During a recent trip to South Korea, I had the opportunity to meet the wonderful collaborative pianist Ja Yeon Kang. Collaborative piano – also known as accompanying – is the oft neglected art of working together with other musicians who are featured in the limelight, providing them with musical support through a keen ear for ensemble playing and exceptional emotional empathy. Where soloists strive to draw attention to themselves, collaborative pianists defer to serve others. As a collaborative pianist myself, I welcome any opportunity to recognize the remarkable work of amazing musicians such as Ms. Kang as vastly under-appreciated musical heroines/heroes. Ms. Kang was kind enough to share some of her international pedagogical background, as well as her insights into what life is like for professional musicians in the South Korean classical music scene.
Ja Yeon Kang, Pianist, has appeared as both soloist and collaborative artist at Barbican Centre, Wigmore Hall, Holywell Music Room, and LSO St. Luke, in London as well as throughout the numerous venues in the United States and Korea. A native of Korea, she holds a Bachelor’s Degree at the Seoul National University and a Master’s Degree at the Peabody Institute where she received the Laura Adelberg Award for her chamber work. Ms. Kang finished a Doctorate degree from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and City University London, supported by the Guildhall Trust and the Leverhulme Trust. She received the accompanist prizes at Guildhall school and the Concordia Foundation Award. Her primary teachers include Yong Hi Moon, Ronan O’hara, and Graham Johnson
Ja Yeon’s doctorate dissertation is on Schumann’s late vocal and piano music and she recently finished translating Nancy Reich’s 『Clara Schumann』 in Korean.
Previously, she was on the faculty of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama for the keyboard study and worked as a repetituer at the National Opera Studio in London. Operatic experience includes Jonathan Dove’s ‘Flight’ with British Youth Opera and ‘Elvin und Elmire’ with Lieder Theater London.
Kang currently serves as the Adjunct Professor of Collaborative Piano at the Sookmyung Women’s University and teaches piano literature at the University of Seoul. She recently joined as a faculty at the Montecito International Music Festival in USA and has been also engaged as an official pianist for the Osaka international music competition.
In this special video episode of A Musical Life, I wanted to talk about the world of the piano from the perspective of a professional pianist. Contrary to what you might think, I’m actually embarrassed to confess how little I’ve actually known about the different makes and models of pianos, much less how they actually work to make beautiful sounds beyond my own instincts and musical training. If a professional pianist has a hard time understanding the differences between piano manufacturers and the mechanical details of what makes one piano different from another, then how is an average lay person or first time piano buyer supposed to fare? To that end, I’m incredibly grateful to author Larry Fine, a piano technician who wrote the pioneering book, “The Piano Book”, and then went on to share his in-depth knowledge of pianos on his website, 
Temple University’s Music Preparatory Division, or “Temple Music Prep” for short, is a program located in the heart of center city, Philadelphia, that provides high quality, non-credit music and dance instruction, and related activities to the Community on behalf of the Boyer College of Music and Dance, and Temple University at-large.
Jeff Russo was one of the two founding members of the rock band “Tonic”, perhaps best known for their number one hit in the 90s, “If You Could Only See”. Nowadays, Jeff is in demand as a TV and film composer, having scored music for hit shows like “Fargo”, “American Gothic”, and can currently be heard on the new FX Marvel series, “Legion”.
David Hart is the developer of the G4 Guitar Method, a method based on his two decades of teaching and opening schools throughout Australia. David’s G4 method not only teaches students the 7 essential skills of guitar playing – it also teaches teachers how to become entrepreneurs and open their own schools, as evidenced by the 50 franchises of the G4 Guitar method around the world.
Carol Jantsch became the first female tuba player to win a major symphony orchestra position while she was still a senior attending the University of Michigan back in 2006. In addition to her duties as principal tuba of the Philadelphia Orchestra, Carol has been active as a tuba soloist, appearing in recital and in concerto settings with orchestras and ensembles around the world, and now has started her own tuba cover band called “Tubular”.
Sara Davis Buechner has been hailed by The New York Times for her “intelligence, integrity and all-encompassing technical prowess”. As one of the leading keyboard artists of our time, Sara has an active repertoire of over 100 piano concertos and has appeared with prominent orchestras all over the world. Sara was recently appointed to the piano faculty at Temple University’s Boyer College of Music and Dance, in Philadelphia.
