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I think I was born with desire to be a teacher.
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By the end of college, I knew I wanted to be a teacher.
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It's my life.
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I can't even say it's my job because I don't think there is a time in my day when I don't
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think about music or my students or teaching young children, preschool ages.
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They don't get things from explanations or demonstrations.
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Only through analogies, through images, through stories, through artwork.
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They need to see, they need to hear, they need to imagine, and they need to feel or
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experience.
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In my books, these stories, the songs, they all work for developing students' imagination
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and making them active participants in the lessons rather than passive observers.
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So they participate, they want to experiment, they want to try.
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Hello piano enthusiasts!
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Welcome back to the PianoPod with me, Yukimi Song.
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Today we are diving deeper into the second installment of this season's 16th episode
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with Irina Gorin, the visionary behind the Tales of a Musical Journey Method Book series
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and founder of the Gorin Institute.
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In case you missed part one of this inspiring episode exploring her acclaimed method books
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for young beginners, enriched with storytelling and vibrant imagery, don't worry, you can
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catch up on all the excitement on your favorite podcasting platform right now.
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A warm welcome to all our new listeners.
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This podcast is your all-access pass to the captivating world of piano.
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In each episode of the PianoPod, I interview a guest speaker who has been breaking exciting
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new ground in the industry.
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Please rate the show and review it on your favorite podcasting platform because every
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rating review will help people find my show.
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And as for our faithful listeners, I want to extend my heartfelt gratitude for your
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loyal listenership.
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Since 2020, we've been exploring how to make classical music resonate in fresh ways
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with today's audience.
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To keep bringing you these episodes, my show relies on your support.
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Every contribution aids in covering essential podcasting expenses, so click the PayPal link
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in the show notes or visit thepianopod.com to donate.
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I will personally mail you the PianoPod's logo sticker as a token of gratitude.
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So my friends, here is part two of the PianoPod Season 4, Episode 16 featuring Irina Gorin.
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Please enjoy the show.
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So, I mean, I have a lot more questions with the piano technique, but that's another time.
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I think you have to come back and we just need to focus on one topic at a time, I think,
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because you're so resourceful.
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But I'd like to know who Ms. Irina Gorin is.
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So basically, you know, explain that you're originally from Ukraine.
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That's where the training happened.
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But by whom were you influenced to become a teacher today?
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You know, I think I was born with desire to be a teacher.
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Even when I was five, six year old, I remember myself playing school with my friends, having
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a journal, putting grades to imaginable students.
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My mom was a teacher.
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She was teaching Russian language and literature in school.
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She was an amazing storyteller.
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She introduced me to all the writers and painters and explained how painting and literature
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work together.
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While my father was a ballet dancer.
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And I practically was born in the theater, almost.
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So I used to watch all the performances, ballet and opera.
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We had a theater in Kiev and my father was one of the leading dancers.
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So I was raised in very cultural family.
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My older sister took piano lessons.
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So she's 10 years older.
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So when I was born, she was already quite advanced in piano playing.
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So I remember myself falling asleep and we lived in such small apartments.
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Piano was in my bedroom.
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I remember falling asleep with the sounds of Greek sonata, which was very hard to fall
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asleep.
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Wow.
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I hope you had a good dream.
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So I had all this music sounding all the time in my head.
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But I also loved young kids, little kids.
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I loved to babysit.
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And when I went to college, of course, I was very ambitious to become a pianist.
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But with time, I realized that being on stage is not my passion.
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Especially by myself.
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I loved accompaniment.
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I accompanied singers and other instrumentalists and choirs.
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I loved it.
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Not solo performance.
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But by the end of college, I knew I wanted to be a teacher.
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Again, I dreamed of being a teacher in my head.
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I was such a great teacher that kids would love to practice.
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It will all destroyed in one day.
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But yeah, it's my life.
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I can't even say it's my job.
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It's practically my life.
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Because I don't think there is a time in my day when I don't think about music or my students
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or teaching.
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Of course, I have family.
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And of course, I want to spend time with my own children and talk to them.
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But between that, I live by music and teaching.
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Oh, wow.
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Yeah, I'm sorry for what's happening in Ukraine right now.
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It must be so heartbreaking.
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But in many ways, you grew up in cultural balanced life.
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Yes.
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Yeah, that's beautiful.
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And you know, as this country, United States, as rich as it is, to go to the concert hall
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is actually like you kind of have to make an effort to get go.
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You know, it's not quite surrounded by it.
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Although I live in New York City, but it's an effort, right?
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And even like when I tried to encourage my students.
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And a lot of money.
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Oh, definitely.
