Thomas Mark holds AB, MA and PhD degrees from Columbia University. He studied piano in New York with David Bar-Illan and Jeannette Haien, taught philosophy for several years at various colleges and universities, then returned to the piano. From 1992 to 2001 he organized and performed in the Newport Coffee Concerts, a chamber music series in Newport, Oregon. He attended the Taubman Institute of Piano from 1994 to 1999, where he served for three years as a practice assistant. He has studied the Taubman technique with Robert Durso, and studies Alexander Technique and body mapping with Barbara Conable, founder of Andover Educators. He is a certified Andover Educator, an adjunct faculty member of Marylhurst University and a member of the committee on musicians’ wellness of the Oregon Music Teachers Association. He is the author of the book What Every Pianist Needs to Know about the Body, published by GIA Publications, Inc.

Tom teaches piano and Body Mapping in Portland, Oregon where he offers the 6-hour course “What Every Pianist Needs to Know about the Body” on a regular basis. He is available to teach the course and offer lectures, workshops, and lessons throughout the United States and Canada.

Thomas Mark has taught and lectured in various locations, including:
- Oregon Music Teachers Association state conference (1999, 2000)
- Piano Wellness Seminar (2000-2002)
- Raleigh Conservatory of Music
- Conservatorio Superiour de Musica, Las palmas, Canary Islands
- National Association of Pastoral Musicians
- Cincinnati Conservatory of Music
- Duquense University
- Creston, British Columbia, Canada

Workshops

Practical Advantages of Understanding the Nature of Artistic Performance - Music Education

Performers tend to assume that they know what performance is, and that the problems it poses are mainly technical. It turns out, however, that a theoretical examination of performance is worthwhile. Refining one’s understanding of the conceptual underpinnings of artistic performance improves practicing and rehearsing, reveals how experiencing the emotion of the work enters into preparation and performance, and enables communication between performer and audience. This workshop will explore and demonstrate some of these benefits, showing how better theoretical understanding yields concrete results.