Educator
For over 15 years, Dr. Sekyeong Seong has been teaching as a piano faculty at music colleges and academies in Korea and USA and in her own piano studio. Dr. Seong served as an applied piano instructor for music major and non-music major students at The Ohio State University. Presently, she is teaching at Pacific Music Academy in California.
Teaching philosophy
"With professional music education and extensive performance experience, I am dedicated to being a professional pianist and piano instructor. I have many years of teaching experience working with students of all ages and levels. I am passionate about developing my students’ talents and helping them to achieve their music dreams. I endeavor to create an environment where students feel motivated and excited by music and feel free to explore their creativity and self-expression and to uncover their own musical identities. I enable them to learn more about themselves and others through music. To achieve these goals, I look honestly at where students currently stand in their musical and technical development. As we progress, I keep the students’ individual needs foremost in my mind. I draw upon my 15 years of pedagogical experience to develop strategies to make common musical elements accessible to all.
College students, I find, are struggling to discover their own musical identity. I strive to help each college student find his or her own musical path. Each student has a different perception, background, and experience, and there is no single path that all students must follow.
I am always open to listen to my students. I take into consideration each student’s developmental stage, including cognitive, emotional and physical readiness for musical techniques. I adjust my teaching methods and curriculum according to the individual's pace of learning.
I am constantly updating and improving my pedagogical concepts through interaction with my students. With carefully selected methods and repertoires, I help students understand the core of their study beyond the assignments. I know it is important for my students to read music correctly, to listen to music analytically, and to approach new music independently.
I empower potentially professional students strive to achieve their goals, to make passionate music, and to reach musical excellence. I teach these students self-monitoring skills, by guiding them to become more mindful, self-aware, and conscientious during the course of their learning and practice sessions. A professional pianist needs to achieve musically fluent and interesting sounds, besides developing strong technical skills. Teaching students how to use their bodies naturally and in a relaxed manner is one of the important aspects to develop technical consistency, fluency and style.
I am a sincere music educator. I take all of the above responsibilities seriously whether I am teaching children, who learn music for fun, adult students, who want to improve their lives, or advanced students who want music as their livelihood. I teach my students not only musical skills, but also assist them as they explore and enhance their lives through musical study.
Music has a unique impact on each individual; I help create that impact".
““Dr. Seong has been one of my most influential teachers I’ve had in my piano instruction and playing. She reinforced my foundation of understanding and truly brought out expressivity in my playing that I had never considered myself capable of performing. Patient, kind, and nurturing, Dr. Seong helped to foster my love of piano playing and her expert guidance is inspiring. I grew leaps and bounds in the time that I took lessons with Dr. Seong, and still refer back to things she taught me in our lessons years later.”
- Justin T. Fields, MM Vocal Performance and MA Vocal Pedagogy at The Ohio State University
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““I am adult learner who has played piano off and on since my teenage years. Sekyeong has done one of the most extraordinary things a teacher can do- she has helped me “un-learn” much of the bad practice habits and piano technique that I had acquired before meeting her. Because of this, in just over two years of studying with her, I feel as if I have made more progress than at any point in my prior history of playing. I have gone from being a mere “piano typist” to a “musician.”
Sekyeong is pedagogically and musically sensitive. She has both the ability to instantly hone in on a problem area, and suggest ways in which to make a musical passage richer and more musical. She has helped me to realize that these two realms usually overlap.
Sekyeong is infectiously enthusiastic about my progress. I feel she really cares about my progress and is willing to work with me to make me the best pianist I can be. “
- Brad Hoehne
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“ “My ten-year-old daughter has been taking lessons from Sekyeong for a few years and she has improved her piano skills tremendously. My daughter loves playing the piano because of Sekyeong’s influence and passion about music. My daughter loves that she is gently challenged, but consistently encouraged to reach higher levels of piano skills. It is this balance between the joy of learning and the pursuit of excellence that not only encourages young piano students to strive for their best, but to love doing it.”
- Mariko, Ana’s Mother
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““We have been so happy to have found Dr. Sekyeong Seong to be our daughter’s piano teacher. Our daughter, Kiera, has been taking lessons for just over 2 years. Kiera loves Sekyeong, which makes going to piano lessons such a great experience. Sekyeong has a very friendly, kind manner with her. They work through each piece thoroughly, paying attention to touch and sound, not just the notes. She is a very dedicated and professional teacher and musician. She offers regular recitals for students and consistently holds her own recitals and invites her students to maintain their motivation and connection with good music. Also, she participates regularly in piano pedagogy conferences, seminars, and workshops, thus she always tries to develop her teaching techniques and use more creative teaching ideas in such effective ways for both young and adult students. We are very grateful to have her as Kiera’s piano teacher!”
- Jennifer Young, Kiera’s mother
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““Before I began my tutorship with Dr. Seong, I had very minimal experience with the piano. I knew I wanted to learn, albeit I had no idea where to start or how to begin, and being an adult learner, I was a little intimidated. She changed all of that for me. Dr. Seong taught me that we all have the ability to learn an instrument, regardless of age. All it takes is passion and drive. Her absolute confidence in me shattered any illusion of doubt I carried, and before long I found myself playing pieces of music I never dreamed I would be capable of playing so early in my tutelage.
Dr. Seong carries within her a compassion that all great teachers must have, to the point I knew she cared for my progress as much as I did. That feeling when you know someone is beside you in your journey is priceless; the companionship she shared with me is something I will never forget. And when I knew our time together was almost at an end and I would be moving on, I realized not only did I happen upon an amazing teacher, but I also made a lifelong friend.“
- Alex G. Hardesty
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