Nestled in the heart of Issaquah, the Chopin Academy of Music has been a cornerstone of our community for over 20 years. For those of us who call Issaquah and Sammamish home, it’s no secret that our region is brimming with young talent. At our school, we’ve had the pleasure of nurturing that talent, helping students discover not just the technical skills of playing an instrument but also a deep, lasting love for classical music.

Classical music study isn’t just about learning to play an instrument—it’s about so much more. The discipline, patience, and critical thinking required to master a piece by Beethoven or Chopin go beyond the music room. Our students develop skills that help them excel in school, sports, and even in their personal lives. They learn the value of hard work and the joy of achieving something truly beautiful through perseverance.

Take the story of Beethoven himself. His father pushed him hard, sometimes too hard, to master the piano. But it was Beethoven’s resilience and eventual love for music that led him to create some of the most iconic compositions in history. His journey shows us that even if the path isn’t always easy, the rewards of sticking with music despite seemingly insurmountable adversity are incredible.

Another great example is Glenn Gould, the Canadian pianist famous for his interpretations of Bach. Gould was introduced to the piano by his mother at a very young age. Interestingly, he didn’t always enjoy the traditional aspects of music study. However, his unique approach and dedication to the art allowed him to develop a style all his own, demonstrating how discipline and creativity can go hand in hand.

And then there’s Sergei Rachmaninoff, who had a bit of a rocky start. As a young student, he struggled with staying focused and almost gave up on music. But with some encouragement from his cousin, a pianist himself, Rachmaninoff rediscovered his passion. His story is a wonderful reminder that sometimes, all it takes is a bit of support and persistence to reignite a love for music.

Here at Chopin Academy of Music, serving Issaquah and Sammamish, we’ve seen similar transformations in our students. Over the years, we’ve witnessed countless young musicians grow from reluctant beginners into confident performers on the world’s most iconic stages who truly love what they do. Our students don’t just learn to play an instrument; they learn to appreciate the beauty of classical music and the satisfaction that comes from mastering a challenging piece.

The success of our students is a reflection of the strong foundation we’ve built over the past two decades. The skills they gain—discipline, focus, and a love for learning—serve them well, whether they choose to pursue music professionally or take these lessons into other areas of their lives.

Issaquah and Sammamish have always been areas rich in talent, and we’re proud to be a regional leader in cultivating a love of music in our students. The Chopin Academy of Music is more than just a school—it’s a place where young musicians come to grow, learn, and find their passion. We’re excited to continue our journey of inspiring the next generation of musicians and seeing where their love of music takes them.

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As teachers, we spend between 30 minutes to an hour once per week with each student individually. That averages to half a percent of each student’s total weekly time. Parents naturally want us to inspire our students to the best of our capability, but limited by time we can only do so much.

All of us spent many hours weekly as students (and continue to this day) listening carefully to the masterworks we play and love. How else can we glimpse what is possible and grow in understanding? It is no different than asking someone who has never seen a high-rise to build one, even if they have some basic instruction on how to do it. Through carefully listening, sometimes with the musical score in front of us, or just watching a performer, we absorb far more than can be imparted during a weekly lesson, and be inspired to kindle passion we did not know was there.

Live performances are the best, but today we have more access to great recordings (for free!) than at any time in our history. These days, we can do it almost anywhere and at any time. We have YouTube, Spotify, Apple Music, and countless other platforms. We only need to look. Ask your primary instructor for some ideas on who to seek out to seek out.

Make a New Year’s Resolution to make listening to classical music something you do each day.

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Last night, eleven-year old Chopin Academy student, Julian Frank displayed his passion and virtuosity in a striking performance of the first movement of Mozart’s Piano Concerto in D minor, K. 466. A violinist with the Bellevue Youth Symphony Orchestra, last night at the Meydenbauer Center for Performing Arts he demonstrated that he is more than just a violinist, after winning the orchestra’s concerto competition at a astonishingly young age.

