Our shared experience began as undergraduate music students at the University of Northern Colorado. These were important years for us as developing musicians. Our shared applied piano professor, Dr. Rob Hallquist, was an important influence on both of us. Along with his own unique approach, he taught us using the ideas and techniques developed by the visionary Abby Whiteside as he learned them from Sofia Rossoff. Through him, we also spent years involved in Feldenkrais: Awareness Through Movement and Functional integration. Simultaneously, we both studied collaborative piano under Professor Vergie Amendola, who taught in the most practical and direct no-nonsense way, and introduced us to the Taubman Technique and the Alexander Technique. These shared experiences provide a foundation for how we teach to this day.
In addition to our solo piano studies, our shared performance experience as undergrads included accompanying for nearly every instrument and voice, performing in small and large ensembles, and singing in the Men’s and Women’s Glee choirs under the director Galen Darrough.
During Mrs. Fall’s last year at UNC, Mr. Gould began teaching piano at Aims Community College in Greeley, we continued working as paid accompanists, and we began performing as founding members of the Colorado Contemporary Music Consort.
A year following Mrs. Fall’s graduation, we both attended the University of New Mexico as graduate students on scholarship. There, our musical education was expanded in all directions, with special emphasis on theory and composition. At UNM we were strongly influenced by professor of violin, Bernard Zinc, and professor of piano, Falko Steinbach, and we enjoyed working alongside a very cosmopolitan student body with colleagues from the U.S.A., Europe, South and Central America, India, and Asia.
After completing our Master’s degree in 2000, we returned to Colorado. We married in September of that year, rented a house together, and purchased our first piano, which at the time, was the only piece of furniture we owned. We began teaching private piano lessons for the first time in 2000, and became the partnership “Gould and Fall Piano” in 2002. We have been teaching piano together ever since!
Since 2000, Mrs. Fall has taught in a public, private, and charter schools for a total of 8 years. Mr. Gould apprenticed as a piano technician and worked as a full-time piano technician at UNC, first as staff, and then as a contractor for several years. He continuers to tune for private clients, several churches, and has maintained the 2 Steinway D’s at the civic center for the past 7 years. Upon returning to Colorado, we resumed performing as part of CCMC from 2000-2003. We have also performed occasionally as a duo, soloists, and accompanists locally. All while maintaining a vibrant and active piano studio!
We currently live with our son Theo, our dogs Phoebe and Pearl, and our cat, Eliza, in Greeley Colorado, and we are on a quest to see all of the National Parks in the United States.