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When I was in Ukraine, I can't even remember the weekends that my parents wouldn't take
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me either to museum or theater or concert hall.
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It was kind of like a routine.
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Very inexpensive.
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And it was we have it's just our life.
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Yeah.
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Wow.
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So many theaters.
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I even found we probably had several drama theaters, opera and ballet theater, opera and
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ballet for children's theater where my father worked late years of his life.
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And we probably had 10 or 15 orchestras.
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And we have musical comedy theater where my husband worked in.
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So yeah, it was the way of life.
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I know you're influencing a lot of millions of people out there.
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You yourself even can't imagine how many people are impacted through your methods, through
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your videos.
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So the Gorin Institute.
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So can you provide an overview of the mission and goals of the Institute?
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Who is this for?
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What educational programs or courses this Institute offer to support professionals?
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Absolutely.
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It's another interesting story, which I never thought would happen.
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I didn't have any idea.
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If you ask me if I thought it would happen five years ago, I would say never.
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But the circumstances, the life just happened.
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It just happened.
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So since more people started watching my videos with Tales of a Musical Journey, they started
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asking questions.
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And of course, it's really hard to answer all the questions through like a comment or
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even email.
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And I started visiting.
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I was invited to give short presentations and workshops in different universities.
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Then I started organizing workshops in my own town, Carmel.
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I had lots of teachers coming.
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I was invited to work for a week in Boston in music school at piano camp and gave workshops.
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So I had maybe five, six big workshops per year.
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But in 2017, I was contacted by a musician originally from Austria, Patrick Lechner,
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who invited me to come to International Week to China.
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Their university was organizing this International Week, where they would invite people with
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workshops, with master classes.
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And even though it was very scary for me, first of all, to travel alone, not knowing
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anything about the country, never been there before.
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But as my husband says, I was very brave and went.
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And it changed my life.
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I'm so happy it did because it's completely changed my life.
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While being there, I was invited to 10 different cities with workshops.
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And the amount of attending, the number of people attending was mind blowing.
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And at the same time, I was invited to work in the university.
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And next year, my whole family moved to China.
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Not the whole family, my youngest daughter, my husband and I moved to China for me being
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able to work at the university and continue doing those workshops.
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Really?
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So you're moving away from the United States?
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Yes.
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I lived for three years in China.
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Oh my goodness.
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Yes.
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I met amazing people, amazing teachers.
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I'm still friends with so many of them.
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I loved it.
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Just loved it.
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And then COVID happened.
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It happened while winter break when my family came back for four weeks and we never were
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able to go back to China.
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I still taught for two more years at university until my contract ended.
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And then I didn't renew it because I don't feel teaching online was fulfilling for me
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or very helpful for students.
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And I finished my contract.
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But when I came here, teachers, when COVID happened, everyone was a little bit at despair.
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What to do?
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We couldn't teach.
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Teaching online was terrible, especially the early days.
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And people just started asking me, why don't you organize some kind of workshops but online?
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And that's how I started learning about Zoom and about all these online things.
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And I organized the first mock-up of courses.
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And in the very first time I announced it, 250 people signed up.
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And as I did it for the first three months, I realized that that type of workshop has
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a lot of advantages.
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First of all, people don't have to travel.
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They can watch the recording at their own time.
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They don't have to sacrifice their schedule, their time with children or families, their
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students to be at the session.
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And also, they always get a front row seat.
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Because when you have 200 people in the room and you try to show something at the piano,
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only a few people can actually see it.
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But when I do it and I have my side camera next to me and I can show everything and they
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can do it on their side and I can give them a feedback, it made all the sense.
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And after I did it once, they said, we don't want to stop.
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You have to continue.
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And for the first three years, I worked on creating a really deep, comprehensive curriculum
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for piano teachers.
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Starting from the first year of lessons, going step by step through every technique, through
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every activity, having them practice it, send me videos.
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We actually have, for each level, we have a private Facebook group where teachers post
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their videos of doing that.
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And I comment and other more experienced teachers comment.
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Now I have teachers who are in their fifth year of these courses.
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And in my helpers, and they have with new participants.
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And I have teachers from 19 year old up to 70 something years old.
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I have one teacher who's 85 from New Zealand.
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Especially for those who are far away, I have a lot of teachers from Singapore, from Taiwan,
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from Japan, from Europe, many teachers, Australia.
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I just...
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That's incredible.
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Well, Irina, that speaks a volume about you.
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Continues growing.
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I try to update the materials a little bit.
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And every month we have with each level, we have a live Q&A, just like we have with you.
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When they ask me questions, they can show their students videos.
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I can pinpoint what they need to work more or what's the actual cause of the challenges
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and how they need to change.
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So we do a book club where we read together some very important books.
