In Memoriam Mavorette Fummerfelt

Mavorette Fummerfelt, 96, NCTM, piano teacher for over 70 years and a member of MTNA for over 50 years, died December 19, 2009.  Mavorette taught piano in Vincennes, Indiana, raised four children, was an accompanist, played piano for church and other organizations, and ran a funeral home with her husband Ross from 1944-1975.
Honored in March of 2002 at the Music Teachers National Association Conference in Cincinnati, the following is from an article in the American Music Teacher, December 2002, beginning with with Mavorette commenting “I will be 90, but I’m very, very young with lots of spirit.”
After attending Indiana State Teacher’s College, where she studied musical education, Mavorette earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Evansville. She also studied piano pedagogy at The New School for Music Study in Princeton, New Jersey, and she follows the “Music Tree” approach of Louise Goss and the late Frances Clark.
“They’ve revised their books several times, but I started hearing of Frances Clark way back in 1957,” she says. “I’ve used other approaches, but I favor the interval approach, learning to play all over the keyboard from the very first lesson, rather than the middle-C approach. I also like to teach their way of combining private and group lessons.”
As an active member of the Indiana Music Teachers Association, Flummerfelt served on the certification committee and as corresponding secretary. She also is a member of the Wabash Valley MTA in Terre Haute, and was named Co-Member of the Year in 1999. Of her many students, the two she is proud of are her daughter, Carol, who plays the flute and her son, Joseph Flummerfelt, director of choral groups that sing with the New York Philharmonic at Lincoln Center in New York City and past conductor of the Westminster Choir at Ryder University in New Jersey.


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