Dr. Chuan-Li Ko

Throughout my 16 years of teaching individual piano lessons, keyboard skills, music theory, and ear-training classes, I have always challenged myself to incorporate creative methods into studio and classroom teaching. This innovation stimulates students’ interest in learning and accomplishing their goals. One time, I challenged a student to play a Chopin’s Nocturne more spontaneously by imagining himself as three different contestants playing the piece in a competition. Not only did I request him to make each rendition different and better from the previous, I also compelled him into imagining that “the piece has never been written but it is something that he is improvising as it goes along.” The result was magical as he pushed himself beyond his capabilities. My philosophy of education centers on maximizing students’ potential and strengths. I seek to provide the best possible environment and tools to enhance students’ learning experiences.

“Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime” has always been my motto. The two main aspects I focus on intensively in self-directed learning are the mindset and strategy developed and employed while working on a piece of music. Though our role as educators is to provide guidance to students of all types, I believe that inspiring students to become independent musicians and lifelong learners can be more beneficial. In order to cultivate autodidacticism, I offer students guidelines and methods that serve as a learning compass outside of the classroom.
 

Although music interpretation is crucial in a performance, the preparatory work in the practice room determines the final product. Evidently, slow practice has been the practice strategy for many musicians in the pursuit of technical improvement. I very much prefer the idea of practicing a passage rhythmic-less-ly, as it relieves body tension taking place under the restraint of rhythmic complexity. Another modification I take with slow practice is dismantling the passage into small units; taking them out of dynamic, expressive, and rhythmic context; and playing the notes deep into the key bed with full physical engagement. At times, it is necessary to play the passage fast to test-run the fingers in order to understand how different parts and levers of our body work together as a whole.

The body is able to take in much more information during the process of music construction than musicians previously thought. Teaching our body how it feels while executing every single note on the piano and slowly but mindfully digesting the information, will consolidate the learning. While it is good to be goal-oriented in the practice room, it helps to allow our body and mind to experiment and embrace fully our experience with music. I teach my students not to fear or resist technical difficulties, but take time to understand why and how our mind and body react to the music in such a way. Building this mindset for piano practice can lead to a much more engaging, fun, and rewarding learning process.

Similarly in teaching, I prefer to take things slow. Besides setting goals periodically to motivate my students, each week I am able to find new angles and aspects in an old piece to work on. Because I care about what each student can offer differently in their playing, I always provide feedback that brings out their best. I am also open to discussion with students in which they bring in unique, dynamic, and unconventional ideas. As a result, I discover something new from my students daily.

I like to make new concepts fun and easy to absorb. While I constantly assign tasks and pose questions that challenge my students to think critically, I am good at presenting my ideas in a relatable yet profound way.

Teaching is not only about imparting knowledge and skills from a teacher to a learner. As an educator, it is my responsibility to figure out how each student learns and to provide students opportunities to explore, discover, and identify their strengths and weaknesses. Instruction should be adjusted accordingly and tailored to the needs of each student, with the intent to maximize their creative ideas and innovative thinking. By challenging them to cope with difficult and unfamiliar tasks at a higher proficiency level, I contribute to their exploratory process as they discover and develop their own capabilities. Ultimately, I seek to encourage students to continue learning in a life-long passion for music.