Even more so, Julian is a prodigious and prolific composer with interests that span conducting, orchestration, and far more.

A former student of Dr. Oksana Ejhokina before attending the Chopin Academy of Music under Dr. Bowlby two years ago, Julian already has a stunning number of awards, accomplishments, and performances, having performed already at age ten in Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall. Already immersed in a high school program, with broad interests in language, literature, and math, one wonders, do we have a Doogie Howser on our hands?

Julian is a consummate musician, with a penchant for Scriabin and Beethoven. Dr. Bowlby noticed uncommon qualities when he first came into contact with Julian. “The boy could sit down and play all 32 Sonatas by Beethoven — the beginnings of them, at least. It’s not every day you find a young musician with such passion and motivation to absorb all that literature,” said his teacher.

Still anticipating bigger hands to be able to handle bigger repertoire, Julian’s enthusiasm nonetheless drives him to accomplishments previously thought to be the sole domain of the mature artist.

“I remember last year when he came begging to play Op. 109,” said Dr. Bowlby, referring to Beethoven’s magnum work for solo piano. “109 challenges even the most mature concert artists. Given that Julian will probably be ABD by the time he’s 16, I imagine that sonata will be attainable for him in the not-so-distant future…”

Congratulations to Julian for a phenomenal performance to standing ovation last night.

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Most of them are actually non-Asians.

How many of the little prodigies who win our little local festivals actually try to audition for the piano major program at the universities? Well, very few. Then why are they pushing themselves to that sort of work load at the piano?

Before we examine that, let’s first go back to the article…

In the first paragraph the author lists the after school activities that would commonly be considered time wasting ones, which include watching TV, playing computer games, or being in the school play. My father (obviously a Pole), must have had something of that in him too. Many parents of the students today at the Chopin Academy say, “Oh, we don’t have that much time to practice because we do this, and that…and we do the piano thing because my little Johnny really enjoys it.”

Obviously my parents in Poland were more Asian than Western. I neither chose my activities nor, after showing interest and talent in piano, had I the option of whether or not to attend the music school four times a week, which included—might I add—walking to the bus, waiting for it, being in a crowded and smelly public transportation for thirty+ minutes each way. Piano, theory, ear training, choir…all these activities in addition to my twice weekly lessons filled out my schedule. My father always had one ongoing recurring question regarding after school activities: “What will this give you in your life in the future?” I heard this over and over… I had no time for TV, only occasional parties, and staying as busy as possible with difficult tasks: extra math, extra piano practice, competitions, and always aiming to be the best.

Did I have fun? Yes, I had tons of fun in my music theory and ear training classes—and, here, I am not being sarcastic. My teachers were so fun and entertaining, I cried when I could not go to the class. One of my best friends until today is someone I met in my theory class (and we still remember the jokes from the class…). My mother and I spent about 90 minutes every day commuting on public transportation, often in -20 degree Celsius temperatures, snow and rain (yes, I know, the cliché ‘uphill both ways’…but it was true!). I have to admit I can’t stop smiling when some parents here complain about a “long commute” in their luxury SUV’s of 25 minutes…

The question is: can kids have fun doing something challenging or difficult? Yes, if the environment is supportive, if the atmosphere is still fun at least to some degree. There is still a great difference, however, between my intense Eastern European music studies and the Asian way of practicing for competitions—I was not subjected to five different competitions when I was 8. As a child, thankfully, I was spared the negativity of being a “looser”. I was practicing to be a pianist, not to score points and collect medals.

Let’s now get to another topic: how much to practice.

The author asserted a point of view that claims that if you just try hard enough, practicing three hours, you can be the prize winner—be the best, get an “A”, and all that stuff. Her children were never allowed to practice less than several hours. Well, X-number of hours does not guarantee absolute success. Life is not quite like that.

