Ryan's Story
In the spring of 2016, Ryan was preparing for his high school's Asian American Club Show and wanted to accompany his friend on a popular K-Pop song, "Eyes, Nose, Lips" by Taeyang. Ryan's skills grew dramatically from the motivation to reach this goal. He played quickly and fluidly as he interpreted music that was more difficult than what had been presented in his method series thus far.
When we reached the end of the song, we found that it moves up a half step to a key that Ryan hadn't previously learned! The key signature had five flats when the previous key had no flats or sharps. I quickly pulled out my notebook and drew a keyboard. Using small fish stickers, I color-coded the keys and put the matching fish above each chord on his music; he quickly mastered the ending in time to audition for this festival.
Ryan and his friend performed this song beautifully to the ecstatic cheers of their peers. I was so proud of him! At the following spring recital, his mom thanked me for inspiring him to love the piano.
Here is the video of Ryan and his friend's performance.
What are your student success stories?
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