Is There a Piano in the House?
By Rebecca Shockley (²Ñ³Ü²õ’80)
(CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 164 pages; 2018)
For years Dorothy Stolzenbach Payne taught students of all ages and levels, including adults, in her Cincinnati studio, often incorporating group and class instruction. A superb pianist, she performed regularly in solo and chamber music and as symphony pianist. She founded the Keyboard Club in 1935, and she and her husband, violinist Karl Payne, raised three children, who all became musicians. She enjoyed friendships with many famous musicians, including Percy Grainger and Vronsky and Babin.
Rebecca Shockley, professor emerita of piano pedagogy at the University of Minnesota School of Music, published a revised and expanded edition of her mother's memoirs titled, Is There a Piano in the House? Her mother was a well-known pianist and teacher in Cincinnati for many years and was a pianist with the Cincinnati Symphony for 20 years.
Originally published in 1985 by the Keyboard Cub (which she founded in 1935), the book includes new stories and photos to provide a more complete portrait of her mother and her lasting legacy.