Desireé González-Miller
Director of Piano Outreach
Associate Instructor, Piano
DMA University of Utah
MM Piano Performance, Brigham Young University
BM Piano Performance, Brigham Young University
Biography
Born in Mexico, Dr. Desireé González-Miller, NCTM, enjoys a musical career that has
brought her to different concert venues and musical institutions across Mexico, the
United States, and Europe. She held the position of Visiting Assistant Professor of
Piano at Brigham Young University (BYU) during the 2019-2020 academic year. During
this time she served as the pianist for the Sundance Trio, performing in chamber recitals
across New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Nevada, and Utah.
Desireé is an award-winning pianist and teacher. She has won top prizes in the Parnassós
National Piano Competition, the American Protegé International Piano Competition (including
a performance in Carnegie Hall), and the Young Virtuosos UANL and Summer Arts Piano
Competitions. She received the Reid Nibley Scholar award twice while studying at BYU.
Most recently, she was given the 2015 Janet Mann Teaching Excellence Award at the
University of Utah, and the 2014 Student Teacher of the Year Award by the Utah Music
Teachers’ Association.
She has performed in master classes with internationally renowned concert pianists
and pedagogues such as Ignat Solzhenitsyn, Mirian Conti, Dmitry Rachmanov, Nancy Weems,
Arthur Greene, Logan Skelton, Nelita True, Arkady Aronov, Yaron Kohlberg, Leonel Morales,
Anna Bogolyubova, Alexander Pashkov, and Jorge Federico Osorio, among others.
Her academic research and pedagogical interests have led to a publication in the American
Music Teacher magazine, and numerous presentations at local, state, national, and
international piano conferences. She has presented at the International Society for
Music Education World Conference in Glasgow, Scotland, the Frances Clark Center for
Keyboard Pedagogy National Conference in Chicago, IL, the Music Teachers National
Association National Conferences, and at the National Symposium of Piano Pedagogy
at the University of Michigan, Cincinnati College- Conservatory, Southern Methodist
University, the University of South Carolina, and the University of Texas at Austin.
Desireé's artistic and educational activities have been further supported by grants
and scholarships by the University of Utah College of Fine Arts, Brigham Young University,
Utah Music Teachers Association, the Autonomous University of Nuevo León, and the
Arts Council of Monterrey, México. The Office of Research and Creative Activities
at BYU sponsored her to research the piano repertoire of the Mexican composer Manuel
M. Ponce.
Desireé holds Bachelor and Master degrees in Piano Performance from Brigham Young
University where she studied with Dr. Jeffrey Shumway and Dr. Scott Holden. Dr. González-Miller
graduated from the University of Utah with a Doctorate of Musical Arts in Piano Performance
and a related field in Musicology under the tutelage of Dr. Vedrana Subotic. Prior
to Desireé's collegiate education in the US, she studied with Alicia Monfort, and
Natalia Tibets.
Teaching Philosophy
“As a piano teacher, I would like to educate students to become independent and well-rounded.
I hope my students will be able to appreciate and treasure musical experiences through
their understanding of musical aesthetics and the development of an enhanced sense
of listening.
My teaching approach is centered on the student’s learning modality, tendencies, and
personalities. This way, I can work with their strengths and develop their weaknesses
into powerful skills. I hope to provide my students with different methods of practicing
to learn new pieces, and to solve technical problems. It is also crucial for me to
expose the student to music theory, ear-training, ensemble playing, and music history
in order to expand their overall musical proficiency.
Developing a healthy technique goes hand in hand with developing artistic and expressive
performance skills. One cannot have freedom to express the composers’ intentions and
even our own feelings until a solid technical foundation has been acquired. Fundamental
technique exercises such as scales, arpeggios, chords, and cadences will be the perfect
medium to teach students about proper body alignment, correct positioning of hands
and arms in relation to the piano, awareness of muscle tension and how to release
this tension during practicing and performance. In addition to that, technical exercises
and etudes are excellent to teach students about other artistic elements of music
such as dynamics, articulation, shaping, voicing, phrasing, and tone quality. As the
student’s healthy technique and artistry evolve, he or she will be able to perceive
all these elements when they approach a difficult repertoire piece. Students will
be introduced to technique from their very first lesson and will be required to start
their daily practice sessions with 15 minutes of different technical exercises and
etudes according to their age and level.
I consider the use of technology to be of crucial importance in the student’s development.
When teaching, the words of John Dewey, an American philosopher, psychologist, and
educational reformer, resonate in my mind: “If we teach today as we taught yesterday,
we rob our children of tomorrow.” As a teacher, I constantly attend some of the best
piano pedagogy conferences around the country and the world to be up to date on the
latest pedagogical trends and research. Technology can also be of great use for students
of all ages when implemented along the flipped classroom concept. This instructional
strategy reverses the traditional teaching setting and has students gain their first
exposure to new material outside of class. This material is usually given through
lecture, demonstration, and tutorial on-line videos. Class time is then used to help
the student assimilate and reinforce that knowledge through discussion and the execution
of such learned concepts, to provide further explanation, or to present possible solutions
or answers to the student’s questions. I enjoy implementing technology in the form
of software, applications, and audio and video recordings in my teaching. Technology
has not only been of great aid to engage my students in active learning, but has also
shown to be an excellent tool to accelerate and improve their learning curve.
My main goal as a teacher is to make the journey of learning and studying piano fun
and fulfilling. All the excitement and sense of fulfillment comes from accomplishing
long-term goals through hard, diligent work. The progress made by the student will
be directly related to how much time and effort he or she dedicates outside of the
lesson. Practicing is an essential process in which the student will discover many
things about music, and even about themselves.
I hope my piano lessons will give my students new perspectives. Together we can learn
valuable life skills such as discipline, dedication, commitment, determination, patience,
and confidence.”
Courses Taught
- Piano - Private Lessons
- Beginning Piano Classes