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And we created such a great community of teachers from around the world.
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We are best friends.
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I had teachers from courses coming to Carmel just to see me.
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We spent several days together.
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So it's amazing.
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And I don't have really employees.
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The Gorin Institute is basically me.
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But again, through the courses, I have several teachers who are helping me.
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They also participate in the courses.
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And for example, I already mentioned Juliana from Colombia, who was the first translator
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to Spanish.
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She has two music schools.
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She is director of two music schools in Colombia.
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Now she trains all her teachers with tales.
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So that way, I would say the word Institute works when teachers grow, understand, and
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start training other teachers.
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So far, we have explored the rich insights of Irina's teaching philosophy and some
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practical tips.
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Let's now see her impact in action.
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Joining us in the next segment is Willette Neymeyer, a veteran piano teacher and music
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studio owner from Saskatoon, Canada, and a proud graduate of the Gorin Institute.
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She will share her personal experiences and the profound influence Irina's methods have
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had on her teaching career.
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All right.
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So thank you for joining us, Willette.
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The reason for including you to this episode is your affiliation as one of the many graduates
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of the Gorin Institute and your advocacy for Irina's methodology, along with your usage
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of her musical journey series.
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And I'm so excited to get to hear about how Irina's method books and methodologies and
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courses at the Gorin Institute have truly transformed and revolutionized your approach
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to piano teaching and impacted your students.
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So tell us about your current status as a piano teacher.
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Well, I've always been a part-time piano teacher.
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I worked in the school system as a home economics teacher, but I never wanted to drop teaching
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music students.
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I've always loved it.
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And I started when I was 19.
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I had my ARCT level from, that's in Canada, for teaching.
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And I've always maintained a small studio.
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So I have a lot of experience, but always with a small group.
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I never had to deal with burnout of big groups.
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The largest studio I ever had was 28 students, but when I was working full-time outside the
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home, I had three to six students on average in a week because I would just work a couple
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of evenings a week.
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So that prevented a lot of burnout.
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It was just a wonderful, uplifting thing to do in the middle of the rest of my life.
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My training is from the Victoria Conservatory of Music.
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I had some really wonderful teachers there.
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I had some pedagogical training there for two years, and it always served me well.
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But I always felt I was missing something.
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There was something more that I just couldn't grasp.
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It wasn't part of my training.
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And that's when I discovered ARENA.
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Okay.
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But before we get into the challenging part, how many courses did you take?
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Did you do them all?
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ARENA started during COVID.
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And she has four levels at the moment.
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And the fourth level, I'm in it for the second year running because we created together.
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We decide what we wish to explore and learn.
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We set the subject matter.
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We can post videos of things we are learning ourselves or our students, and we're teaching
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our students advice.
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And it isn't just ARENA that helps us.
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It's the whole group.
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We have this amalgamation of these incredible teachers from around the world who gather.
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And we're like hive mind.
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We contribute all these ideas.
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It's a wonderful growth opportunity because as most piano teachers know, it can be a very
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isolating experience.
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So during COVID, when we were so isolated, her course saved us.
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Her course saved us.
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We made friends from all over the world and we were there once a week online working hard
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and learning so much.
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Wow.
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So let's get into how ARENA's methodology at the Groin Institute impacted your piano
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teaching journey and changed the course of your teaching career.
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So where were you as a piano teacher before meeting ARENA or before discovering her methods?
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I've always enjoyed teaching.
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I didn't feel stuck, but I felt I was missing something, that it was limiting.
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I was doing a good job, but I knew there was more.
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And then as I discovered her name came up through YouTube and everything, I was watching
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how she was working with these very young children, four years old, and I knew I would
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never dare to work with a four-year-old.
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And I just didn't know how.
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I didn't have the tools for it.
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And the freedom and the emotional maturity with which they played was astonishing to
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me.
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And I wanted that for my students.
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I just wanted to be a teacher that could do that for my students.
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So when COVID came and she was offering this course, this online course, I wrestled with
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it a bit.
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I wondered, well, am I going to do this?
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Am I going to pay for this and do this?
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And my rationale for it was, if I even get two really good ideas that will help my students
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in the future, this will be worth it.
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And I had to laugh at myself because after the first session, I had written down 17 tools
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I could immediately apply to my teaching that I use to this day.
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Each one of the times we get together are packed full of ideas and different approaches
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and wisdom and encouragement, incredible encouragement.
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You no longer feel alone as a music teacher.
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And so how has it changed my teaching?
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I would definitely feel comfortable teaching young ones now.
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I will never teach a five finger approach again.
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I love her non-legato approach to playing and starting with the third finger.
