Esther Chung Marks Piano Studio

Identical twins, Anna and Bella, learning how to form chord inversions together with the help of 3 “key” buddies!
Teaching these adorable sisters together creates wonderful opportunities for engagement and learning! 🎶

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Esther Chung Marks Piano Studio

Esther M. - Port Jefferson Station Piano teacher High-quality Classical Piano Instruction from Expert Teacher with 40+ years experience

For many years, I’ve given gifts to my students at the end of my studio recital of things I already have at home. I have 2 pretty grown-up kids, so I’ve accumulated many THINGS. I enjoy curating found objects and “recycling gifts” for each student throughout the year.
Some of the gifts are cute, useful, silly, quirky or outlandish, but they’re all specially chosen with that student in mind.
It’s always a hit, and everyone gets a kick out of seeing what their friends get. Here are some of the gifts I’ve given, usually brand-new or previously, gently loved:
- Lego sets
- Metal head massager
- Nerf gun with foam darts
- Attack on Titan merch
- Wind-up snail
- George W. Bush full head mask
- Stuffed animals (lots of these!)
- House slippers in the shape of Mario mushrooms
- T shirts
- Dollar store microphone
- Folding fans
- Hand-squeeze rechargeable flashlight
- Jewelry
- Grab-it squeeze hand claw
- Pop socket
- Pokémon cards
- Fridge magnets
- Asian snacks/candies
- Hula hoop
- Harmonica
- Origami paper
- Music book clip
- Heart-shaped sunglasses
- Beach or cosmetic bag
- Music scores
- Decks of Uno or Composer playing cards
- 3D, Tavern puzzle
- Battery-operated handheld Hangman game
- Books, including Bathroom Reader, Cookbooks, Klutz, Book of Useless Information, Sudoku, Brain teasers

Putting together a studio recital is a lot of work involving months of preparation (fine-tuning performances, practicing memory recovery, scheduling and rehearsing duets, teaching students stage etiquette, etc.), especially when you’re also playing duets with several of your students. You try to select repertoire that each student enjoys while showcasing their special qualities. You try to give the program variety and interest for the audience. Not to mention sending invitations and reminders to families of the date, time and location. There’s also deciding the order of the program, typing, formatting, proofreading and printing it, remembering to bring certificates and medals, footstools or pedal extenders for the little ones, reminding students to bring their scores if they’re playing a duet, making sure 2 adjustable benches are onstage, accurately recording everyone’s biographies/achievements during the weeks prior, choosing, packing up and transporting student gifts in order so I can give them out in an organized manner.

AND as if that’s not enough…it’s a SPECIAL stressor when you’ve just announced the intermission at the actual recital, and the person who scheduled your recital at the piano store frantically runs up to tell you there was a “misunderstanding” - and someone else’s recital starts in 30 minutes! 😳🤯

With another 11 students to go, not to mention the ceremony at the end where I introduce each student and present their certificates and gifts, I quickly had to think of how to resolve “the piano teacher’s worst nightmare” and not disappoint the students who had worked so hard for their performances. In an inspired moment, I asked if I could move my recital upstairs to the showroom…so that’s what we did - for the last 5 students!

I couched the move to upstairs to everyone as an exercise in “compromise and flexibility”. The manager cleared a space around a piano upstairs, and since there were no chairs, the audience stood in a circle around the performers. Interestingly, for one particular student who tends to get very nervous performing, the move helped dissipate her anxiety and shift focus away from the pressure of performing, and she totally nailed her piece!

Sigh…that was a pretty stressful experience, but I survived and am glad it ended well! 👏
Note to self: Be sure and specify the start AND end time to the establishment hosting your recital. I’d originally booked 4-6 pm a year ago, but the store called me 2 weeks ago saying they’d double booked me, and could I move my recital up. Thankfully, my students could move earlier, so I said I’d do it at 1, assuming they understood it would be 1-3 pm. Well, they’d booked someone at 2:30. 🙇🏻‍♀️ The rest is history. 💆🏻‍♀️

So proud of all of my students who performed at our Studio Recital on Sunday! 🎶🎹🎵 Everyone got a couple of fun, personalized gifts from me at the end, which many of them are holding.

If you’re interested, feel free to attend!

🎵Last weekend culminated in another year of National Piano Guild Auditions in the books! ✔️
This year turned out extra special: ALL of my 20 students (ages 8 - 16) who auditioned received the highest rating of “Superior Plus”! 💎Every 💎Single💎One! I’ve been entering students in Guild for over 35 years, and this is definitely a proud teacher moment!

