About the Author

Beverly Grace Joy, author and composer of the Piano ABCs series, maintains an independent studio in Lynchburg, Virginia, where she teaches students of all ages and levels. Her students have known her as Mrs. Henkel, but recently after twenty-five years as a widow she married Gary Meisner. Hence, Mrs. Meisner! Beverly has a BME (piano), an MM (Theory and Composition) from Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, and has done postgraduate work in piano, pedagogy, and composition at the University of Oklahoma where she studied piano with Ed Gates and composition with Michael Hennagin. Over the past several years, twenty-two of her students received CVMTA scholarships; many of her students have received ratings of first place, second place, third place, and honors in local, divisional, state, and national competitions. Two of her young lady students received full scholarships thereby studying piano at UVA and Peabody Conservatory. Beverly was a recipient of the Teachers Enrichment Grant from Music Teachers National Association for three consecutive years to study Well-Coordinated, Injury-Preventive Piano Technique with Professor Barbara Lister-Sink at Salem College in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. She was a national winner in the first composition contest sponsored by the National Conference on Piano Pedagogy in 1991 and has published with Kjos Music and Heritage Music Press (Lorenz), as well as a self-teaching beginner accordion method with Hal Leonard. One of her winning compositions, Etude III, has been recorded by Dr. William Phemister on his album, Twentieth Century American Piano Music.

Professional presentations have been conducted at:

• Virginia Music Teachers Association, State Convention
• Pennsylvania Music Teachers Association, State Convention
• Kentucky Music Teachers Association, State Convention
• Central Virginia Music Teachers Association
• Lynchburg Music Teachers Association
• Harrisonburg Music Teachers Association
• Norman (Oklahoma) Music Teachers Association
• Ad hoc teacher classes in Kentucky, Indiana, Iowa


• 2016 Tour: Lexington, Kentucky; Louisville, Kentucky; Carmel (north of Indianapolis) Indiana; Carol Stream, Illionis; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Madison, Wisconsin; Rockford, Illinois; Peoria, Illinois; St. Louis, Missouri; Nashville, Tennessee

Undergraduate and graduate collegiate pedagogy class presentations at:

• Olivet Nazarene University
• Liberty University
• University of Illinois
• Salem College

WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING ABOUT PIANO ABC's

Professional pedagogues . . .

" It would be a pleasure to have the pedagogy students take a look at these to use in their own teaching. I know what hard work and careful thought you have put into creating these excellent materials. I think they are a valuable asset for teaching beginning piano students--an asset that should not be overlooked! . . . every piano teacher should try out (Piano ABC's) in teaching beginning level piano students. "

Dr. Pat Brady
Piano and Composition, James Madison University

" This looks like so much fun, I wish I could start piano lessons all over. "

Dr. Ed Gates
Piano, University of Oklahoma

" Beverly has written an original and beautifully sequenced method that is innovative and student friendly. The student is eased into the sophisticated language of musical notation through already well understood . . . concepts . . . "

Dr. James Lyke
Professor Emeritus, School of Music, University of Illinois

" Piano ABC's is a truly innovative, wonderfully illustrated instructional method. The appealing compositions and lucid concepts are well-sequenced and beautifully intertwined. Beverly Joy has given piano teachers a great gift. "

Barbara Lister-Sink
Producer, Freeing the Caged Bird DVD

" Writing a sequenced piano method takes incredible talent and devotion. Piano ABC's is an original and innovative method that provides solid, essential concepts that are the fundamental building blocks that will enable students to make piano and music making an integral part of their lives forever. Beverly Joy has offered teachers a wonderful pedagogical approach that students will enjoy and teachers will regard as a valuable addition to their pedagogical arsenal. "

Gail Berenson
Professor of Piano, Ohio University, Athens

Teachers . . .

Near Ames, Iowa ..." Beverly, what can I say? I love teaching your new method! "

Amherst, Virginia ..." The parents called and wanted to know if I would be using 'that new method (Piano ABC's) that your other students are using' before they signed up their child for lessons. "

Richmond, Virginia ..." Piano ABC's is making me a better teacher. "

Winston-Salem, North Carolina ..." The parents were so pleased and impressed by her third lesson that they video-taped her playing 'On a Sunday Afternoon Stroll' and e-mailed it to all their relatives. "

Students . . .

An adult student ..." When I took lessons for a few months as a child, you learned where to put your fingers and then soon you stopped reading the notes, you just knew which finger to push. Now, I am really learning to read notes. "

From a Salem College student ..." I took some piano lessons when I was a child, but I never realized that reading notes was so easy, this is so logical. "

An eight-year-old boy (upon seeing the first page of Level Two, with sparkling eyes and the joy of discovery) . . ." Oh, is this how it works?! " Then with no prompting from the teacher, he played all the old familiar notes and all the new notes with an ever-increasing smile and everbrightening eyes all the way.

A curly-haired blonde six-year-old while reading notes on her new piece looked up with a sneaky grin, " Are we going to learn E next? " She had it figured out!