I grew up in Gomel, Belarus, part of the former U.S.S.R. My parents began taking me to piano lessons when I was 5 years old, following the advice of my preschool music teacher.
While in grade school, I also attended a music school with an 8 year curriculum that included piano lessons (45-minutes long, twice a week), solfeggio, music theory, music history, choir, and some other activities by choice.
Typically, those who choose music as a professional career would complete that education and then apply to a 4-year music college, a very competitive institution that combines a high school curriculum with a program preparing teachers for music schools with an Associate Degree, along with a high school diploma awarded upon graduation.
I was fortunate to be accepted to Gomel’s Music College named after Sokolowski, which I successfully graduated in 1981.
That same year I began working in a music school as a piano teacher.
In 1982 I applied to the Minsk Pedagogical Institute named after Maksim Gorky to major in Music and Pedagogy. I was accepted and began studying there while working as a piano teacher full time. The study in the Institute included piano lessons, solfeggio, harmony, music theory, music history, music form, vocal, conducting, pedagogy, history of pedagogy, psychology, and many other disciplines. I graduated in 1987.
I came to the United States in 1992. I knew that one day I will be teaching playing the piano again, but first, I had to set my feet firmly on this new ground. Which I did by learning a medical profession; then another.
Years passed, and that day finally came. The piano returned to my life, not only as the instrument that I entrusted my happy and sad moments to, but also as a way to share everything I have learned so far with young people.
For several years now I have been teaching my younger daughter to play the piano. More and more I felt the urge to bring it to a different, professional level, to grow my own class, to run my own recitals and concerts.
And that is exactly where I am right now. You are welcome to join me and enjoy this journey together.
I am planning to continue doing this for the rest of my life. I hope to teach people of all ages to find themselves in music or learn how music could enrich their lives and bring out the best in themselves.
January, 2008
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