Yes, 80% of success on a stage as a pianist or violinist is, of course, work. Without any doubt, if you practice three hours, you will be better than if you practice 30 minutes. (Unless you are playing with some really bad technique… hmm, well, then less IS BETTER…) However, assuming that the basic and healthy technique is there, then, naturally, the kids who win the Chopin Festival, and Seattle International Piano Festival and all other festivals—naturally, they practice a lot. The more difficult festivals (such as the Chopin Festival) have 40-50 participants in one category. In order to be the best out of 50—one will have to practice a lot. I know 7 year olds who practice three hours a day, and with just a tiny bit of talent—they always will be better than those who practice 45 minutes. The more difficult competition starts when one enters the age category of 11 and above. Here, if you don’t practice two hours a day minimum… then don’t hold your breath. There are others who can and will practice 3+ hours!

What do those hours give us? They give us time to work on many pieces, and the more pieces we go through, the more versatile we get, the more fluent our note-reading is, the faster we learn the next new piece. Then, one’s pianistic vocabulary is larger. One’s hands are used to new tricks. If you played ten Sonatas by Beethoven in your life, then obviously you are better than someone who played just one. Then, the three hours of practicing gives us the possibility to spend one full hour on something really hard, such as an Etude by Chopin.

Regardless whether you are 11 or 25—you have to pay your dues with the virtuosic etudes. simply, one can’t play them well without at least one hour commitment. There is such a thing as “sweat equity” in performance too.

Obviously, if little Johnny enjoys horseback riding, and ballet (or, in Johnny’s case, soccer), and school plays, school government, painting, flute, guitar, and piano, and is driven around to 8 different activities… well, obviously Johnny does not have the mind, time or concentration to spend 1 hour on Chopin’s Etude or two more hours on Liszt, Beethoven, and scales. Certainly, some of our readers will have heard of the “10,000 hour rule”, the rule that if you want to become good at anything, you need to get in 10,000 hours. Well, math is simple… there are 365 days in a year… and how many hours you do each day? How long will it take to get those 10,000 hours? Will you be 16 when you get there or 45? The time is running out—ultimately, we are in competition with ourselves and with time.

There are a few issues here that come to my mind that really require addressing: one is the issue of talent, and the other is the issue of what we want to get from learning to play a classical instrument.

It is very hard to admit in our democratic minds that we all are born with different levels of talent. What really is musical talent? So many people can practice three hours and learn the notes and play with no mistake and then they don’t win any competition. The audience does not feel moved. Parents feel hurt and offended. Then, you will have little Jaimie play—perhaps even with some mistakes—and she will actually win a competition.

In order to win out of 50 participants in the category, one needs to have that special something called talent—that inner passion; that ability to make the instrument sing; to sustain the melody; to create something “between the notes.” Because the music is “between the notes,” it is not the notes in and of itself. The notes are just a framework of the musical idea, the starting point…

A good music teacher will always try to get that ability out of the student. (And here we have to come back to our previous blog—how many teachers have that talent themselves? For many of them teaching is just to follow the “method” book; to learn which keys to press on the piano, and that is it…) Musicality can be taught to a high degree, but something must be truly there in order to build more. How can one teach how to understand and convey that almost metaphysical element “between the notes” without at least some innate ability to do so?

I have to admit—I object to the idea presented in the WSJ article that states “you can be the best in anything,” which is to say, because your mom says so and because I will make you practice. This can—and will most likely—lead to frustrations, anger and hatred toward music. You can practice all you want, and if there is no special something between the notes, no pressure from any mom or dad will fix that. With practice, one can accomplish a lot—one can enjoy music forever. However, it is not a guarantee of any sure-fire competition wins.

And yet one should not get all that crazy about practicing as the be all and end all, because there is one more aspect of musical art—it is in most cases ‘human’—that which is inspired by love, pain, by nature, by trees, willows, oceans and all that surrounds us. Maybe playing all the notes perfectly with some basic musicality can make one win some local little festival, but ultimately, one must play about something. If one just sits at home, and is controlled in every step by the “helicopter” mother, one can never live. What will you play about? I hope the author’s children did not attempt to play any of Chopin’s Ballades or Liszt’s Consolations. If you have nothing to say—you can play all the notes right and never get to win.

