Rate My Professor Lesley McAllister

Lesley McAllister, D.M.A., is Professor of Piano and Coordinator of Piano Pedagogy at Baylor University School of Music. She earned her Doctor of Musical Arts in piano performance and pedagogy from the University of Oklahoma under Jane Magrath, Master of Music from Florida State University studying with Leonard Mastrogiacomo, and Bachelor of Music from the University of Houston with Nancy Weems. At Baylor, McAllister teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in piano pedagogy and performer wellness, directs the Piano Laboratory Program for children in the community, serves as Faculty-in-Residence at Collins Hall, and holds a Faculty Regent position through May 2025. A certified RYT-200 yoga instructor, she bridges traditional piano teaching with somatic awareness and wellness practices.

McAllister's research focuses on imagery, mind-body relaxation techniques for performance anxiety, mental rehearsal, yoga for musicians, and approaches supporting musical excellence, student wellbeing, and lifelong music engagement. She authored The Balanced Musician: Integrating Mind and Body for Peak Performance (Scarecrow Press, 2012) and Yoga in the Music Studio (Oxford University Press, 2020). Key articles include “Should Music Be Fun?” (American Music Teacher, 2012) and “The Language of Awareness: How Breath Work and Cueing Impact the Music Lesson” (American Music Teacher, 2023), both earning MTNA Article of the Year awards. Other publications appear in Piano Magazine, Piano Pedagogy Forum, MTNA E-Journal, and Frontiers in Psychology. Her honors encompass Baylor Centennial Professor (2021, $5,000 funding for a yoga-integrated piano method book), Outstanding Tenured Faculty Award in Research (Baylor, 2019), Collegiate Teacher of the Year (TMTA, 2022), Outstanding Service Award (Frances Clark Center, 2023), and Baylor Teaching Fellow (2023-24). McAllister presents at conferences including MTNA, NCKP, GP3, CMS, PAMA, EPTA, and ISME; serves as President-Elect of TMTA (2024 term), inaugural chair of MTNA E-Journal editorial board, and Wellness Column Editor for Piano Magazine; and collaborates as co-investigator with Baylor’s Mind Body Medicine Institute.