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Professor Tammie Walker is pictured outside the entrance of Baekseok Arts University in Korea before her piano masterclass.
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Professor Tammie Walker is pictured with the masterclass participants at the Han-Young Music Conservatory. Pictured, in the orange jacket, is Professor Min Jung Kim, of Han-Young, teacher of several former and current WIU piano students, and author of two articles on Walker published in Korean music journals in 2006 and 2007.
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WIU alumna Minyoung Yoon, who received her master's degree in music-piano performance in 2009, is pictured with Walker, center, and Professor of Piano Dai Uk Lee, of Hanyang University. The photograph was taken in the Hanyang University Concert Hall after Walker’s solo recital.
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WIU Professor Continues Musical Relationship with Korea

December 5, 2014

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MACOMB, IL – Western Illinois University Professor Tammie Walker recently returned from a Fall 2014 sabbatical trip to Seoul, Korea that helped foster a musical relationship with the country and attract new students to WIU.

Walker, a professor of piano in WIU's School of Music, has nurtured relationships with numerous Korean piano teachers over the past 15 years.

"I had standing invitations to be a guest recitalist and teacher at a few universities who have sent students to study piano with me, and I finally had the opportunity to accept the invitations and plan a tour," said Walker. "I was able to solidify relationships with several teachers whom I had only known through email, written correspondence and their students, and I was able to reconnect with a few WIU music alums living in Seoul."

Walker said the purpose of the trip was recruitment and networking to strengthen relationships with teachers and students. She visited five universities during her trip to Seoul.

"I was already able to recruit two new graduate piano students for the Fall 2015 semester," she said. "The students these Korean piano teachers have sent to WIU are top-tier musicians and have been musical leaders in our department. They have won several local, regional and national competitions while students, and have proven themselves professionally after graduation."

Five Korean students with master of music degrees in piano performance from WIU are currently pursing doctoral degrees on competitive full assistantships at the University of North Texas, Texas Tech, Michigan State, the University of Missouri-Kansas City and the University of Iowa. Another WIU alum recently completed her doctorate in piano performance from the University of Illinois.

Walker has been a member of the WIU piano faculty since 1998, serving as coordinator of the keyboard area, and has given more than 300 performances since then. She is also an active clinician, having given more than 75 lecture-recitals, master classes and workshops since coming to WIU, including presentations and regional and national conferences.

Walker is coordinator of the Music Teachers National Association (MTNA) Young Artist and Chamber Music Competitions for the east central division and has published articles in piano journals in the United States and Korea.

For more information about the WIU piano program, visit wiu.edu/piano.


Posted By: Jodi Pospeschil (JK-Pospeschil@wiu.edu)
Office of University Communications & Marketing