Welcome to A Pianist's Process where I share my process of practicing and playing the piano.
Everybody is welcome, and you will benefit the most from subscribing if you are 1. an amateur pianist 2. intermediate to advanced piano students intending to major in music 3. music appreciators who especially enjoy classical piano music.
Here's a little about me:
I am a pianist and teacher living in Los Angeles, CA. Greatest musical influence comes from my own teachers, Julian Martin, Jon Kimura Parker, Hae-Jeon Lee, and Daniel Pollack. I received my master's degree from the Juilliard School and doctoral degree from Rice University in 2013 and since then I have been performing and teaching piano at Seoul National University and Kyung-Hee University in Korea, Indiana University in the United States and maintain a private piano studio. Please visit www.jeewonleepiano.com for more.
Years ago, I abandoned ship on this ballade a few months before my senior recital and switched over to the 3rd ballade. Found it to be more attainable at the time.
Thank you for the advice! I found your channel a few days ago, and although I see that most of your videos are aimed at more experienced pianists, I will continue to follow them because they are high-quality content. I've also benefited from some of them, including this video. Additionally, listening to you gives me a very similar feeling to when I’m in a lesson with my piano teacher. :)
You have such a wonderful way of verbalizing these concepts in a way that make sense to me. Yet another great video. I'm still working on Chopin 25 #1 from that video you did. Slowly but surely I'm making real progress. To my delight everyday I sit down it flows easier than the day before. Thanks Jeewon so much.
Annyonghaseyo Seonsaengnim Ich finde ihre Videos sehr interessant und auch hilfreich Da ich immer wieder mal Probleme mit dem Rhythmus habe und öfters mal Schwierigkeiten von langsam auf schnell zu wechseln helfen mir ihre Videos sehr, Vielen herzlichen Dank für Ihren Geduld Gomawoyo seonsaengnim Annyongikeseyo 🙏🏻👍🏻🙆🏻♀️👏🏻🌸
I've been playing for decades + classically trained and this is one of my favorite breakdowns of it :) You remind me of my favorite teacher when I was in high school who was also a college instructor!
Excellent annunciation of the brain’s thought through the piece. Mine was very similar. imo better interpretation than most professionals. I prefer moderate pedal in the part “without” it if done right
Seonsaengnim meu gamsahamnida für die schönen Videos, die sind für mich persönlich sehr hilfreich um weiter zu kommen und zum üben. Annyongikeseyo seonsaengnim Hananim soll sie beschützen 🙏🏻
Sadly, like many FI tutorials, there is waaaay to much excess verbiage in the beginning. Then there is the obligatory performance of the FI-we’ve heard it a million times. Then there are hands separate- they all pull that one. Then there is the individual bar breakdowns. There is unnecessary verbiage like “sextuplet.” Anyone can play hands separately. I find none of these tutorials help combine the two hands in polyrhythms up to speed. Playing 4 against 3 is the challenge that defeats all but the most stubborn pianists. Anyone can play hands separate. Meanwhile minutes have gone by, and you’re not conquering the polyrhythms up to speed. Then there’s the obligatory “let go of tension” comment. Then there are useless instructions about elbows, and wrist movements. Anyone can play the B section. That is not what we need a tutorial on!!! I have yet to find a good tutorial in the big challenge of the piece: the A section polyrhythm up to speed. She means well, but it’s not helpful.
I've never had someone give me pointers that train me how to sightread better/posturing; fixing up fundamentals was something i haven't considered yet! gamechanger!!!
Wonderful! I love your emphasis on the singing and not the mathematics. Also, you added a kind comment on the importance of understanding rubato. I have heard very famous pianists playing Chopin with excessive decelerondo and accelerando masquerading as rubato. I think of the Tommy Dorsey big band keeping the strict metronomic beat while Frank Sinatra is all over the place with the melody being in and out of the pulse. I am very impressed with your teaching style. Emphasis on the movement of the hand and the relaxation of the fingers. Piano playing should never get too far away from singing and dancing. And lastly a great approach to the practice of the Fantaisie that accurately describes it as achievable. Practice hands separate, feel the pulse, and then let go. Let your heart hear the beautiful singing. Piano playing in general and Chopin in particular is my life's second most favorite passion. I wish you were my teacher. Thank you. John Hertenstein
"🎹❤️⚘️Music discovery. I was listening but when I looked over to the screen I saw it was a left hand work!! Pretty amazed I didn't even notice till then. Your left hand so connected and flowing. Beautiful Performance and Work of art.
"🎹❤️⚘️I think what made me say Wow and laugh is when you said "Your eyes won't be playing the music.." Lol that's me.. my muscle memory eventually telling me it's OK not to be glued to the score. Really revealing but knew it deep down. Very interesting and informative video lesson.