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It has allowed my students to develop a natural handshape, free their wrists, their arm weight,
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and they're learning to really listen to their sound, not just the middle of the sound.
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They're learning to listen to the edge, the first edge of the sound and the last edge
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of the sound, like to train their ears to really listen.
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And what I love about her methodology is the quality of the music.
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They are short pieces for quite a while.
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So students get a lot of repertoire.
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They're learning a lot of music because it's short and they learn it quickly.
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Only two lessons, sometimes three lessons.
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And it's so pedagogically rich, all of the items she's picked.
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And they're so carefully scaffolded that, you know, the whole first book is non-legato.
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And it's quality music.
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They have duets with it or you can have recorded accompaniments with it.
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Students love it, such variety.
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And it really trains my students for classical music.
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It is so rich emotionally and it uses the whole imagination landscape of a child.
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So they are expressing a picture with their sound rather than just playing notes and feeling
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a rhythm.
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And so for me, it's just such a rich musical start for these young children.
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And I haven't found any other North American music methods that use this approach.
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Before I started with the arenas course, I was using Music Tree, which I loved for the
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way it taught students to read music.
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It stayed out of positions and they, but it got into legato far too soon.
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So yeah, this is just a much, much better beginning for my students.
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And they're just more involved.
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I see more enthusiasm.
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It's just a more enriching way to teach.
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Hard to describe, but when you see the sparkle in your students eyes or they start chuckling
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with you because they're sad kitten did not sound very sad.
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It sounded mad, you know, and then they changed their whole body posture and their whole approach
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to the sound.
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And suddenly they've got this very sad kitten in this piece and it's just remarkable to
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see it.
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Wow.
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Now you just told us like specific things that changed the way you approach teaching
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young children, but overall what stands out by, you know, taking her classes courses and
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that are different from others.
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She's a master pedagogue and I never got taught polyphony the way she teaches it.
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So the things in the Baroque era I'm looking at in a completely different way, teaching
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them in a completely different way.
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It's all about quality of sound, efficiency of movement, tension and release.
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It's just become so refined.
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It becomes very detailed as we progress further in the course.
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So it has changed my own playing and I can help like I get transfer students.
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It's rare for me to get a student because I have such a small studio to get a student
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right from the beginning.
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I've only had one student since I've taken the course that I could start right from the
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beginning.
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But I transfer those skills and I use some of her slightly later level books with my
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transfer students so they get to review.
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And it's usually about hand alignment and gathering the hand into a more natural position.
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Those are some of the things that I often have to remediate as well as they're usually
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terrible at reading or they're not following the fingering or they use the fingering to
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read the notes and that doesn't work in her method because when you move from a one to
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a two, you're not moving a second.
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You might be moving to a third.
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And so they have to start to have to read the notes and they become very detailed.
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They start paying attention to slurs, ends of slurs and how do you finish a phrase?
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What is the sound you want?
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They start noticing when you're bumping a phrase.
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So it's all this refinement.
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So sounds like it's an ideal way of approaching young children teaching classical piano playing,
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but not in a strict way.
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Oh no.
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Irina is so gentle and loving with her students.
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She never accepts students based on talent.
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She will accept any student if they have the proper family support.
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If they have a proper piano, they're willing to help the young child practice this sort
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of thing.
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They take on transfer students as well as long as they're really keen to be there, she
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will teach them.
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And she is so kind and she encourages all of us to be kind and respectful because we
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have to understand when a child is struggling or possibly even misbehaving, what is really
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going on with that child?
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And it always, always comes from a place of respect.
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There's also authority there.
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Wow.
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That's like a really ideal character as a teacher, right?
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So tell us about Irina Gordon herself.
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What qualities, you mentioned a little bit about characters, does she possess that make
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her an exceptional person and mentor to you?
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She is very, very humble.
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She is open to discussion on anything.
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She is incredibly generous with her time and her knowledge.
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I often find music teachers are very territorial and they want to hold their information close
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to their chest and they want their studio to excel and they've got students competing.
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And she is about helping everybody bloom.
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And she wants to help teachers who can help them, those students.
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Her goal with teaching music is to create more empathic human beings who love music
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and who are self-expressive.
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That's her goal.
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00:28:11,760
And it really hurts her to see children struggling with tight hands and claws and sitting improperly
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and banging the piano and very percussive sound.
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She knows what children are capable of.
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So her generosity stands out, her kindness, her respectfulness.
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00:28:33,400
And she has this amazing ability to zero in on the one thing that will make the most impact
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in someone's playing.
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00:28:37,380
And I was lucky enough to visit her.
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She just welcomes us with open arms.
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We went to visit and she gives me some lessons.
