Doctoral researcher
Blake Proehl is an historical keyboardist specializing in fortepiano and clavichord. He holds a Master of Early Music, Fortepiano from the Royal Conservatory of The Hague (NL); a Master of Piano Performance and Pedagogy from Baylor University (Texas, USA); and a Bachelor of Music Performance from the University of South Dakota (USA). Blake is a Nationally Certified Teacher of Music through Music Teachers National Association. His activities at the National Music Museum (Vermillion, South Dakota) ignited his interest in early keyboards, which subsequently led him to historically informed performance and studying historical keyboards. His previous research has included finger pedaling in Classical and early Romantic music and the inclusion of early keyboard curriculum into American collegiate music studies. Blake was active as a teacher, accompanist, and church organist in the Minneapolis-Saint Paul area (Minnesota, USA) before becoming a PhD researcher at Orpheus Instituut in Ghent, working in Tom Beghin’s Declassifying the Classics cluster.
