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Becky Yuan

Posted by Leon Karan in Testimonials

I have studied with many great teachers from all over Canada. However, Leon Karan is the one I respect more than anyone. He is the standard I try to meet in my professional teaching career, as a performer, and as a good human being. He taught me to look into the soul of a piece. To play with expression and that every note written in a piece has meaning. For example, one story I like to tell to my students is of one particular lesson, Mr. Karan and I spent almost an entire lesson working on just the first 2 chords of a Beethoven Sonata. I would play the opening chords. Mr Karan, sitting in his chair, one elbow on the arm rest while cupping his chin would utter the word, “no”. I try again. He replied. “no”. I tried the chords a different way. He again, “no”. Exasperrated, I prolonged the 2 chords with a questioning looking in my eyes directed at him…and he, letting out a soft sigh said in his commanding yet soft voice, “Becky, you must play it like you are asking a question”. All my students and parents have heard stories about him. Several have met him in master classes he has conducted for my students and while tuning and regulating their pianos in their homes. They know I do not exaggerate.

Becky Yuan
www.beckyyuan.com

Music Lessons

School for parents.

We understand and encourage uniqueness with a nurturing environment tailored to each piano student’s individual talent and career goal. Music is a reflection of our lives and piano is among the most expressive instruments capable of delivering musical experience.

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... the next door for piano teacher, will consider more than just the performing ability of the teacher, will look into the professional status of the teacher, and will start their children’s piano study with the expectation of year-to-year progress toward musical competence.
James W. Bastien
How to Teach Piano Successfully.
Neil A. Kjos Music Company, 4380 Jutland Drive, San Diego, California 92117

Piano Tuning

Piano Service and Tuning

Piano is a complex musical instrument that uses mechanisms not found in any other device.

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A professional musician usually analyzes tone subjectively, using a sense like soft, mellow, bright tone or, sharp and low pitch. The professional tuner is able sometimes, to please customer by making sound more mellow or bright, regulate the action and to bring scale to the standard of 440 MHz “A” created by J.S Bach.
A perfectly tuned piano is a necessity for people playing piano. It must be in tune and well regulated in order to avoid hearing the music properly and be able to prepare for the ear-test component of the Conservatory exams.

Like any mechanical instrument it has to be serviced at least twice a year.

Audio Recording

Audio recording is the perfect tool to overcome nervousness of public performance

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In public performance there is still some room for error. It could be recovered by the special study of the piece, knowledge on how our memory works and solid preparation however, the perfect recording require ability to stay focused through entire recording which is even more difficult.
After successful recording session artists and students are more confident in their abilities to deliver expressive musical performance without any glitches.
Some helpful tips on how to work on eliminating memory lapses and technical glitches read in the next update of the web site…