A selection of references

I have thoroughly enjoyed and delighted in the reading and examining of your PhD.  You have made a such a creative task here; making sense of your practice and enabling children to be musically creative as they learn piano. A significant achievement and contribution to Creativities Research and Children’s Piano Pedagogy. 

- Dr. Prof. Pamela Burnard, Cambridge University, UK -

In my opinion the work of Johanna Maria Roels, her books, lectures, doctoral research and future articles will be of great help in giving future generations better education. In her method and approach to teaching one can perceive constructivism and the culture of deep learning, e.g. interdisciplinary learning, authentic learning, problem-based learning, inquiry-based learning and the ideology and philosophy of e.g. Socrates, J. Dewey, L. Vygotsky, E. Eisner, P. Freire among others (after 3 months of observation and study of the method, 2014).

- Laufey Kristinsdóttir, Piano docent, Reykjavik, Iceland -

I have had the opportunity to observe some of Johanna Roels's more senior pupils.  The research and dedicated teaching she has carried out over the last eight years is impressive by all musical and educational standards.  As pianists, her pupils perform with enjoyment, sensitivity, confidence and a feeling for style.  Of particular interest, and very much supporting this work, are the piano improvisation classes in which the pupils, through improvising individually and together in groups of two or three, compose extended pieces of music.  The pupils initiate and develop their own ideas in this process, using memory and receiving guidance only when it is needed.  Johanna is providing her pupils with a unique experience in these classes which, in addition to nurturing each pupil's originality and personal self-esteem, is developing personal musicianship and a depth of musical understanding which could not be achieved in any other way (Antwerp, 2008).

- Michael Stocks, Director Voices Foundation, London, UK -

The results are unexpectedly surprising, the performance as well as the composition. The freshness and directness, with which the children give musical expression to their fantasy  and the way of putting sounds together to express their inner experiences, is remarkable and unique (concert, Opera Ghent, 2003).

- Dr. Martine Huvenne, Docent KASK and Conservatory / School of Arts Gent, Belgium -

The evolution of music education over many decades has been considerable. The methods of Kodaly (Hungary), Martenot (France), Jacques-Dalcroze (Switzerland) and others have produced lots of followers and have greatly improved access to both knowledge and practice, resulting in preference given to comprehension and the theoretical understanding through movement and sensory perception. [ ] Johanna Maria Roels’ remarkable work, based as it is on patient observation and an original pedagogical vision, confirms the necessity to take the “ear” as the starting point for harmonic development. It will surely obtain its well earned   success  and, without doubt, contribute to the better education of  future generations (from the book Children on Wings, 2002).

- Pascal Sigrist, Pianist, Docent, Royal Conservatory of Antwerp, Belgium -

The way she works at compositions with children seems to me authentic. In some cases, drawings play an important role. It stimulates the imagination, helps to make time ‘visible’ and occasionally makes the link between picture and sign (i.e. graphic notation). [ ] It is exciting to see how many different styles are available in such a non-academic way of working: modality, atonality, polytonality, etc. [ ] As far as I am aware, no other book can be found in the Dutch speaking area with such a vision; artistic, with a great attention for the uniqueness of each child and a thorough knowledge of musical techniques and processes (from the book Children on Wings, 2002).

- Daan Manneke, Composer, Docent, Conservatory of Amsterdam, The Netherlands -