And finally, an important question to ask yourself—what do you want to get out of those music lessons? Do you need to be the best out of 50 to justify it? According to the article, then, yes. But I have to disagree with the author very strongly on this point. Music performance is for us to enrich our lives forever. To sit at the piano and dive into the world of Chopin, or Schumann, or Prokofiev, or Bach, to forget about the mediocracy, boredom, and annoyance of the everyday problems that the world brings on us regularly. When you are good enough that you can play Bach’s Partitas, you enter the different level of consciousness. When you bring to life Schumann’s Kinderszenen—you live a life that is almost inaccessible to the large majority.

My father pushed me to practice saying, “You don’t know yet what a beautiful thing it is to be able to play the instrument.” …And he was right.

And that—the ability to live more lives through music—should be the goal of every parent as the ultimate goal of the music lessons. Long after the parents are gone, little Johnny or little Jaimie (maybe an accomplished lawyer or doctor by that time) will come home to his or her Steinway and forget about the stress at work via entering the world of Bach’s Partitas… and in the moments of life struggles, during depression, or relationship issues, the music will make it all better. And, at that point, who cares if you won the Chopin Festival at the age of 11?

In short, there is more to music performance than competitions. And yes, you have to practice 2 hours a day when you are 11 to stand any chances at those little festivals. You need to practice 5-7 hours if you want to go on to International Competitions. And you can just practice 30-45 min if you want to progress and enjoy the music for the rest of your life, which is… the most important goal for all of us. We can’t dehumanize music to a competitive-only purpose.

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When you want to buy a new Corolla, you can do all the work at home at your desk. Then simply choose the “cheapest” sale or dealer, then go, pay and get it. A Corolla is a Corolla (within a very small margin of factory error).

However, piano lessons, violin lessons, cello lessons, or what have you are not the same everywhere. Unfortunately, many parents cut corners here (even more so than buying a car) by just going to the most convenient or cheapest location for the service, thinking, “Whatever. We can get started quickly here and if little Johnny turns out to be good, we will then look for something more serious.”

And here is the problem: so many times these parents later come to us and say—and it happens over and over again (oh, how sad!)—“I wish I had known better to look for somebody good! Is it too late to correct Johnny’s technique?”

Well, the sad thing is—if the beginnings are not right—if the technique makes it impossible to play the instrument with comfort and ease—well, then, little Johnny will not show his potential. Meanwhile, other classmates will perform brilliantly in school talent shows, and who can imagine what is going on in Johnny’s head?

Inner musicality, in order to manifest itself in performance, must be delivered through our physical “being”—our arms, shoulders, hands, and fingers. It is complex. It is difficult at first—despite that it should feel natural—and it is not easy to teach nor easy to accomplish. There are no methods—no books—that teach it. The idea of “using” a book method and relying on it as a teaching tool is ultimately paradoxical. True and valuable teaching has to come from the master teacher who can demonstrate it, can explain it, has a plethora of exercises, games, and even picturesque descriptions of it, depending on the individual pupil at that moment. A master teacher can use any method as a starting point and bring up a well playing pianist. You don’t learn from the method book: you learn from the teacher!

When a parent starts looking for the first instrumental teacher, the parent should simply use common sense and try not to cut corners. Don’t waste your time and money on something “just for now”, “just to begin with and then see”. By “saving” money on cheap and convenient instruction, you may actually be throwing all that money and time away, because … your child may have to redo the entire training from ZERO should he or she still show interest enough to continue. Sometimes after just a few months of forceful, stiff, and incorrect use of the arms and hands, students are destined for “never playing well” again. You saved money? No, you wasted the money, the time and … perhaps the talent. Don’t forget that over the young life of a student, you may be investing as much or more than the price of a car. It is worth some serious consideration.

