Joanne Haroutounian

Joanne Haroutounian is the author over 30 publications across the fields of music, piano pedagogy, arts education and gifted education. She consults internationally with specializations in piano pedagogy, artistic ways of knowing and musical talent. Prior to her retirement in 2018, Dr. Haroutounian oversaw the piano pedagogy program at George Mason University and offered doctoral seminars exploring musical talent and artistic ways of knowing. Her book, Kindling the Spark: Recognizing and Developing Musical Talent, offered through Oxford University Press, is a leading resource on musical talent development. Fourth Finger on B-Flat: Effective Strategies for Teaching Piano is used widely as a piano pedagogy text along with her numerous piano publications offered by Kjos Music Publishers. She has pioneered publications in gifted/arts with a full Arts Curriculum offered by Royal Fireworks Press which includes Artistic Ways of Knowing: How to Think Like an Artist. Her most recent book, Golden Years of the National Symphony Orchestra: Stories and Photographs of Musicians and Maestros is a collaboration with her husband, violinist William Haroutounian, who is the longest serving member of the NSO. He captured thousands of photographs of artists in intimate rehearsal settings with the orchestra from the vantage point of a musician in the orchestra. Hundreds of these photos fill the pages along with stories and experiences shared by NSO musicians across the tenures of seven NSO conductors in the past nine decades. Dr. Haroutounian’s research in musical talent development led to the founding of the MusicLink Foundation, a program that provides long-term music instruction to promising students in financial need. As of December 2020, the organization has reached over 7,500 students across the country, providing over $14 million of in-kind scholarship instruction by professional MusicLink teachers. Website: http://joanneharoutouni.com YouTube: Joanne Haroutounian