Faculty Profile

Gosia Bagley
NMS Piano Faculty
Suzuki and Traditional Piano

I love teaching students of all levels and ages, and I especially enjoy working with children and their families. In each lesson I try to bring to life the joy of playing the piano, encourage self-expression through beautiful, exciting pieces of music, and foster a life-long, loving relationship with music. I strive to g ive students a solid technical background and instill a sense of musicality. I emphasize both ear training and note-reading approaches, combining elements of traditional and Suzuki pedagogy. Because each student develops at a different pace, I structure my teaching around individual needs and levels of ability, always encouraging growth in a respectful and nurturing atmosphere. 

My students have participated in the Blue Lake Music Camp, the Chicago Suzuki Institute, and The Chinese Fine Arts Society’s Confucius Music Competition. I am experienced in teaching the repertoire from all Suzuki books and a wide range of standard classical piano repertoire, including music by J. S. Bach (Little Preludes, Two- and Three- Part Inventions, WTC) Classical Sonatas and Sonatinas (Mozart, Beethoven, Clementi, Kuhlau, Spindler), a variety of Etudes(Streabogg, Czerny, Heller, Duvernoy, Berens, Moszkovsky), Romantic pieces (Tchaikovsky, Schumann, Chopin), and 20th century works (Debussy, Kabalevsky, Khachaturian, Bartok, Tcherepnin, Tansman). I also emphasize technical exercises, such as scales and arpeggios, sight-reading, and the importance of daily listening to music. 

I have earned my BM and MM degrees (magna cum laude) in Piano Performance from DePaul University School of Music in Chicago, where I studied with Mary Sauer (the principal keyboardist of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra). My other piano teachers included Joanna Switlik, Henryk Wawrzyczek  (during high school), Dmitri Paperno, and Eteri Andjaparidze (college master classes). I completed Suzuki teacher training courses with Doris Koppelman and Fay Adams at the Chicago Suzuki Institute and piano pedagogy studies with Suzanne Baker at DePaul University. I was the second place winner of the MacDowell Artist Association’s scholarship auditions in Forest Park (1995). I taught piano to foster children in the DCFS Pathways to Development program (1999-2001) and have been on the piano faculty of the Suzuki-Orff School for Young Musicians since 1999. I also enjoy writing and have won first and second prizes in the short story category of the Polish Arts Club Literary Competition (1994 and 1995). I am the editor of Piano Explorer, a monthly magazine for piano students based in Northfield, Illinois. I love spending time with my family – husband Jay and two small children. 

If you would like to contact Ms. Bagley, please email her at gosiabagley@newmusicschool.com.