So, here are a few little educational pointers:

1) Make sure your teacher has a degree, or finishes a degree in piano performance. I repeat it again: It should be in “PERFORMANCE”, and can be in combination with the term, “PIANO PEDAGOGY” (the science of “how to teach”). A teacher with a music education degree prepares students for classroom teaching in general public schools—they are trained in class management, public education protocol, and only some music-related skills (quite broad, general skills, such as a few weeks of lessons on EVERY instrument). If you want your child to learn how to play an instrument, find a teacher who can play well enough to be admitted to the “performance” degree him- or herself.

There are three degrees taught and recognized in North America: Bachelor, Masters (2 years of graduate school), and Doctoral (3-10 years of graduate school). Make sure your teacher has one of those degrees and that it is in “performance” of the instrument you want to learn.

2) To reinforce the point 1 above, would you go to a dentist for abdominal pain? Would you call a plumber to paint your office? Why would you agree to have flute teacher teach piano? Why would you allow a violin teacher teach flute? And you would pay for it? Yes, all instrumentalists have basic keyboard training at the college—but it is as basic, as in only to prepare for them in theory, without much—or any—emphasis on actual technique or artistry. This is common sense, and yet we are surprised again and again. We have heard of violin and flute teachers having full studios of piano students… Why would anyone agree for this? Just because it is cheaper or next door?

3) Meet with the teacher and make sure there is a good personality match. Students should like their teacher, should look forward to coming to lessons, should NOT feel scared and worried. Good chemistry is one of the essentials. Striving towards perfection in music is stressful enough, so teachers should not create an atmosphere of fear. Nothing beautiful can come out of that sort of negative ambiance. Check the teacher’s accomplishments. Did his or her students win any festivals? Ask the potential teacher if he or she performs? Where can you hear them play a solo concert? There is an art to successful and confident performance—your teacher should be able to play what he or she teaches!

“But, she has younger ones only because that’s what she specializes in.”

Really? Does she say, “Okay, you’re older now. Please go away now.” Is there any reason why a good working relationship needs to end? If someone really is only comfortable with one level of student (be it beginner or advanced), that teacher is admitting to limitations. Investing time and money with that teacher is to inherit those sorts of limitations. Why do students go to other teachers after a year or two? That’s a very good question…

4) Get an acoustic piano. Don’t go “cheap” with a keyboard (digital piano is just a fancy term for keyboard). Music is all about sound—your child will feel much more inspired by the real acoustic phenomenon, whereby the sound reverberates through the instrument and the room, rather than from a speaker that artificially produces sound. Also, with exceptions to new hybrid instruments by Yamaha (check out HYBRID pianos, N2 and N3), there is no keyboard that has the same feel of action as the real piano. If you buy a keyboard today for $1000, it will be worth almost nothing in a year. It is generally a bad investment (and not too fun to play on after the first week). It is better to rent a piano (from stores like Sherman Clay), than to buy a keyboard. Renting a piano can cost $50 per month. Eventually, it is best to buy a decent upright piano, and a decent new one can be bought for ca. $5000. Buying a used piano is fine, but always have it checked out be the piano technician before you buy—so you are not buying a “cat in a bag” (and there are many howling bags out there just waiting to get opened!).

5) We recommend for parents to observe lessons and supervise the practicing at home when students are really, really young and when they are beginners. For students who already have 2-3 years of experience already, a parent’s job should be limited to making sure that the practicing sessions take place regularly. Parents should schedule regular trips to concert halls to hear their teachers perform (if they are lucky to have teachers who are actively performing—nothing can be more inspiring), and to the symphony. Expose them to all sorts of classical music concerts and your life will gain a new, beautiful dimension. It can be an amazing transformation for the whole family.

6) The results are best seen every six months, or every year… Progress in instrumental performance takes every day commitment. And since it is not one of those “quick and dirty results” sorts of activities, it takes time. Whatever is valuable in life takes time and effort, but then lasts for ever.

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