Leslie Purcell Upchurch is a pianist and music educator with more than 30 years teaching experience. She has taught in all sectors from independent schools to public schools, community music schools to liberal arts colleges, music programs in universities, and has also maintained a private piano studio. She has a Masters of Music in Piano Performance from The University of Wisconsin – Madison and a Full Certificate or License in Dalcroze Eurhythmics from Carnegie-Mellon University.
Ms. Upchurch's biography was chosen for the 2006 Diamond Edition of Marquis Who'sWho in America. She has also been included in the 2007 through 2010 editions of Who'sWho in America, the 2007 edition of Who'sWho in America Education, the 2008-2009 edition of Who'sWho in American Women, and in the 2010 edition of Who'sWho in the World.
Ms. Upchurch has taught every age of student, from 15-month-old students attending class with their parent or caregiver to senior citizens and every age in between. She has been a private and group piano teacher, a classroom teacher in elementary schools, a Dalcroze Eurhythmics teacher for high school students studying in the Pre College Music program at Carnegie-Mellon University and at the Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts, and a music teacher in community music schools and liberal arts colleges. She is currently working with MIDI program composition using computers and has had student work recognized through The Vermont MIDI Project Opus concert series. Eight of her students have had pieces performed live by professional musicians.
Ms. Upchurch is an experienced teacher trainer as well. She currently teaches at Carnegie-Mellon University for the Dalcroze Studies program. Her classes in Piano Improvisation are inspirational for the teachers who come from all over the world to attend the program. She also teaches pedagogy and does demonstration classes for the Dalcroze teachers in training. Her students in the demonstration classes come from both Carnegie-Mellon University’s Pre-College and Preparatory School programs. She has led Dalcroze Eurhythmics training for teachers in Westchester County through an Outreach program that The Westchester Conservatory (now The Conservatory at Westchester) funded. She worked with both Kindergarten and Music Teachers, leading workshops and providing follow up classes where she visited the classrooms of the teachers at least 4 times. She was able to model Dalcroze teaching methods in this program. Ms Upchurch has taught methods classes for early childhood educators through The Community College of Vermont (CCV) where the students were all teachers or teachers in training for early childhood education.
She has had much success with choral students being selected for both honors choruses and children’s opera choruses. Her students have been featured in the opera choruses for "Hansel and Gretel" and "Help! Help! The Globolinks". A Boy Soprano from her choral program was selected to play Amahl in "Amahl and The Night Visitors". She also had a Boy Soprano from her choral program selected to sing Leonard Bernstein’s "Chichester Psalms".