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And in the hour and a half, I was playing Bach and Debussy and Mendelssohn and every
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piece that I played for her, she would find two or three things that were so impactful
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that would raise it to the next level.
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It was remarkable.
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00:29:00,200
You also get to take piano lessons from her.
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Well, I did.
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I did.
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I went to see her around one summer for a few days and learned from her and watched
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her teach.
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00:29:11,600
And you are able to have Zoom lessons with her online if you wish.
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00:29:12,920
I've only done one of those.
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It was very, very helpful.
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But yeah, no, she's so generous with her time.
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And again, humble.
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00:29:20,960
I can't recommend the course enough.
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If there are piano teachers out there who are feeling stale or stagnant or struggling,
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saying how do I deal with certain issues, if they even just take the first level, it
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will solve so many issues for all the future years of their beginner students.
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00:29:41,640
It is such dense, rich material that is easily applied.
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00:29:44,480
It's a huge learning curve, but it is so worth it.
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It will make their lessons so much more joyous and involving.
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00:29:53,040
They will get far better results with their students, greater involvement with their students.
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I can't recommend it enough.
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00:30:02,240
I think people hesitate sometimes because they don't want to pay and the courses are
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priced very reasonably.
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00:30:06,000
We can't believe what we get for the money.
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Or they just feel like they can't keep up.
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00:30:09,080
Their lives are so busy.
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00:30:11,160
They can't keep up with the course.
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00:30:15,600
But everybody that's joined, some of them say, yes, I can't keep up, but this is so
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good.
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00:30:21,480
And everybody says they've just never encountered such a worthwhile course before in their lives.
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00:30:27,680
Bulet, thank you again for joining this testimonial segment of Irina's episode.
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00:30:35,840
Now, what are the common struggles and challenges or sometimes this misunderstanding you see
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from teachers?
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00:30:39,600
Very individual.
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00:30:47,720
Some teachers are just tired to be not happy with the results they see in their students.
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00:30:51,720
Some teachers are just curious.
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00:30:58,080
Some teachers struggle with certain techniques and they see how easy, for example, my students
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do that.
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00:31:00,620
They want to learn.
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It's really hard to pinpoint.
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00:31:07,760
Everybody has their own reasons.
461
00:31:07,760 -->
00:31:17,400
Some teachers started using tales, books, and they don't understand the real background,
462
00:31:17,400 -->
00:31:23,520
so they want to learn it, even though they see results, but they wanted to go in depth.
463
00:31:23,520 -->
00:31:26,120
A lot of teachers, actually.
464
00:31:26,120 -->
00:31:32,000
Those who started, who found tales first, then they found my courses and they joined
465
00:31:32,000 -->
00:31:33,000
them.
466
00:31:33,000 -->
00:31:36,520
So where can we sign up your course?
467
00:31:36,520 -->
00:31:43,120
So there is a website called thegoreninstitute.com and there are all the levels teachers can
468
00:31:43,120 -->
00:31:50,520
sign up any time to any level they want because some teachers might feel comfortable with
469
00:31:50,520 -->
00:31:59,960
beginners, but for example, in level two, our main focus are techniques such as scales,
470
00:31:59,960 -->
00:32:07,640
etudes, some technical skills as alberti bass, choosing the repertoire, the process of working
471
00:32:07,640 -->
00:32:17,880
on musical composition, supplemental repertoire, pedagogical analysis, starting to learn polyphony.
472
00:32:17,880 -->
00:32:23,480
Every course has 20 sessions and 10 Q&As.
473
00:32:23,480 -->
00:32:26,920
And level three is more advanced.
474
00:32:26,920 -->
00:32:31,320
We work on cenatinas and other larger forms.
475
00:32:31,320 -->
00:32:37,400
We work on little preludes by Bach, inventions and symphonies.
476
00:32:37,400 -->
00:32:40,840
And we work on romanticism in music.
477
00:32:40,840 -->
00:32:46,480
We work on Schumann's album for the young, Mike Apar, some other composers.
478
00:32:46,480 -->
00:32:55,040
So every level is a little bit like, they are, I would say the most useful would be
479
00:32:55,040 -->
00:32:58,120
to go through all of them.
480
00:32:58,120 -->
00:33:05,160
But if teachers don't want to spend the whole year, even though I offer intensive options
481
00:33:05,160 -->
00:33:11,440
or if they pay for the whole course, they can watch in one sitting everything and go
482
00:33:11,440 -->
00:33:13,000
to next level.
483
00:33:13,000 -->
00:33:16,080
I think it's helpful, but it's not mandatory.
484
00:33:16,080 -->
00:33:17,080
I see.
