy. His pedagogical writing has appeared in Piano Magazine and MTNA e-Journal, and he serves on the Editorial Committee for American Music Teacher.
Clark was appointed as Lecturer in Piano at Baylor University in 2022. Before coming to Baylor, he taught in collegiate, studio, and community outreach settings in the Houston area. Clark earned a DMA in Piano Performance with the Certificate in Teaching and Learning from Rice University, MM in Piano Performance and Pedagogy from the University of Houston, and BM in Piano Performance from Ithaca College. His primary teachers include Robert Roux, Nancy Weems, Jennifer Hayghe, and Melinda Smashey Jones. Clark studied pedagogy with Courtney Crappell and John Weems and has been a Nationally Certified Teacher of Music (NCTM) since 2017.