Melissa is a biracial Asian-American woman posing with one hand on her hip in front of a white brick wall covered in vines. She is smiling softly. She has clear framed glasses, straight brown with green dye on the ends.

Biography

Born in New Jersey to a mother and Italian father, Dr. Melissa Coppola is the first professional musician of her family. Classically trained in piano from the age of 5, she won her first competition at 10 years old with Chopin’s Minute Waltz and made her Carnegie Hall debut just two years later. From then on, music has been her priority.

Melissa received her Bachelor’s degree at Manhattan School of Music, studying piano performance with Jeffrey Cohen. Shortly thereafter, she began her Master’s degree in piano performance at the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance (SMTD), studying under Logan Skelton. Her education has been a circuitous, non-traditional path; midway through her degree, she took an extended leave of absence to pursue physical therapy for recurring tendonitis and slowly work to refine her technique with the goal of injury prevention. That time was a rich discovery period for Melissa, unearthing a deep love for teaching piano, an interest in arts administrative leadership and grassroots organizing, and collaborative music making. After serving as a staff pianist for the SMTD Winds & Percussion Department for two years, Melissa re-auditioned and completed her Master’s Degree in performance, and was accepted to the DMA in Piano Pedagogy program shortly thereafter.

Working and interacting with multiple populations in teaching and performance piqued Melissa’s interest in audience perception at classical music concerts, particularly solo piano presentations. This sparked the idea for the [ perspective ] concert, which re-envisions the traditional piano recital as an immersive, multi-sensory experience. Interdisciplinary performance continues to be Melissa’s primary research interest, in addition to new music and contemporary repertoire.

Her dissertation, Young People's Perspective: Exploring Experiential Benefits of Interdisciplinary Concerts for Teen Performers, focuses on researching innovative ways of conducting group piano classes by fostering cross-modal understanding of music and involving students directly in the concert planning process with the intent of promoting self-efficacy. Her research was sponsored by a Rackham Predoctoral Fellowship, one of the most prestigious awards granted by Rackham Graduate School.

Melissa is a versatile musician, dabbling in multiple genres (e.g., classical, contemporary, folk, rock, pop) and fulfilling many different roles as both a performing and recording artist. She is a self-taught drummer and accordionist. From 2013-2020, she played drums and sang as frontwoman of the rock duo, JUNGLEFOWL. She is the pianist and Co-founder of the classical crossover duo, Night Owl Transatlantic, with Armenian-American violinist Henrik Karapetyan. In 2022, Coppola was invited to perform as a guest accordionist for the New World Symphony, playing in the USA premiere of Jörg Widmann’s Echo-Fragmente.

Melissa is also Co-founder and former Executive Director of Girls Rock Detroit, a nonprofit dedicated to fostering creative expression, positive self-esteem, and community awareness for girls, women, gender expansive, and transgender people through music education and performance. Melissa has served as an advisory board member for multiple non-profits, and currently serves on the Arts & Culture Committee for the Ann Arbor Community Foundation.

Currently, Dr. Coppola uses her eclectic and multidisciplinary background as Program Manager of the SMTD EXCEL Lab, coaching students and supporting co-curricular programs for career development and entrepreneurship. She is dedicated to using her experience as a way to guide young performing artists toward carving their unique paths.

Pedagogy

In addition to maintaining a private studio, Dr. Melissa Coppola currently teaches pre-college students as a faculty member of the Piano Pedagogy Laboratory Program (PPLP) at the University of Michigan.

Dr. Coppola has 18 years of group and individual teaching experience in a variety of institutional and community settings. Prior to their current role, they served as Visiting Assistant Professor of Piano & Director of Keyboard Studies at Webster University in St. Louis, MO. As a graduate instructor at the University of Michigan, she taught applied piano for non-majors, undergraduate group piano, Time for Me (group piano for adult beginners), and private and group lessons for pre-college students as part of PPLP. Every year under her tutelage, her PPLP students were recognized for their achievements in Royal Conservatory of Music with Gold Medals and Certificates of Excellence.

Over their 12 years of teaching in Michigan, many of her students won awards and scholarships in local competitions and summer programs (e.g., Rosalie Edwards Youth Music Competition, Dexter Community Orchestra Youth Music Competition, and Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp.) Additionally, she has taught at local schools and programs including Community Music School of Ann Arbor, School of Rock Farmington, and Young People’s Theater.

She is an active member of Music Teachers National Association (MTNA), College Music Society (CMS), International Society for Music Education (ISME), and regularly presents her pedagogical and performance research at local, national, and international conferences.

In addition to piano, Melissa teaches drums and songwriting; she has traveled around the country to volunteer her teaching for summer camps like Girls Rock! Chicago , Girls Rock! NC, and Girls Rock Iowa City .