About

Cameron Dibble (D.M.A., M.M., UMKC Conservatory; B.M., Oberlin Conservatory) has taught piano for over 35 years, first as a high school student under Irene Howard Flanagan, with whom he began his early studies at age four.   He continued study with her through high school in his native Topeka, Kansas.  Dibble first taught in the UMKC Conservatory as a graduate teaching assistant, and has continued as a skillful teacher of successful students.  He immensely enjoys working with serious students of all ages, who wish to learn the art of music and playing the piano, including the important skill of reading music notation.  He also incorporates solid technical instruction, developing confidence and artistry, keyboard harmony, rudiments of music theory, ear training, and improvisation.

“I try to teach each student from his/her individual standpoint, and always with the highest expectations and standards.  This demands a lot of an individual.  I try to show students the importance of demanding that high level of excellence of themselves.  They will develop their own individual expression, and, hopefully discover their own interpretation of the composer in question, from a strong conviction of what he or she believes is the composer’s original intent and meaning.  With this perceptive scrutiny they also become more discerning listeners as audience members.”

Several of his students have continued in the music field, including:  Nathan Ward, junior, Vocal Performance major, University of Missouri-Columbia; Betsy Bledsoe, M.M. Vocal performance, Michigan State University, University of Missouri, B.M. Vocal Performance; Julius Abrahams, D.M.A., Collaborative Performance, Juilliard, (2012), M.M. Piano Performance, Indiana University, B.M., Piano Performance, University of Michigan; Noah Matthew Siegel, B.M., Piano Performance, Conservatory of Music and Dance, UMKC (2012); George Dulin, study at Berklee College of Music, Boston, Massachusetts.

Dr. Dibble received the 2010 Teacher of the Year Award from the Missouri Music Teachers Association in June 2010.  Of those students of his who wish to compete, all regularly excel in competitions.  This past October (2011) all five of five students (100%) received the top rating in the KCMTA Fall Festival.  Also, all three of three students (100%) received the top rating of “1” at district and state level MMTA Honors Auditions.  In addition, one student of these also received Honorable Mention.   One of his outstanding high school students played on the Richard Cass Memorial Steinway piano dedication concert program, May 1, 2011 at UMKC in White Recital Hall, and also in a piano recital for the Auxiliary of the National Guild of Piano Technicians Convention last July 2011, here in Kansas City.  His students regularly audition for, and receive, internal scholarships, in varying amounts, within the Academy.  These scholarships cover all or a portion of their piano lesson tuition.

Dibble has enjoyed playing in musical theatre productions, both in high school and professionally with the American Heartland Theatre (1995), the Coterie Theatre (1995), and Theatre for Young America (1999), as music director.  From 1987-1994, he was on the Kansas City Young Audiences roster as a member of the “American Music Ensemble”, and later the “Heritage Music Ensemble.”

Dibble studied at the Oberlin Conservatory with John Perry and his senior year with Sanford Margolis (Perry relocated to University of Texas, Austin).  At the UMKC Conservatory he studied under Joanne Baker.  He studied his high school senior year with James Rivers and a semester and summer with Dady Mehta (Perry sabbatical), and undertook summer study and additional coaching, with Jack Radunsky.  He had several lessons with Frank Mannheimer over a two-year period.  His study abroad included vocal coaching in Graz, Austria, with Mario Salerno and Jan Meyerowitz, under the auspices of the American Institute of Musical Studies in 1983.  He has accompanied singers and instrumentalists throughout his musical career.  As a student, he played in master classes for Mme Chou Guang-Ren, Julio Esteban, Leon Fleisher, Malcolm Frager, Gilbert Kalish, John Perry (before degree study), William Race, Charles Rosen, and Gyorgy Sebok.

Dr. Dibble has served the Missouri Music Teachers Association as President, and in other capacities, as well as serving the Kansas City Music Teachers Association as vice-president for three different important yearly events over the years.  He is a member of the Music Teachers National Association (MTNA).

The topic of his doctoral dissertation was John Thompson, the author of the famous piano teaching method books.  The dissertation title is:  John Sylvanus Thompson:  Pedagogue, Pianist, Composer (copyright 1992).

Dibble has performed as both piano soloist and accompanist on Johnson County Community College’s Ruel Joyce Recital Series, appeared as piano soloist in recital on the Topeka Library Series, performed concerti with the Topeka Symphony and Kansas City Symphony, performed as piano recital soloist for a Kansas City Musical Club Scholarship benefit, and in other venues as well.  For two different academic years (1998-1999, 2001-2002) he taught piano pedagogy at UMKC as Adjunct Professor of Piano Pedagogy.

Regarding internal Academy duties, Dibble has served several times as faculty chair, several times as coordinator of Spring Festival, and continues as an ex officio member of the Academy Advocates support group, which he helped establish.