About the Author
Gloria Susanne Gilmer, a professional musician and writer, has experienced the world of music and theater as a pianist, performer, arranger, dancer and actress. From concert halls to musical theater and award-winning ballets, Ms. Gilmer enjoys the creativity of rehearsing and performing on stage.
Gilmer received positive reviews from the Associated Press for her collaborations with the Alabama Ballet Company based in Birmingham, Alabama. The Birmingham News critiqued Gilmer’s piano performances:
For the ballet production of Be Major, she “performed Bortkiewicz’s difficult post-Romantic score with vigor and urgency.” For the ballet production of Aria variata, Gilmer’s instrumental and piano performance was described as a work that “Bach enthusiasts can only dream of.”
A life in the arts came about as a bit of a surprise, seeing as Ms. Gilmer’s father was a professional boxer, prominent in politics and having no interest in composers like Bach or Beethoven. However, he enjoyed discovering jazz at its birth, becoming acquainted with Louis Armstrong’s Hot Five in 1920’s Chicago. He believed in the development of each individual’s true potential, assuming his daughter would also become an athlete. From the age of two, Gilmer was dutifully enrolled in ballet classes, continuing in dance through adulthood. In addition, she studied acting and performed in plays, musicals and directed productions.
When Ms. Gilmer decided it was “time to teach something,” she obtained an M.M. in Piano Performance and Pedagogy from Southern Methodist University. This involved a teaching fellowship at the Meadows School of the Arts, in which she was the first Master’s candidate to perform a then pioneering MIDI recital. The performance included original arrangements, ranging from the styles of Bach to Prokofiev, on computer. Ms. Gilmer holds Permanent Professional National Certification as a Teacher of Music (NCTM) from MTNA. She has instructed hundreds of aspiring piano and composition students, encouraging their individual growth and development.
All along a fascination for the Liberal Arts guided Gilmer’s studies and teachings of theology and history, sociology and fashion, creative writing and science. A prolific writer, Gilmer’s books and and recordings reflect life experience, travels and adventures, blending optimism and respect for the intangibles of life. Gilmer’s writings and music reveal that great and mysterious intersection where art and science merge into a whole connection.
As new ideas and concepts spilled into the internet, Mallard Parables was launched, taking flight in 2020. Join the MP Team as Ms. Gilmer previews our collective future with hopefulness, encouragement and grace.