I’m very excited because I’m going to attend the NCKP in Chicago for the first time, and I wanted to share this experience with you.
My goal is to write a post each day of the event so I can show you everything that’s happening there, for those of you who can’t attend or who are thinking about going in the future.
What is the NCKP?
The NCKP Conference (also known as The Piano Conference) is a biennial event dedicated to piano teaching, learning, and performance at an international level. Originally known as the National Conference on Keyboard Pedagogy, it was initiated by the Frances Clark Center and first held in 2001. You can browse the archives of all past conferences [here].
Since its inception, it has brought together thousands of teachers, musicians, and pedagogues from around the world in Chicago (USA) and online, with a program that includes lectures, masterclasses, demonstrations, panel discussions, book exhibits, concerts, and TED-style “PEDx” sessions. The event stands out for its collaborative approach to professional development, discussions on teaching methodologies, and promotion of educational innovation.
The most recent edition, NCKP 2025, will be held in person from July 23 to 26, 2025, in Lombard, Chicago, starting with a “summit” day (I’ll explain more about what that is once I figure it out!) followed by three days of conferences, exhibits, concerts, and presentations. There was also an online conference on June 7 and 8, 2025. This year, for the first time, the online format has included sessions in other languages — Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, and Korean.
In this series of posts, I’ll be focusing on the in-person event, not the online version.
Shortly after my arrival at the hotel with my newly issued accreditation and welcome bag.
This Year’s Edition
I’d like to give you a brief overview of some of the scheduled activities for this year.
The first day of NCKP is dedicated to the Summit. This summit — officially titled the Innovation Summit: Designing the Future of Piano Education — will take place on Wednesday, July 23, 2025, from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM. It’s a collaborative and participatory gathering designed for attendees — university professors, independent teachers, emerging professionals, and pianists passionate about teaching — to work together in strategic design and creative thinking activities aimed at imagining the future of piano education. The day will conclude with a piano recital featuring several performers.
The actual conference begins on July 24, 25, and 26. The only downside is that there are so many sessions happening simultaneously that it’s hard to choose which ones to attend, I still haven’t decided which ones I’ll go to! There are hundreds of speakers, and you can check out the full program at the following link. But to give you an idea of the variety and quality of the presentations, here’s a small sample:
- Practice Power: Giggly Games and Creative Concepts for Practice – Nicola Cantan
- The Secret Lives of Quiet Students: Strategies for Teaching the Timid – Christina Whitlock
- Neuropedagogy — Where Neuroscience and Pedagogy Meet – Barbara Lister-Sink
- “Education is an Atmosphere, a Discipline, a Life”: Applying General Educational Philosophy to Piano Teaching – Katherine Fisher
- 6 Blues Improvisation Lessons for Beginners – Jeremy Siskind
And that’s just a glimpse of Thursday’s talks, there are over 60 sessions that day!
The welcome bag containing everything we’ll need over the next days.
The organizers also provide an app with the full schedule to help everyone stay organized and make the most of the experience without getting too lost in the sea of options.
I had only just arrived when I was lucky to have dinner with Scarlette Kerr and Celeste Watson. Scarlette will be giving a talk on Thursday titled ‘Musiking’ with the Mind and Body: How Rhythm Audiation and Movement Work Together to Develop Piano Technique. And on Saturday, Celeste, together with Bethany Cothern, will be presenting Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes (and Fingers!): Joint Hypermobility and the Developing Pianist
It’s about to begin!
I’m looking forward to learning a lot from this experience and meeting piano teachers from all over the world. I’ll keep you posted, thank you for joining me on this journey!
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