Mei-Hsuan Huang
PIANIST
Piano Studio at Iowa State University
Master Class at HeBei Normal University
Instructors on the collegiate level need to consider factors that encourage and promote each student's interest. Very often I find that students are pressured to learn pieces they do not really like nor have a personal connection to. This can contribute to decreasing interest on the part of the student. Although the student has tremendous potential, he or she may get discouraged and give up the study of piano. I believe if a teacher is able to individualize and customize instruction successfully, both the student, as well as the teacher, will benefit.
As a teacher, I strongly emphasize musicality. I find students unintentionally focus first on the more functional aspects of playing instead of the "music". I want students to be able to recognize and produce an impeccable tone. I also want to teach them to play with poetic phrasing and to produce a beautiful musical line of their own.
The immensity of the piano repertoire inspires me as a teacher. It is almost unlimited and definitely too overwhelming for one pianist to undertake in a lifetime. I am only one pianist; I only have two hands! I wish that partially through my influence, my students might become successful, and deliver interpretations of great piano works, to be heard around the world.