485
00:33:17,080 -->
00:33:18,080
Okay.
486
00:33:18,080 -->
00:33:22,320
They can go in level two or level three, then go to level one.
487
00:33:22,320 -->
00:33:30,760
The only thing I have level four, which we call alumni level.
488
00:33:30,760 -->
00:33:35,520
And that's where teachers who went through all my courses can join.
489
00:33:35,520 -->
00:33:41,960
And that's where they have lots of benefits, like having free access to all the videos,
490
00:33:41,960 -->
00:33:47,800
to all the Q&As, being able to attend all the Q&As of our levels.
491
00:33:47,800 -->
00:33:50,240
But it's like a cherry on the top.
492
00:33:50,240 -->
00:33:53,720
You have to go through levels to be able to join.
493
00:33:53,720 -->
00:33:54,720
Wow.
494
00:33:54,720 -->
00:33:58,400
I have like 50 teachers in the alumni level.
495
00:33:58,400 -->
00:33:59,400
Amazing.
496
00:33:59,400 -->
00:34:00,400
Wow.
497
00:34:00,400 -->
00:34:01,480
That's so fantastic.
498
00:34:01,480 -->
00:34:04,680
So that's the goreinstitute.com, right?
499
00:34:04,680 -->
00:34:05,680
Yes.
500
00:34:05,680 -->
00:34:06,680
Okay, great.
501
00:34:06,680 -->
00:34:11,000
Now, I know I have so many more questions, but it's almost, you know, toward the end
502
00:34:11,000 -->
00:34:12,360
of our conversation.
503
00:34:12,360 -->
00:34:20,440
So I have one thing that from our audience that who asked me to ask you, how should we
504
00:34:20,440 -->
00:34:26,320
as piano teachers enlist parents in facilitating regular practice for young beginners?
505
00:34:26,320 -->
00:34:32,280
Meaning, you know, parents, how should we encourage parents to participate in their
506
00:34:32,280 -->
00:34:33,280
practice?
507
00:34:33,280 -->
00:34:36,120
It's a really good question.
508
00:34:36,120 -->
00:34:44,360
And unfortunately, there are a lot of arguments about importance of parental involvement,
509
00:34:44,360 -->
00:34:48,080
and some teachers don't even allow parents in their lessons.
510
00:34:48,080 -->
00:34:56,440
I think, and I learned it from my pedagogy teacher, Victor Makarov, who also wrote a
511
00:34:56,440 -->
00:34:59,160
book about piano pedagogy.
512
00:34:59,160 -->
00:35:08,320
He had a little sketch of a bird flying, and the child sitting on the bird with one wing
513
00:35:08,320 -->
00:35:11,540
being a teacher and the other wing being a parent.
514
00:35:11,540 -->
00:35:17,640
And the question is, if one wing is missing, will the bird fly?
515
00:35:17,640 -->
00:35:20,240
Will the child continue flying?
516
00:35:20,240 -->
00:35:21,240
Of course not.
517
00:35:21,240 -->
00:35:23,760
It will be a big fall.
518
00:35:23,760 -->
00:35:31,360
And on my initial interview, I again, as I mentioned before, I don't choose a student
519
00:35:31,360 -->
00:35:33,840
or choose students by their abilities.
520
00:35:33,840 -->
00:35:40,520
I choose if I can work with parents and if they follow my instructions, my directions,
521
00:35:40,520 -->
00:35:47,200
and my main request, my main demand for parents to be involved.
522
00:35:47,200 -->
00:35:48,200
How involved?
523
00:35:48,200 -->
00:35:56,200
I explained them right away, but I also continue educating them through all the years of piano
524
00:35:56,200 -->
00:36:01,600
lessons and the ways are through newsletters, through articles.
525
00:36:01,600 -->
00:36:06,720
There are tons of articles about importance, through little suggestions.
526
00:36:06,720 -->
00:36:15,800
I at least twice a year, I do teacher-parent conference where I discuss with parents the
527
00:36:15,800 -->
00:36:23,160
progress, we look together at the schedule, we try to tweak things around to give a good
528
00:36:23,160 -->
00:36:27,200
time to piano practice, to make it a routine.
529
00:36:27,200 -->
00:36:31,600
Of course, it's very hard, even when parents are present at the lessons, it's very hard
530
00:36:31,600 -->
00:36:38,660
to answer all their questions or tell them everything, especially in front of the child.
531
00:36:38,660 -->
00:36:42,640
So I do it without children, one on one.
532
00:36:42,640 -->
00:36:48,440
But they are also active participants in the lesson.
533
00:36:48,440 -->
00:36:57,320
If they become too much and that happens, it also takes some training and education.
