Joanne Haroutounian, Ph.D., enjoys a career across the fields of music, arts education, piano pedagogy, educational psychology, and gifted education as a teacher, performer, researcher, lecturer, writer, and consultant. Her multifaceted career affords her the opportunity to consult internationally. She is frequently in demand as a clinician and consultant because of the breadth of topics she offers emphasizing the artistic process in performance and across the artistic ways of knowing.

Dr. Haroutounian serves on the music faculty of George Mason University, overseeing its piano pedagogy program and offering doctoral seminars exploring musical talent and artistic ways of knowing. She has presented numerous sessions at the World Congress of Gifted Education, the Music Teachers National Association, and the National Association for Gifted Children, where she served as chair of the Visual and Performing Arts Division from 1995 to 1997. She was plenary speaker at the Pacific Asian Conference on Giftedness in Singapore (2008) and the International Symposium on Gifted Arts in Seoul, Korea (2009), speaking on musical talent identification and gifted/arts education for all students. She returned to Singapore as principal clinician at the International Piano Pedagogy Seminar in July 2009.

Dr. Haroutounian is well-known for editing and writing numerous teaching publications. Her book Kindling the Spark: Recognizing and Developing Musical Talent is a leading resource on musical talent development for researchers, teachers, parents, and college students. She has contributed chapters in Critical Issues and Practices in Gifted Education, Early Gifts: Recognizing and Nurturing Children’s Talents, and the Encyclopedia of Giftedness, Creativity, and Talent. Articles by Dr. Haroutounian can be found in Roeper Review, Arts Education Policy Review, High Ability Studies, and The American Music Teacher.

Dr. Haroutounian’s specialized research in musical talent development led to the founding of the MusicLink program, which provides long-term private instruction to promising students in financial need. She is founder and Executive Director of the nonprofit MusicLink Foundation.

Dr. Haroutounian lives in Arlington, Virginia, and has shared almost five musical decades with her husband William, a violinist in the National Symphony Orchestra.

By Joanne Haroutounian, Ph.D.

Arts Curriculum