A younger Mary Lou Muller completed a Fulbright award that consisted of nearly three years of study in Paris, France. She had also performed in Europe and New York City before posing for this publicity photo back in her hometown of Houston, Texas.A Special Technique for the Serious Piano Performer
Muller continues to teach the Leschitizky technique she learned from Ciampi in Europe, but reserves it only for her older, most serious bunch of scholars. "It's too difficult for a beginner, or for someone whose career focus isn't the piano". For an aspiring stage performer, the extensive finger exercises and detail study help a talented student produce a good sound on a stage.
It is said that "...Leschetizky combined the classical training of Czerny and the cantabile style of Chopin with the brilliance of Liszt. These are also the qualities which are predominant in the playing of Leschetizky's pupils." Read more about this approach at:
Leschetizky Method
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(269) 345-0345
Six Decades With the Ivories
Adapted from the article by Kelle L. Larkin
Encore Magazine, November 2001
WHILE MOST kindergartners were reciting ABCs, napping on rugs and memorizing nursery rhymes, Mary Lou Muller was learning the craft that has fueled her inner artistic fire ever since. She's been an avid pianist since she was 5 years old.
Musicality was running through her veins — a talent that was carefully nurtured and a passion that mutated on its own. Both parents had a deep appreciation for music, especially the piano, but neither were musicians, her father being an Exxon clerical worker and her mother a registered nurse. Their only child basked in their love of the ivory keys and developed her own strong interest in it — an interest that eventually led to a career that has taken her to many corners of the world.
Since childhood, her life has mirrored a fairy tale. By the time she was 8, Mary Lou played at an advanced level for her age and was studying at Houston's Southern College of Fine Arts. At age 10, when it was evident that little Mary Lou Muller was a musical prodigy, she was subsequently presented in her debut piano recital concert playing a Mozart piano concerto. Two years later she played a solo piano recital at Carter Recital Hall in Houston.
Muller's musical mentors have been distinguished, peppering her life with one grand occurrence after another since she was a young girl. As a teen, she spent three years studying under Elizabeth Morosow, renowned concert pianist and teacher from the Conservatory of Prague, Czechoslovakia. In her 20s she studied with the distinguished pianist Marcel Ciampi and attended the Master Piano Classes of Alfred Cortot. It was Ciampi who taught her the technique that still permeates her work today — she described the Leschetizky style of technique as first used during the late 1800s.
"It looks very much the same, but it involves more detail than just playing modernized piano—the differences lie mainly in fingering and phrasing. Many famous pianists studied with Leschetizky; they each had distinct styles, but he drew different ways of playing technical passages from all of his students and developed his own method from them," explains Muller.
True to the Leschetizky technique, Ciampi, a well renowned pianist and a Paris Conservatory Professor of Music, suggested that his pupils do a series of extensive finger exercises before beginning their repertoire study. " He had much to offer— he really knew how to get a talented student to produce a good sound on the stage," she reflected of Ciampi.
Muller completed her undergraduate work at North Texas University, obtaining her Bachelor of Music Degree in three years. She accomplished this feat not only to graduate early, but even at an age when many young adults are still wrestling with the development of their life goals, Mary Lou was already sharply focused; she accelerated her studies not simply to graduate early, but so she could center herself completely on music. "By taking summer classes — I was able to finish general study courses so they didn't interfere too much with my practice time during the regular academic year."
During this time, Dr. Silvio Scionti (an Italian music professor at NTU) and his wife Isabel became influential. Dr.
Scionti and Isabel Scionti were famous duo pianists, and "they played as a duo team all over Europe, Mexico and other places — they were very well known and fine musicians. It was wonderful to be able to study under both of them." she said.
Muller won the highly-honored Fulbright Scholarship at 20, and used it to study at the Conservatoire National de Musique in Paris, France. "I love Paris — there's nowhere else like it". She was so enamored with the city that she spent nearly three years there — renewing her scholarship once and then tacking on some extra time afterward. During the summer before her sojourn in Paris Ms.Muller and Dr.Scionti embarked on a marvelous road trip that spanned all of Italy and Sicily.
