Deborah Cleaver

  • Master LevelPiano

Contact Info:

  • Portland, OR, USA

Deborah Ingram Cleaver holds a Master of Music degree in piano performance from Boston University where she studied with the renowned pianist and pedagogue Leonard Shure. After finishing her degree, she worked closely with Shure as his teaching assistant at New England Conservatory. She inherited his passionately held view that the coupling of performance and pedagogy was essential for both endeavors, and this has informed her professional direction and philosophy through the years.

Ms. Cleaver has also spent many years studying the performance practice of the Baroque and Classic periods with such luminaries as Sandra Rosenblum, Edward Parmentier, and Elisabeth Wright. Her broad interests have resulted in lectures for universities and music teachers’ organizations, ranging from the expressive aspects of Baroque performance practice to the correlation between Romantic literature and music. As a passionate promoter of contemporary music, she  created and chaired a contemporary music festival for Portland students during her tenure as president of the Portland District OMTA.

She has given lectures and recitals at Portland State University, Eastern Washington University, University of Portland, University of New Mexico, University of Oregon, and for the Oregon and Washington music teachers’ associations. She presented workshops and lectures during a two week residency in Alaska for the Alaska Music Teachers Association. She is a frequent adjudicator throughout the Northwest, and has presented a series of workshops available to music teachers’ associations on the Taubman approach in many cities in the Northwest.

Ms. Cleaver is an adjunct faculty member of Lewis and Clark College, as well as having taught at Reed College (1995-2018).  In addition, she maintains a private studio where she currently teaches online lessons for students in WA, OR, and Canada. Former teaching position include Willamette University, St. Andrews College, and the South Shore Conservatory in Boston.

Ms. Cleaver began studying the Taubman approach in 1997. Her teachers have included Edna Golandsky, John Bloomfield, and Robert Durso. She has been a faculty member of the Golandsky Institute since 2005, and is certified at the Master Level, the institute’s highest level of certification. She organizes seminars for the Portland/Golandsky Institute community with John Bloomfield.

An avid performer, she has appeared with the Makrokosmos Project, the Fear No Music Ensemble, the DeRosa Chamber Players, Cascadia Composers, and Friends of Rain. Her  performances have been aired on the classical music programs PLAYED IN OREGON and All Classical.