LESLEY SISTERHEN McALLISTER is Professor of Piano and Director of Piano Pedagogy at Baylor University. In addition to teaching piano pedagogy, she also teaches courses on performer wellness and class piano, and directs the Piano Laboratory Program for children in the community. Dr. McAllister holds degrees from the University of Houston, Florida State University, and the DMA in piano performance and pedagogy from the University of Oklahoma. The former chair of the editorial board for the MTNA E-Journal, her research interests include imagery, mind-body relaxation techniques for performance anxiety, mental rehearsal, and yoga for musicians.
An active clinician, Dr. McAllister has presented at such national conferences as the Music Teachers National Association, National Conference on Keyboard Pedagogy, Group Piano and Piano Pedagogy (GP3) Forum, and the College Music Society, as well as the International Society of Music Educators international conference. Published several times in American Music Teacher, she was awarded the 2010 “Article of the Year" award by the Music Teachers National Association. She has also been published in Clavier Companion, Piano Pedagogy Forum, and the MTNA E-Journal. She won the faculty award for Research among Tenured Professors from Baylor University in 2019 and the Centennial Professor Award in 2021.
The author of The Balanced Musician: Integrating Mind and Body for Peak Performance (2012), her book Yoga in the Music Studio was recently published by Oxford Press (2020).