"We drove all over Italy and Sicily; Naples, Rome, Milan and visited Venice and lots of other cities—hitting cathedrals, Greek theaters, opera theaters and recital halls, not to mention the many wonderful summer concerts" Muller said.
"I believe that exposure to any kind of art really enhances your knowledge base — I've never seen so much art in my life as I did in Italy that year. The one that struck me nearly blind was the Sistine Chapel. We saw da Vinci's Last Supper and a lot of other famous pieces" Muller said. "Dr. Scionti wanted to take the Andrea Doria across the Mediterranean, so he arranged for first-class accommodations from New York City to Naples and an onboard recital," she commented on the week-long journey. "He was a wonderful person and a great musician" Muller reflected of her late friend.
Later in life, she returned to higher education in pursuit of a master's degree in piano performance. She received it at the University of Southern California. Today, Muller has the equivalent of doctoral degrees in both piano and opera conducting performance and has been an experienced opera coach and piano accompanist for many years.
Other awards she has received include high honors from the National Guild of Piano Teachers Annual Competitions. Scionti entered her in the Busoni International Piano competition in 1954, in which Ms. Muller was a finalist. Simultaneously she received the Certificate of Merit Award from the Bolzano Conservatory.
Muller's recital appearances in Europe encompass performances in Paris including the Paris Coservatory and the American Embassy in Paris; as well as concerts in Acireale, Sicily; Geneva, Switzerland; and Florence and Bolzano, Italy.
By the end of the 1950s, young Mary Lou Muller had decided to return to American soil, where she has been performing ever since — she has performed twice with the Houston Symphony Orchestra, one of which was a performance of the Beethoven "Emperor" Concerto.
She played a New York Town Hall piano debut recital at age 25. Once back in the States, Muller put down her teaching roots in Huntsville, Texas at the music department of Sam Houston University. There, she taught piano, coached opera, and conducted the orchestra — a dabbling that sparked a lifelong love of conducting for Muller. She has conducted symphony orchestras both in her home state of Texas, and in Santa Barbara, Calif. "I love it, but it's a bit difficult for women to obtain positions in conducting," Muller said.
In addition to the piano, Muller has also had instruction in the violin, cello, and harpsichord. And, because of her operatic training she is knowledgeable in foreign languages.
Muller moved to Michigan in the late 1990s — she has colleagues and friends in the region. "I really enjoy living in this state. It's very beautiful and has some fine musical opportunities for its talent."
Today, Mary Lou Muller's life revolves around the private piano lessons she gives to between 10 and 20 pupils at her studio in Kalamazoo.
"Musical instruction gives the youth goals to reach for that school alone can't provide — it enriches their lives. They need to be at least old enough to read, so they can understand instructions" Muller said. She enjoys educating adults, too. "It's definitely a challenge," Muller said with a chuckle, adding, "It's never too late to begin — musical instruction is great training for the mind at any age. She reflected on the roster of students she's had over the years, saying, "I've had some really fine students of various ages including college students." Muller continues to teach the technique she learned from Ciampi in Europe, but reserves it only for her older, most serious bunch of scholars. "It's too difficult for a beginner, or for someone whose career focus isn't the piano, and I do teach a lot of secondary students."
"I like private piano teaching," she said, "because it's a challenge. There's so much good in music — in performing it and teaching it." Muller hasn't given up public performing, and she'd love to perform on a more frequent scale. Her last recital included the Mussorgsky, "Pictures at an Exhibition".
Muller hasn't given up public performing altogether, though. Her most recent recital took place in North Dakota a couple of years ago, and she said she'd love to perform on a more frequent scale.
Muller belongs to the local chapter of the National Music Teacher's Association, and she has played for area churches whenever time allowed.
Muller stays in shape for the piano with brisk walking, which has all but replaced fencing as the athletic outlet in her life.
Although her six-decade career has already taken her to areas some people only dream about, she still hasn't ventured to Hawaii. "That's one place I'd really love to see," Muller reflected. She also has her sights set on returning to the most romantic city on Earth, saying with a longing sigh, "There is absolutely no place like Paris, France."
