Grace Hofheimer

Hofheimer was born in New York City, the daughter of Justinian Alman Hofheimer and Rose Clare Leonard Hofheimer. Her father was a physician.[1] She studied piano with Andre Benoist,[2][3] and Isidor Philipp. At Columbia University she studied music theory under Daniel Gregory Mason.[4]

Hofheimer was a concert pianist, based in New York City.[5][6][7] In 1918, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported that "Miss Hofheimer, who has devoted her time to teaching, possesses an abundant technique and a straightforwardness of interpretation," while noting "a mechanical lack of variety of tone and color, that precluded the expression of the inner essesnce of the compositions."[8]

Hofheimer toured for the Edison Company during the 1920-1921 season.[2][9] She was head of the piano department at the Chase School in Brooklyn,[10] and gave private lessons from a studio at Steinway Hall.[11][12] In 1923, she played on a radio broadcast,[13] and taught a summer course in New Jersey,[4] Among her students were mathematician Raymond Smullyan[14] and music professor Morton Schoenfeld.[15]

Later in life, Hofheimer was chair of the Greater New York Guild of Piano Teachers.[16] She adjudicated auditions for the National Guild of Piano Teachers[17] and the Mid-South Piano Scholarship Association,[18][19][20] and spoke to music teachers' organizations.[21][22] Hofheimer wrote Teaching Techniques for the Piano (1954).[23] She also composed piano pieces suited for teaching.[24]

• "Reasons for Counting Aloud" (1926, article)[25]
• Birthday Greetings (1926, compositions)[24]
• Teaching Techniques for the Piano (1954)[23]

Hofheimer died in 1965, at the age of 74.[26]