Howard Spindler (piano and accompanist) is a Rochester NY native, and a graduate of the Eastman Preparatory Department. He earned the BA with majors in both Music and German from Oberlin College; he returned to Eastman and completed the MA degree in Musicology. He pursued postgraduate work at the Folkwang Hochschule in Essen, Germany and completed the Artist Diploma in Piano and Accompanying. He returned to Rochester and joined the faculty of the Eastman Preparatory Department, later named Community Education Division, later again renamed Eastman Community Music School.
His piano teachers include Paul Badura-Skoda, Cecile Genhart, Maria Luisa Faini; he studied chamber music with John Celentano.

Spindler’s performing career has been diverse; he is very active as a chamber musician and accompanist. His teaching career at Eastman has included piano teaching, chamber music coaching, and classroom teaching, both in the Community School and Collegiate Division. Through Eastman’s Institute for Music Leadership, Howard has directed a certificate program for graduate students interested in honing their studio teaching skills. He was awarded the Jack L. Frank Award for outstanding teaching in Eastman’s Community Music School (1988), and he served as Interim Director of the Community Education Division for 2½ years preceding the appointment of Associate Dean Howard Potter.

Howard has a special interest in the study of rhythmic movement: he was fortunate to study Dalcroze Eurythmics at Oberlin Conservatory with the eminent Professor Inda Howland, who herself had been a disciple of Emile Jaques-Dalcroze in Switzerland. At Eastman, Howard’s piano professor, Cecile Genhart had also been a Dalcroze protégé, having assisted the master in teaching improvisation at the Geneva Conservatory. Howard has taken Dalcroze teacher-training courses, and he incorporates Dalcroze practice in his teaching.

As Chairman of the Piano Department, Spindler managed an overhaul of the Piano Syllabus, leading an initiative to include improvisation and ear-playing. In connection with that initiative, he undertook a recording project with Eastman colleagues: the result was Eastman Folk Sing (2006), a CD folk song resource for the school and the entire community.

Spindler enjoys developing new audiences and new venues for concerts. He has performed through Young Audiences, as well as programs of the Rochester City School District. He initiated a weekly noontime concert series, Eastman at Washington Square, which is going strong more than a decade later. He worked with the administration of Elmira College to bring Eastman musicians to Elmira for a new arts and letters series, Encore! Their program is also thriving after many successful seasons. His music appreciation courses and mini-courses through Eastman and through the Monroe County OASIS program have won acclaim.