Dorothy Fahlman, piano teacher who coached gifted children, dies at 90

Dorothy Fahlman could spot talent in an instant. As soon as a child walked into her Beaverton home, where Dorothy gave piano lessons to gifted youth, she knew by the way they moved whether they had the potential to be a great piano player. “She loved her students to be athletes because that kind of control is what a top-level pianist needs,” said her daughter, Karin Fahlman Chesnutt.

Still, talent wasn’t the only thing that Dorothy looked for in a potential student. A strong work ethic and a willingness to commit were far more important. Dorothy expected her students to practice two to three hours a day. “She could tell if they were talented by how they carried themselves,” said her daughter, “but she would say ‘I’ll take the hard worker over the talented kid any day.’”

During her lifelong career as a piano teacher in Oregon, Dorothy taught over 1200 students, some of whom went on to play professionally. She died on October 3rd, at the age of 90.

Dorothy (née Pederson) grew up in Salem, the eldest of three in a family of Norwegian descent. They lived above a burger joint owned by her parents. When she was eight, she started taking piano lessons; her father played the violin and wanted somebody to accompany him.

When she wasn’t in school or practicing piano, Dorothy waited tables in the family restaurant, earning 35 cents an hour. But she dreamed of bigger things. Though her parents balked at the idea, Dorothy was determined to go to college. At the age of sixteen, she became the first person in her family to do so.

She got a full scholarship to the University of Oregon. Dorothy wanted to study medicine, but again, her parents protested. Partly to appease them, Dorothy chose to study piano performance. “Music was the compromise,” said her daughter.

Dorothy excelled as a piano player. “She understood music to be the conduit for expressing the heart,” said her daughter. “The technique, notes, and rhythms—all of that came to her so easily. But she was able to see beyond that, to see the emotion, the color, the story of whatever she was playing.”

To pay for food and other expenses while in school, Dorothy started giving piano lessons.

In college, she met her future husband, Clyde, at a charity project organized by her sorority. Clyde was surely captivated by Dorothy, who was tall, blonde, and statuesque. Their marriage lasted nearly seven decades. “They were the perfect combination. She had this intensity and fire; he was very gentle,” said her daughter.

The couple eventually moved to Beaverton, to a home in the woods, on top of a hill. Their house had big windows and overlooked a beautiful maple tree. During their early years there, Dorothy kept a Baldwin upright piano in the living room. In time, that humble instrument would be replaced by two Steinway grands.

Dorothy’s home was not just the place where she raised her four children. It was also the warm center of her teaching practice—where generations of piano students, whose ages ranged from five to eighteen, came to learn, both for individual lessons, and once a week, for group sessions (which Dorothy arranged in order to foster community and discourage competitiveness among her students).

At her home, she hosted many recitals. Every December, her students and their families gathered for a holiday recital. Each of her students played a mix of classical pieces and Christmas songs, and it always ended with a boisterous group performance of Sleigh Ride.

Dorothy was selective about who she chose to accept as a student. They had to have natural ability, dedication, and the support of their families. They had to want to be there. Her number one rule was “students must arrive happy.”

Once she picked a student, she was devoted to nurturing their talent. She instructed her students to use their imaginations while playing, to come up with stories that might bring a piece of music to life. “She would rely on metaphor, imagery, feeling, even sound and color. She would invite us to use the full depth of our own creativity,” said Rosa Li, who was Dorothy’s student from the ages of five to seventeen.

Dorothy’s unique methods were effective. Her students often won competitions, both local and international. “She had this masterful ability to gently cajole her students to the highest level of performance,” said Neil DePonte, former musical director of the annual Young Artists Debut! Concerto Competition.

She served as the president of the Oregon Music Teachers Association (in the Portland District and the state of Oregon), a role in which she coached and championed other music teachers. “Sometimes in the music world, it can be competitive between teachers. She fought that. She wanted teachers to work together,” said her daughter.

For two years, she organized an exchange of piano students with Portland’s sister city, Khabarovsk, Russia. She travelled there with 12 year-old Ben Kim (now a renowned piano player) to give him the opportunity to perform with the Far Eastern Symphony orchestra.

Dorothy had projects outside of teaching piano. She created an educational puppet show to teach children about road safety and performed it at local schools. Along with her daughter, she wrote a musical video series called Wee Sing Together. She authored three children’s books.

But it was as a piano teacher that Dorothy had her greatest impact. Many of her students were first-generation Americans and Dorothy often stepped in as a surrogate grandmother for them.

“Even though we talked about music, what she really taught me was how to live my life. Music was only a medium through which she taught the lessons of humility, grace, compassion, protection,” said Rosa Li. “She championed me before I even knew to believe in myself.”

Dorothy is survived by her husband, Clyde, her children, Kathy Dewalt, Karin Chesnutt, David Fahlman, and Eric Falhman, her sister, Karen Cook, her brother, Arnie Pederson, and ten grandchildren.