534
00:36:57,320 -->
00:37:03,000
I just tell them the child gets distracted, so you need to sit a little bit farther and
535
00:37:03,000 -->
00:37:07,040
ask questions only after the lesson.
536
00:37:07,040 -->
00:37:13,040
I don't allow them to correct the child because I am the one to do that.
537
00:37:13,040 -->
00:37:18,400
If they pick on the child from two different sides, it's not going to be good.
538
00:37:18,400 -->
00:37:27,720
So in the lesson, I'm the one who teaches, they observe and learn and record.
539
00:37:27,720 -->
00:37:34,920
I actually video record every lesson, not only for the purpose to post it on YouTube,
540
00:37:34,920 -->
00:37:39,480
but it's for parents to watch the lesson, not for students.
541
00:37:39,480 -->
00:37:44,280
They will not be interested to look again at the lessons they were.
542
00:37:44,280 -->
00:37:50,560
But parents can always go back and see what was emphasized, what's important.
543
00:37:50,560 -->
00:37:59,420
Sometimes when parents are involved, the big challenge is arguments at home.
544
00:37:59,420 -->
00:38:01,120
You don't know.
545
00:38:01,120 -->
00:38:03,160
I used to tell my mom, how do you know?
546
00:38:03,160 -->
00:38:04,160
I'm taking lessons.
547
00:38:04,160 -->
00:38:06,880
You can't tell me what to do.
548
00:38:06,880 -->
00:38:12,240
And my teacher is not here, so I know better.
549
00:38:12,240 -->
00:38:17,160
But having the video, they can show them, look, your teacher told you to do that.
550
00:38:17,160 -->
00:38:18,760
And that really helps.
551
00:38:18,760 -->
00:38:27,200
I require parents to send me pictures, videos from their home practice so I can catch mistakes
552
00:38:27,200 -->
00:38:28,800
early.
553
00:38:28,800 -->
00:38:32,480
So they need to be aware of the process.
554
00:38:32,480 -->
00:38:39,440
And the thing when children know that parents are involved, it really helps them to feel
555
00:38:39,440 -->
00:38:46,160
support and they do something that is valuable.
556
00:38:46,160 -->
00:38:54,240
Because if child is dropped off at the lesson, then picked up and then at home go practice,
557
00:38:54,240 -->
00:38:56,960
they feel grounded.
558
00:38:56,960 -->
00:39:00,480
They feel unprivileged.
559
00:39:00,480 -->
00:39:03,120
It's punishment.
560
00:39:03,120 -->
00:39:07,240
And especially young children, they can't be alone.
561
00:39:07,240 -->
00:39:14,320
They don't feel the piano as a friend to communicate with grown-up people might feel.
562
00:39:14,320 -->
00:39:17,040
We need to grow that relationship.
563
00:39:17,040 -->
00:39:19,320
We need to teach them.
564
00:39:19,320 -->
00:39:26,800
And if parents are there, if they support, if they encourage, not argue, not scream,
565
00:39:26,800 -->
00:39:33,600
but support and encourage and make sure the schedule works so the child is not too tired
566
00:39:33,600 -->
00:39:35,160
when they practice the piano.
567
00:39:35,160 -->
00:39:42,200
When they go to the concert together and can discuss, those are the best ways to work.
568
00:39:42,200 -->
00:39:43,920
Well, thank you.
569
00:39:43,920 -->
00:39:46,800
Thank you for this, your wisdom.
570
00:39:46,800 -->
00:39:52,060
And I'm sure my audience's members are really happy to hear that.
571
00:39:52,060 -->
00:39:57,680
So for those who are listening and watching this episode, please check out IrinaGoren.com
572
00:39:57,680 -->
00:40:03,440
for her method books, Tales of a Musical Journey series.
573
00:40:03,440 -->
00:40:10,180
And also please join her Facebook forum, Passionate Piano Teacher Community.
574
00:40:10,180 -->
00:40:18,320
And also you can check out her pedagogy courses, the Goren Institute at thegoreninstitute.com.
575
00:40:18,320 -->
00:40:20,000
So Irina, thank you.
576
00:40:20,000 -->
00:40:22,860
This has been a really fun and inspiring conversation.
577
00:40:22,860 -->
00:40:26,600
But before I let you go, we have one more thing to do.
578
00:40:26,600 -->
00:40:28,580
It's called the piano part rapid fire question.
579
00:40:28,580 -->
00:40:33,520
So this is part of the show where I get to ask fun questions to each guest.
580
00:40:33,520 -->
00:40:34,520
Here's a little twist.
581
00:40:34,520 -->
00:40:39,200
As silly as these questions may sound, they may reveal who truly you are.
