Professor Constance Carroll will become a Music Teachers National Association Foundation Fellow in March at the 2002 MTNA convention in Cincinnati.
This recognition honors Carroll’s status as the 2001 Louisiana Music Teachers Association Outstanding Teacher for her instruction as a piano teacher at LSU. She also was awarded the Tiger Athletic Foundation Excellence in Teaching award in April 2001.
“I was thrilled to death,” Carroll said about the award. “It was a wonderful honor and a surprise.”
Carroll has taught keyboard studies at the LSU School of Music since 1995. She was designated the Aloysia Landry Barineau Professorship of Keyboard Studies at LSU in 1996.
“I try to be a good teacher. I’ve had a wonderful life and career of teaching. It’s been interesting and I’ve enjoyed the variety of students I’ve had from around the world,” Carroll said.
She previously taught at LSU from 1960-1963. She moved with her husband to Shreveport, where she became an artist-in-residence at Centenary College. She also taught at Wisconsin State University and Lenoir-Rhyne College.
“I’ve enjoyed the combination of teaching and performing,” Carroll said. “It’s just a joy. I have a wonderful class and they all work very hard.”
Cara McCool, one of Carroll’s master’s students, said Carroll “will go way beyond the call of duty to help students develop a love of music. She’s the reason I stayed at LSU for my master’s degree.”
Carroll began studying piano at age five in Arizona. “From the time I was a little girl, I fell in love with the sounds of the piano,” she said. She remained with the same teacher, Julia Rebeil, until she graduated from the University of Arizona.
Then she studied with Jose` Echa`niz at Eastman and received the coveted performers’ certificate. She also studied with Frank Mannheimer, Rosina Lhevinne and Silvio Scionti.
After earning a master’s degree from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, N.Y., Carroll won a Fulbright scholarship. This enabled her to study piano at the Vienna Academy in Austria.
She has won numerous awards for her performances. These include the Maria Canal International Competition for Piano in Barcelona, Spain, the Naumburg Competition and the Brevard Music Festival Young Artist Award.
“She’s just fabulous. She’s an incredible performer that can move you to tears because she’s so wonderful,” McCool said.
One of Carroll’s doctorate students, Qiao-Shuang Xian, won the MTNA National Collegiate Artist piano competition in Spring 1998 in Nashville, Tenn. She also has numerous students win local and regional competitions.
Carroll said she’s enjoyed the progression of the students she has taught. Some of her Centenary students followed her to LSU to pursue their graduate studies.
Recently, Carroll has been on the faculties of Brevard Music Center, the University of Houston High School Piano Camp, the Frank Mannheimer Piano Festival, the University of Kansas Piano Institute and served as artist-juror at the New Orleans Institute for the Performing Arts. She also was an adjucator for the National Finals of the MTNA student competitions in Washington, D.C.
Carroll also has been the featured artist at the Music Teachers Associations conventions in 12 states and has given lecture-recitals at the National MTNA conventions in Kansas City, Houston and Chicago.
Currently, Carroll has eight students pursuing a doctorate, four pursuing a master’s and four undergraduates.