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Welcome to the piano program at BYU-Hawaii!
Here you will find information about the degrees offered, enrolling at BYU-H, audition
requirements, the curriculum, facilities, performance opportunities, teaching
opportunities, talent awards and department scholarships, and the faculty. If you would
like additional information or are interested in pursuing study at BYU-Hawaii please
contact Dr Scott McCarrey directly by e-mail at: mccarres@byuh.edu or by telephone at
(808)675-3918.
Degrees offered
Pianists may audition for a course of study in one of two tracks: General Studies [link to
catalogue page] or Piano Performance. The general studies curriculum is flexible and
allows the opportunity to organize elective credits according to individual interests.
Because the credit hours are similar to a traditional liberal arts degree, students may
pursue a substantial minor outside of the department (e.g. Music emphasizing piano with
a minor in English). The performance track is professionally-oriented and trains students
for future careers as studio teachers, solo performers, and/or accompanists. Recent
graduates have been accepted into summer programs (e.g. Aspen School) or into graduate
programs in piano performance (e.g. MM in Piano Performance at the Eastman School of
Music, BYU-Provo, and the University of Hawai’i (at Manoa)). The majority of students
have returned to their home countries in Asia or the Pacific where they are now employed
as professional-level piano teachers.
Enrolling at BYU-H
Students must first be accepted into the university before the department is able to
recommend scholarship funding or offer acceptance into the major. The university also
requires a minimum level of English proficiency based on the results of the TOEFL
exam. Students may take private lessons at the same time they are learning English but
may not take additional coursework either in or outside of the department until the EIL
requirement is satisfied. Additional information on the EIL program (English as an
International Language) at admissions.byuh.edu.
Audition requirements
Students may audition in person or by sending a DVD or CD. For those auditioning in
person, an appointment may be made by contacting the coordinator, Scott McCarrey,
before the first week of the semester (e-mail: mccarres@byuh.edu, or by telephone:
(808)675-3918).
Students should prepare to do the following depending on emphasis:
Piano Performance: discuss your interest in the program, sight-read, and perform two
pieces from memory selected from the following style periods:
 Baroque (e.g. Bach, Scarlatti, or Handel)
 Classical (e.g. Haydn, Mozart, or Beethoven—individual movements are
acceptable)
 Romantic (e.g. Chopin, Liszt, or Schumann)
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
Contemporary: (e.g. Ravel, Debussy, Rachmaninoff)
General Studies: discuss your interest in the program, sight read, and perform one piece
which demonstrates your abilities as a performer.
Curriculum
The training for piano performance majors includes weekly private lessons and courses in
technique, keyboard harmony, accompanying, pedagogy, and piano literature. Students
majoring in general studies also take private lessons and are encouraged to take any (or
all) of these courses, each of which fulfills elective requirements. Each week all students
gather for a one hour masterclass.
Facilities
The department has three performance venues: the McKay Auditorium which seats
approximately five-hundred, the Aloha Center Ballroom (three hundred), and the Little
Theater (one hundred—please double-check the accuracy of these numbers). The
instruments include Salter, Petrof, and Bechstein grand pianos, as well as Steinway
concert grand. For practice, there are several soundproof rooms with Yamaha grand
pianos and these are reserved for piano majors.
Performance opportunities
At the end of each semester students perform in a public recital in the MCK Auditorium
and in a jury for the piano faculty. In the senior year performance majors complete a
senior recital. General-studies students may also perform a shorter recital or may choose
to structure the senior project around a research interest of their choice (e.g. an original
composition or arrangement, a project in pedagogy or music history, accompanying, etc.)
The piano area also organizes an annual concerto concert. Students are invited by the
faculty to compete for the opportunity to perform a concerto movement with an orchestra
comprised of members of the Honolulu Symphony. Repertoire in the past has included
works by Beethoven, Mozart, Saint-Saëns, Shostakovitch, Chopin, Liszt, and
Tchaikovsky.
Students also serve as accompanists for singers, instrumentalists, and in the ensembles.
This often leads to further opportunities to perform in weekly University devotionals.
Teaching opportunities
The department has structured an innovative curriculum where students first learn the
rudiments of pedagogy and then put this learning into practice by teaching young
students from the Laie community. An introductory pedagogy course is offered in the
fall semester of the junior year. In the winter semester following, students engage in
seminar discussion, critique each other, and produce a portfolio DVD which
demonstrates their teaching abilities.
Talent awards and departmental scholarships
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The piano area administers talent-award funding and departmental scholarships for
students emphasizing piano. Talent awards may be awarded to any student regardless of
major, whereas departmental scholarships are granted to piano majors. The application
forms and deadlines may be found here. Funding is competitive and amounts range from
half to full-tuition.
Piano faculty
FULLTIME FACULTY
Scott McCarrey PhD, Associate Professor of Music and Associate Dean of the College
of Language Culture and Arts was trained at BYU-Provo, Indiana University and at York
University, England. His teachers include Douglas Humphreys, Edward Auer, Tim
Howell, and Roy Howat. An active performer interested in French repertoire, he has
presented recitals or collaborative performances in Indonesia, France, Singapore, Taiwan,
England, Hong Kong, and throughout the United States. Most recently he gave the UK
premiere of Scenes from an Australian Childhood by composer Wendy Hiscocks at the
Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, England. Presently he is co-editing with Dr Lesley
A. Wright (University of Hawai’i (at Manoa)) a volume of essays entitled Perspectives
on the Performance of French Piano Music (Ashgate, forthcoming).
PART-TIME SPECIAL INSTRUCTORS
Jennifer Duerden, MM, Special Instructor of Music, earned her masters degree in
accompanying at Florida State University and a bachelor’s degree in piano at BYUProvo. She has taught at Mississippi Valley State University, Holmes Community
College in Central Mississippi, and at Leon High School in Florida. Beyond her artistic
passion in the area of chamber music and accompanying, she is also active as a performer
on the steel pan and composes and arranges for steel bands. Her works have been
performed nationally and are very popular in the steel-band community.
Stacy McCarrey, MM, Special Instructor. Originally from Colville, Washington, she
studied at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah under Paul Pollei. She has appeared
in concert internationally as soloist, chamber musician, and duo-pianist in Finland,
Singapore, Taiwan, England, Hong Kong, and France, as well as many locations in the
United States. In 1999 she was honored at the French Piano Institute in Paris for her solo
performance of Fauré. She is married to pianist Scott McCarrey and they are the parents
of four children.