THE TRANSCENDENT PIANIST: DEEPENING THE MIND-BODY CONNECTION AT ALL LEVELS OF PLAYING AND STAGES OF LIFE

“Nora is a very accomplished pianist, performer, teacher and lecturer who has an inquisitive and brilliant mind, a profound knowledge of piano playing, piano literature, piano technique and pedagogy. She is very aware, sensitive and shows genuine concern about her students’ development and future, consciously finding more efficient ways to teach and help each one of them.“

Evelyne Brancart – Pianist
International Performer
Professor of Music
Indiana University: Jacobs School of Music

My own experience as a music performer, teacher and audience has deepened my awe of the powers of music to transform the mind and spirit. I have seen that music stimulates evolutionary change within the brain, which neuroscience supports, and helps to produce more sensitized and intelligent individuals. Music also teaches the more practical attributes of responsibility, self-discipline, positive work ethic, analytic skills, patience, perseverance, delayed gratification, increased emotional sensitivity, and sensitivity to beauty. My first priority in teaching is to ensure progress towards increasing these cognitive and emotional functions which in turn leads to increased enjoyment of music. I myself practice and teach music for the emotional satisfaction, mental acuity and inner strength it affords me and my students.

My teaching is very much influenced by my own education. My pedagogical heritage reaches back to Ludwig van Beethoven. In top conservatories (see resume), I was mentored by great piano pedagogues including German-born Leonard Shure and Belgium-born Evelyne Brancart both of whom were my primary musical influences. Mr. Shure’s and Ms. Brancart’s pedagogical lines were filled with historically famed pianists:

Ludwig van Beethoven taught
Carl Czerny taught
Theodor Leschetizky taught
Artur Schnabel taught
Leonard Shure and Mario Curcio (taught Evelyne Brancart) taught
Nora Chiang Wrobel

I enjoy a holistic approach to teaching and through music I work to inspire students to aspire towards their greater abilities. The mind-body connection demands that each student have a strong core: strong bodily core, strong psycho-emotional core, strong piano technical core and strong music educational core. Toward this end, I lay a strong foundation for my students in the five main areas of piano technique, repertoire, music theory, sight-reading and ear-training. These fundamentals serve every student well whether they go on to learn the greater challenges and subtleties of piano artistry or whether they go on to concentrate on other areas of human endeavor. To this end, I dedicate myself to tailoring lessons to the individual need of each student.