Thank you for your very helpful instructions! This is one of my favorite pieces that i am challenging myself to learn. You have a very gentle and polished way of sharing the details. I so much appreciate the time and effort you out into this video! Also, you play it so beautifuly and effortlessly. Looking forward to learning this, finally.
Been a pianist for 7 years, found this piece about a year or two ago and have been wanting to learn it. Been putting it off til now, but I think I'm ready to go for it! Thank you for your insightful video!
Believe it or not it's extremely difficult to find a good teacher for a child with a lot of natural talent, particularly if you are looking for someone who can actually play jazz. Miles Davis said he could recognize a good jazz player by just looking at how they dressed. The difficulty is finding someone who is able to work with talent rather than just putting the student on a book of pattern drills. It was really hard to find a teacher for my son, because he is a natural ear player. Changing disciplines, but related, I had problems finding a horsemanship instructor who could connect to me. Luckily, I found a gal who is a barrel racer, and had been around horses since she 6 years old. She owns two barrel racing horses that she trained, plus she has a degree in equine science. She was able to deal with my personality very effectively as she is not offended when I questioned her in regards to certain topics, because she's an extremely good rider and excellent communicator. I was able to work with her horse named Zippy who was extremely responsive. When it comes to horsemanship, the horse teaches the human., but it obviously helps to have human who can guide you properly in communicating with a horse. As for music, the student has to be willing to do the work as musicianship is an extremely difficult skill to master. I absolutely favor someone who teaches through repertoire and not endless technical exercises that don't develop a true sense of musicality. If a student has talent, it's more a matter of mentoring. I don't think you can teach musicianship if you haven't mastered it yourself.
How to Find a GREAT Teacher for You? That is a great question. The good thing is you might not have to go very far. I can't imagine a better teacher than Ms. Jeewon Lee herself. Let me explain why. She has had impeccable training. She has a Master of Music from Julliard and a Doctors of Music from Rice U. studying with the exceptional pianist Jon Kimura Parker. I fell in love with classical piano when I was 14-15. I was late intermediate to early advanced and took the leap. I was never taught HOW to practice. Typically my teacher said something like bring me the first half of movement one of Beethoven Waldstein in two weeks. I tried my best but when the lesson started I'd play it and then she would correct me every few measures, so I had to essentially re-learn the piece. This even happened when I went back to lessons in my early 40's. She was a very good pianist but she never really told me how to practice certain sections beforehand. Then I ran across Ms. Lee's lessons here on RU-vid and she instructs you BEFORE you start a piece and gives you many ideas how to approach it. How I wish I had this many years ago. No doubt I would have learned so much faster and been a much better pianist. So there you have it. Maybe you don't have to look very far after all. I'd contact her first. She does have a webpage where I found her bio....www.jeewonleepiano.com Obviously if you live away and need personal one on one with a teacher her advice seems most sound. Best to all of you!
Thank you so much Nick! For me, “teaching” on RU-vid is mostly sharing my thought process while practicing, which is why I named the channel A Pianist’s Process. The level of the content tends to be high and admittedly too philosophical? or conceptual? for beginner pianists to bother with. It is so helpful to know what part of my videos were useful to my viewers which is why I find your contribution so valuable!! Thank you thank you!!🙏
I didn't know Jeewon had studied with John Kimura Parker. She's rather fortunate. I'm attracted to her channel because she is an excellent communicator, and knowledgeable as to what is required to develop a sense of musicianship. I see her as a person who imparts musicianship, not simply technique.
I agree with you ! Some teachers don’t tell you how to practice and you somehow figure it out and then it’s hard to fix 🤦🏻♀️ nowadays with RU-vid and other online resources , I try to acquire tips and trips before starting a new piece so I don’t teach my brain wrong things to be fixed later ! Thanks for posting this interesting topic ! Everyone needs a good coach , a teacher , a mentor in all areas of life !!❤❤
Many people think if they can play than can teach. This is incorrect assumption. Surely, Mozart, Chopin et. had to teach to earn money but they were not as good as teachers as they are music composers and piano performers. Also, if you are good at teaching does not mean you will succeed in creating music that will stand the Time.
Dang Thai Son used the left paw to aid 1 downward scale. Rachmaninoff played it slowly in concerts. Pogorelić played it slowly in the studio recording. Most pianists start the downward scales slowly. There's always a tradeoff between expression, clarity & speed with no-one maxing out all 3. If the greatest pianists who ever lived can't max out all 3, the rest of us deserve a break. Lions believe there's a finite amount of time one can devote to 1 piece.
A very beautiful performance played at the perfect tempo for my taste. I played this 20 years ago and now I must go back to it and re-learn it with your suggestions. I can't wait. Thank You Jeewon! Best Regards.