582
00:40:39,200 -->
00:40:41,200
So get ready.
583
00:40:41,200 -->
00:40:45,680
Yeah, let's start with the fun, easy questions.
584
00:40:45,680 -->
00:40:46,680
Okay.
585
00:40:46,680 -->
00:40:48,280
So level one, question number one.
586
00:40:48,280 -->
00:40:50,200
What is your comfort food?
587
00:40:50,200 -->
00:40:51,200
Ice cream.
588
00:40:51,200 -->
00:40:52,200
Great.
589
00:40:52,200 -->
00:40:53,200
Me too.
590
00:40:53,200 -->
00:40:54,200
All right.
591
00:40:54,200 -->
00:40:58,560
Number two, how do you like your coffee in the morning?
592
00:40:58,560 -->
00:41:00,360
Black coffee with sugar.
593
00:41:00,360 -->
00:41:01,360
Cattle dogs.
594
00:41:01,360 -->
00:41:06,200
I had a dog, so probably dogs.
595
00:41:06,200 -->
00:41:08,200
Sunrise or sunset?
596
00:41:08,200 -->
00:41:09,200
Sunset.
597
00:41:09,200 -->
00:41:11,680
So this is going to be level two.
598
00:41:11,680 -->
00:41:15,920
What skill have you always wanted to learn but haven't had the chance to?
599
00:41:15,920 -->
00:41:17,540
Dancing.
600
00:41:17,540 -->
00:41:21,160
What is your word or words to live by?
601
00:41:21,160 -->
00:41:22,720
Never give up.
602
00:41:22,720 -->
00:41:23,800
Yes.
603
00:41:23,800 -->
00:41:28,120
What is the most important quality you look for in other people?
604
00:41:28,120 -->
00:41:29,400
Honesty.
605
00:41:29,400 -->
00:41:33,840
Name three people who inspire you living or dead.
606
00:41:33,840 -->
00:41:36,240
My parents and my teachers.
607
00:41:36,240 -->
00:41:39,280
Level three, two more questions to go.
608
00:41:39,280 -->
00:41:42,920
Name one piece in your current playlist.
609
00:41:42,920 -->
00:41:49,840
Oh my goodness.
610
00:41:49,840 -->
00:41:58,640
You know, it's always been probably Rachmaninoff concerto number two.
611
00:41:58,640 -->
00:41:59,640
Of course.
612
00:41:59,640 -->
00:42:00,640
The best.
613
00:42:00,640 -->
00:42:01,640
Yes.
614
00:42:01,640 -->
00:42:03,200
Now, final question.
615
00:42:03,200 -->
00:42:05,160
Fill in the blank.
616
00:42:05,160 -->
00:42:07,240
Music is blank.
617
00:42:07,240 -->
00:42:08,240
Music is a life.
618
00:42:08,240 -->
00:42:09,240
Great.
619
00:42:09,240 -->
00:42:10,240
Beautiful.
620
00:42:10,240 -->
00:42:11,700
Thank you.
621
00:42:11,700 -->
00:42:14,040
So that concludes this episode of the Piano Pod.
622
00:42:14,040 -->
00:42:19,320
Thank you, Irina, for joining my show today and sharing your stories and expertise.
623
00:42:19,320 -->
00:42:24,560
So for the Piano Pod's listeners and viewers, please visit the goreininstitute.com to learn
624
00:42:24,560 -->
00:42:28,560
more about Irina's organization and connect her on social media.
625
00:42:28,560 -->
00:42:30,800
All the links are listed in the show notes.
626
00:42:30,800 -->
00:42:33,720
Thank you to my wonderful audience and fans for tuning in today.
627
00:42:33,720 -->
00:42:37,960
If you enjoyed today's episode, please rate and review it on whatever podcasting platform
628
00:42:37,960 -->
00:42:38,960
you use.
629
00:42:38,960 -->
00:42:42,840
And if you haven't already, please subscribe to my YouTube channel.
630
00:42:42,840 -->
00:42:47,480
Follow the Piano Pod on social media to get the latest piano news via Facebook, Instagram,
631
00:42:47,480 -->
00:42:49,320
TikTok and LinkedIn.
632
00:42:49,320 -->
00:42:52,440
I will see you for the next episode of the Piano Pod.
633
00:42:52,440 -->
00:42:53,440
Bye everyone.
634
00:42:53,440 -->
00:42:54,440
Thank you so much, Irina.
635
00:42:54,440 -->
00:42:55,440
Thank you.
636
00:42:55,440 -->
00:43:00,440
Thank you for inviting me and thank you for our audience for listening.
637
00:43:00,440 -->
00:43:19,720
Thank you.
