Dr. Rebecca Casey serves as Associate Professor of Music at Ohio Northern University in Ada, Ohio, where she is head of keyboard studies and has served in the Music Department for over 19 years. She teaches piano literature, piano pedagogy, aural skills and piano individual, as well as other courses. Additionally, she assists with extensive administrative work for the Music Department. Rebecca serves as Executive Coordinator for the ONU Piano Academy, a preparatory program for piano majors to actively engage in teaching community youngsters aged 5-18 in weekly piano lessons as part of the Piano Pedagogy curriculum; she is also a member of several departmental, college and university committees and serves as Secretary-Treasurer for Phi Kappa Phi, among other activities.
Rebecca received her B.M. with High Distinction from Ohio Northern University in 1985, majoring in Music Education and Piano Performance. She studied with Jean Szabo, Rosemary Zika-Williams, Ms. Diane Schrock and Mrs. "Betty" Estep during childhood, starting piano at age 7. She received her M.M. in Piano Performance in 1987, and her D.M.A. in Piano Performance in 1997 with a GPA of 4.00. Rebecca earned both degrees from the University of Cincinnati's College-Conservatory of Music where she received full scholarships for her entire graduate school career. Rebecca studied with Eugene and Elizabeth Pridonoff and Frank Weinstock and was part of the Student Artist Program at CCM. She also taught for four years in the Findlay City Schools where she received the "Educator of the Month Award" for excellent teaching, an "Award of Distinction" from the Findlay Area Jaycees for her outstanding work with students in four elementary schools and her assistance with the choral program at Findlay High School. She has appeared as soloist with the Toledo Symphony and the ONU Symphony and has performed twice on WGTE, including "Live from FM 91," reaching an audience of 5,000 listeners in the region.
Rebecca is an in-demand adjudicator and has been asked to judge many piano festivals and competitions throughout Ohio, including the National Young Keyboard Artists Competitions, the Capital University Conservatory of Music Honors Concert Scholarship Competition, the Bowling Green State University Scholarship Competition, the Mansfield OMTA/MTNA Sonatina Competition, the MTNA State Junior/Senior/Young Artist Piano Competition, the OMTA Duettists competitions, a plethora of Ribbon Festivals over the past 20 years and the Buckeye Competition. She was recently nominated and elected as "State Collegiate Certified Teacher of the Year" as a Nationally Certified Teacher for 2012 by OMTA/MTNA and was honored for her exemplary teaching accomplishments at the annual OMTA State Convention luncheon in November. Rebecca has served as an independent evaluator of manuscripts for Clavier Companion, has performed at OMTA State Convention and was the recipient of a grant for new keyboards at ONU from the Presser Foundation in 2007. She will be the featured speaker for OMTA in March 2013 for the Middle West District, addressing college readiness for pianists. She is founder of the CCM Concert Series at ONU, a program in which D.M.A. level pianists from her alma mater come to campus to perform and give master classes for ONU piano majors. She has been the multiple scholarships, grants and awards for her piano playing and for her scholastic ability, including the Presser Scholar Award and the Harold P. Vayhinger Memorial Award. She is a member of Phi Kappa Phi, Kappa Delta Phi and Alpha Lambda Delta, as well as the College Music Society.
Rebecca's students have been selected to play in Master Classes with Mr. Alexander Ghindin, Elizabeth and Eugene Pridonoff, Mr. Alpin Hong and Ms. Andrea Anderson, among others. Student activities and accomplishments in recent years include acceptances at CCM and BGSU, interviews on WLIO, recipients of OMTA/MTNA keyboard grants and recipients of talent scholarships from the American Federation of Musicians and OMTA. Rebecca performs and collaborates regularly throughout the area. In her spare time, she enjoys reading science fiction and classics, spending time with her family at her daughter's soccer games and other events, gardening, biking and anything having to do with bird watching (especially hummingbirds), the weather and being outdoors.
