Penny Prince

Email: penny.prince@lehman.cuny.edu
Phone: 718-960-7796
Office: Music Building, Room 311
Office Hours:  By appointment requested via email
Rank:  Professor

Degrees and Sources of Degrees

B.M., M.M., Manhattan School of Music; Ph.D., New York University Steinhardt School

Biography

Dr. Penny Prince (BM, MM, PhD) is Professor of Music at Lehman College, City University of New York. She is Music Graduate Coordinator, and Supervisor of the music student teachers and interns. Dr. Prince has devised curricula for a number of courses including “Music in the Elementary School: Advanced Techniques,” “Community Music and Arts,” and “Piano for Music Educators.” She has received several PSC-CUNY grants for her original collaborative musical theatre productions which she composes and directs each year, and for her academic research; and was awarded a Bronx Recognizes Its Own award by the Bronx Council for the Arts, and the Outstanding Educator Award from the Music Educators Association of New York City.

Dr. Prince was named an Honored Artist of The American Prize in 2024 after previously being awarded The American Prize for Musical Theatre in 2022, for her original musical, “Cinderella ’21”.

Dr. Prince received her BM and MM in piano from Manhattan School of Music where she studied with the legendary Zenon Fishbein. She has concertized throughout the New York area, and performed the Ravel Piano Concerto in G with orchestra and in master class with Gina Bachauer. Upon graduation from Manhattan School, she received the Sylvia Bruck Award.

She earned her Ph.D. in Music Education from NYU Steinhardt, and was awarded the Jewish Foundation for the Education of Women’s 125th Year Fellowship. Her doctoral research focused on Co-creating Cinderella: Examining and Documenting a Collaboratory Musical Theatre Process. Interests include working with participants on all aspects of a musical, from retelling a story to staging it for public performance; piano pedagogy, working with pre-service music and general education teachers on the topic of taking cues from students, and supporting the Lehman community to make it a supportive, informed college for reentering students after incarceration. She founded the Lehman Reentry Committee in 2017, which was awarded a Thrive Grant from the College and Community Fellowship in June, 2018. Professor Prince is on the advisory board of MEANYC, the editorial review board of Excelsior Journal for Leadership in Teaching and Learning, and is a frequent presenter at conferences including NYSSMA, NYACTE, NYU’s Educational Theatre Pedagogy, The Dramatists Guild, and Manhattan School of Music’s Outreach for Music Education, and serves on the Alumni Council of Manhattan School of Music, and is a senator in the Lehman Senate.

Dr. Prince is a prolific composer of musical theatre pieces, winning 15 ASCAP merit awards for her educational, theatrical, and children’s music. She has collaborated on original plays with established playwrights, cast members, and students of all ages, including works for the Manhattan School of Music Summer Program, the Renaissance After School Program of P.S.9M, the Multiple Intelligences School at P.S.37x, the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale, and various community centers. She has written songs for noted performers including Tovah Feldshuh, with works broadcast on radio and cable television. Dr. Prince’s musicals staged at Lehman College have included "Rapunzel," "Cinderella," "Rumpelstiltskin," "When I Get To Where I’m Going," "Sleeping Beauty," "Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet,” “Daniel in the Lions’ Den,” and “Lighting Up Lehman.”

Recent Publications

• Prince, Penny (2022) Sleeping Beauty 2022, Original score, presented in Spring, 2022 at Lehman College and Bronxnet Television, and youtube;
• Prince, Penny (2021) Cinderella ’21, Original score, totally virtual production, and youtube;
• Prince, Penny (2020) Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet, Original score, totally virtual production, and youtube;
• Prince, Penny (2018) When I Get To Where I’m Going ’18: Original score for the musical presented in Spring, 2018 at Lehman College, the Bronx Library Center, and on Bronxnet Television, and youtube.
• Prince, Penny (2017) Rapunzel’17: Original score for the musical.
• Prince, Penny (2020) “Vignettes on the Path to Social Justice Awareness,” Visions of Research in Music Education, 35, 1-9.
• Prince, Penny (2017) “What do we do with student cues in the elementary music classroom?” Music Educators Journal Vol. 103: 2.
• Educators Journal, 104 #2. Prince, Penny (2017) How Can Lehman Serve?
• Prince, Penny (2017) “Collaborative Musical Theatre: A Nearly All-Encompassing Teaching Tool,” Chapter 6 in Challenges Associated with Cross-Cultural and At-Risk Student Engagement. Published by IGI Global.
  

For a complete listing of Prof. Prince’s publications and compositions, email Penny Prince.