Julia Park is one of the most active piano teachers in Queens and Long Island. She has been teaching piano to students of all ages and all levels for more than fifteen years.
Teaching Philosophy
Her piano teaching focuses not only on piano playing but also on whole musicianship along with music theory, aural training, sight reading, improvisation and composition. She applies different methods, repertoire and drills based on individual’s abilities, strengths, and taste for music while she still balances musicianship. As a piano teacher, it is important to help the students enjoy music and appreciate it through the act of playing music. Hopefully, as they grow, music will remain a part of their life and they will feel that their life has been enriched by music.
Many beginner students start piano learning with Ms. Park and most of them are still playing and growing. Ms. Park teaches with a careful and thoughtful approach, especially for the beginners, as she assesses their cognitive level and abilities. Also, she makes an effort to choose repertoire for beginners so that they have fun and enjoy piano learning. Musical ear-training, along with learning music notation, is important in her teaching, especially for beginners, and she employs solfège in both ear-training and keyboard activities.
As students grow to an intermediate or advanced level that requires more technical fluency, she guides students to learn the correct technique along with developing their musicality. Being a performer gives her the ability to teach the correct physical approach to the keyboard. In fact, she is teaching with the Abby Whiteside technique by studying with Sophia Rosoff, who was one of Abby Whiteside’ s pupils and the president of the Abby Whiteside Foundation (www.abbywhiteside.org).
Education & Performance Career
As a pianist, she made her New York Debut Recital at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall in 2003. She has won numerous competitions such as the first prize in The Joseph and Ida Contemporary Keyboard Competition, 2003, first prize in the Arizona State University Piano Concerto Competition and a Special Presentation Award from Artists International Presentations in New York.
She is also a piano faculty member at CPSM (Center for Preparatory Studies in Music) at Queens College and her students perform regularly at CPSM recitals. Many of her private students have participated in NYSSMA auditions. Each spring Ms. Park presents a piano recital which all of her students are welcome to participate in.
Currently, she is pursuing her doctoral degree in piano performance. Besides teaching at CPSM at Queens College, Hudson County Community College and her private teaching, she continues to give recitals in New York City, Long Island and Arizona.
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