From Christine E.
David Chang Music - Online and Brooklyn, NY
I played piano as a child but stopped when I was fifteen. 15 years later, I had the urge to take lessons again which is how I discovered David Chang Music. The process of enrolling was seamless from start to finish, David was kind enough to set aside 2 hours of his time for a Zoom meeting where we had a very detailed and helpful chat to figure out which of the offerings would be best for me. We decided on the Pianist Collective as I really wanted a sense of community to help motivate me and provide accountability. My goal piece was Scarlatti Sonata K. 517 which at the time just felt impossible. I’d tried to learn it myself a couple years prior and couldn’t even make it past the first 2 measures. But with the Collective, I was able to learn it in just 2 months! I’m now able to play it at speeds that seemed completely out of reach for me just a short time ago. Having learned it, we decided I should learn a 2nd goal piece - Chopin Op. 25 no. 2, which I was also able to learn in about the same time frame. When playing as a child, I stopped at ABRSM Grade 7, so it’s been amazing being able to perform pieces that are much beyond that level after such a long gap in my learning.
A big issue I struggled with when self-teaching was motivation, and the Pianist Collective helps so much with that. We have a platform where people chat, post questions, and showcase their progress, fingerings etc in addition to the online classes where we are encouraged to perform for each other, so it definitely keeps the flame lit when learning as there’s a sense of accountability to each other. This has been invaluable in helping keep me motivated.
Another ongoing issue I have is stage fright, so being able to perform for other students and David on a very regular basis has helped SO much with that. It’s not an overnight fix, but I’ve seen leaps & bounds of progress in relaxing my nerves when performing for others. The amount of “exposure therapy” we get to help with stage fright / performance anxiety is amazing. David curates the students impeccably so you’ll find that everyone is extremely friendly and supportive, we get In addition to being able to perform for each other during class calls twice a week, we also have two recitals each year and a mock recital studio class, plus weeks of performance training to prepare us for it. In such a such time, I’ve learned so much about adding musicality to my performances, and especially keeping a healthy mindset when performing. We are encouraged to give each other critiques when listening to our performances, and on multiple occasions, I’ve received some invaluable help and information from other class members. I’ve also seen improvement in critiquing myself from the knowledge I’ve gained hearing others’ helpful critiques and critiquing others in turn.
There are even in-person meetups hosted by fellow members of the group where we just hang out casually and play for each other, which has been so fun! I really wanted some element of in-person interaction when searching for a piano instructor, so it was exciting when David mentioned that this was something that was an informal part of the Collective as well. It’s kind of a Gumbo class - it has the best parts of everything! Personal instruction, recitals, performances, get togethers, even one-on-one instruction as well. As mentioned earlier, everyone in the group - students and instructors alike - are SO warm and friendly, and I was very quickly able to make concrete friendships with fellow class members. We’re also quite a diverse bunch in terms of age, skill level, background and ethnicity if that’s something personally important to you, so you’ll find you feel almost instantly comfortable in the class. We have complete beginners and quite advanced players - and everyone is as enthusiastic and encouraging as though we were all virtuosos haha. Even if you were only able to manage the first two measures of Mary has A Little Lamb, you will find only supportive faces commending your improvements and offering helpful critiques and advice. It’s truly a fantastic community.
When I first approached David, I had a more traditional idea of piano instruction in mind: show up to a location somewhere, put in my 1 hour for one-on-one instruction, then spend the rest of the week practicing and dealing with issues completely on my own, saving all questions for the following week (and hoping I remember them). Rinse and Repeat. However, I cannot stress how much better the Pianist Collective is than that. The online platform is incredible - at any point and any time in the day, I can post a question, my fingerings, metronome practice or just a video of me playing, and be sure to wake up to a comment from David, one of the adjunct instructors, a student (or all three!) addressing my question or issues within a few hours, or the following morning if posted late at night. The responses you receive on the platform are also SO detailed. Yet none of that takes away from class time. So you receive almost real-time feedback, all the social benefits of a group community, AND still have 4 hours of class instruction (2 calls per week) with performance training in addition to that. David also has a wealth of knowledge posted on the platform and on YouTube, which he can refer you to, where he goes over certain concepts and personal methodologies in extreme detail. It’s quite amazing the amount of value you get at a cost that would amount to maybe 1 hour of weekly one-on-one instruction at best (and no feedback in between) in a more traditional setup.
And on the topic of methodologies, I’ve gained a lot of improvement from David’s videos and personalized instruction alone. Relaxation & Musicality are still big struggles for me, but I’ve come quite some way in the past few months. I’d also never practiced with a metronome before or gotten into the habit of writing out my fingerings on the piece - and certainly never paid much attention to detail (good enough was my mantra for years haha) but David’s instruction in these areas have been key in my improvement. And of course mindset.
David is very responsive and communicative - super easy to reach out to, and is so kind in his interaction with all students. He is also quite attentive - I remember being at a very, very low point with my second piece, and he picked up on just from my changed demeanor and tone of voice during class and sent me a well check message shortly afterwards, which ended up in a detailed conversation about how to improve my mindset and not be so hard on myself, etc. that I really needed at that time. Some of his words of guidance are actually things that I find myself applying in my daily life. There is a very special personal touch he has with each and every one of his students that really makes you feel like you are part of a family when taking instruction with him and especially when being a part of the Collective. He is also of course an amazing virtuosic pianist and an incredible teacher - often times people with an incredible amount of skill might find it difficult to parlay that into instruction, but he is uniquely skilled in his ability to guide both absolute beginners and advanced students alike. I truly cannot adequately express how grateful I am to have him as an instructor and be a part of the Pianist Collective. It’s been such a fantastic experience that I hope to continue for a long time.