Most everyone performed 10-piece memorized programs of 3 musicianship phases (scales, chords/inversions, cadences, ear training, improvisation, transposition, sight reading) and 7 pieces of repertoire, including a duet, for 2 different adjudicators. For some, it was their 1st year; for others, it was their 9th! It’s one thing to play 1 or 2 pieces well; it’s an entirely different challenge to prepare and perform these “mini recitals” for a judge after working on them all year long (particularly for more advanced students with longer and more complicated repertoire)!

Repertoire included Bach, Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven, Schubert, Chopin, Brahms, Grieg, Liszt, Rachmaninov, Sinding, Debussy, Ravel, Faure, Bizet, Ibert, Kabalevsky, Villa-Lobos, Berkovich, Hisaishi, Bober, Cuellar, Brown, Sowash, Caramia, Ikeda, Rossi, Grill and Rollin.

Congratulations to all of these young artists for working so hard and playing so beautifully! 👏🎶

I’m happy to share some exciting news!
Charles was the recipient of an Honorable Mention in the 11-12 year old division of the Associated Music Teachers League’s 2024 New York Young Performer’s Prize Competition. https://amtl.org/nyypp-music-competition-2024-nyc/

This competition draws accomplished student pianists from all over the world, and is highly competitive.

Please enjoy Charles’ winning performances:
Bacchanal S. 480 Op. 74 No. 4 by F. Liszt-Chopin:
https://youtu.be/ZEk1XZOsxI0?si=Z-TOFer-IXPE_1Gp
Waltz Op. 69 No. 1 in Ab by F. Chopin:
https://youtu.be/RUBNzoXAgnM?si=LMVwX5XfXG7FADXm

Congratulations, Charles! 👏👏

Congratulations to Liam, Elena, Kaspar, Kaylee, Natalie, Charles, Lydia and Frances, who were chosen as finalists in the 2024 Charleston International Spring Music Competition! 🎶
Also, special congratulations to Kaylee and Natalie, who were 3rd place winners in their divisions!
Here are links to their performances:

https://charlestoncompetition.com/performer-kaylee-ren/

https://charlestoncompetition.com/performer-natalie-sailin-zhang/

Kaylee Ren - Charleston International Music Competition Kaylee is 10 years old. She plays piano and viola. You can find Kaylee’s 2024 Spring Music Competition piano performance here.

I had the privilege of playing a foundational role in Tom’s pianistic journey as his first teacher for 3 years, until he was accepted at Juilliard precollege at the age of 9. Tom is a 3-time winner of the Chopin Foundation Scholarship https://www.chopin.org/recipients-20232024
He’s now 17, and recently performed the following program. Tom is a quiet, unassuming young man who is developing into a remarkable artist. Enjoy his stunning music-making. I say he was born to play the piano! 🎶
Beethoven - Sonata Op. 53 “Waldstein”
Ravel - Ondine from Gaspard de la nuit
Liszt - Vallée d'Obermann

Tom Maizi Liu Piano 04 13 2024 default 06446dc6

Elaine and Bella, 2 beauties both inside and out, played a beautiful 4 hand duet at the SMTF chamber recital on April 14, 2024.

Congratulations to Ted, Jeremy and Lydia for this achievement! 👏👏👏

Aurora and Charles performed Chopin and Liszt at the AMTL Mid-Season Musicale on March 10.

🎹 14 of my students participated in an annual competition last Sunday. They all rose to the occasion and played with professionalism and artistry. I’m proud that half of them were winners - 2 of them received 1st place in their divisions, and 2 received honorable mentions!

It feels good to win, but regardless of outcome, it’s valuable to have the experience of preparing for public performance in a competitive setting. So proud of these young artists! 🎶

Enjoy this concerto by Long Island composer Alexander Peskanov, played by Lydia at 9 years old. Lydia received First Class Honors for her Royal Conservatory of Music Level 7 playing assessment last December. Now 11, she has been working on her 5th memorized 10-piece National Guild program consisting of:
1. Transposition: Burgmuller Arabesque to Abm and Cm
2. Sight Reading
3. Scales: black key minors
4. Bach Invention No. 4 Dm BWV 933
5. Kuhlau Sonatina Op. 88 No. 3 Am: Allegro Burlesco
6. Mendelssohn Venetian Boat Song, Op. 30 No. 6 F
7. Chopin Nocturne Op. post. in Cm
8. Debussy Pour le piano: Prelude
9. Ikeda Garden of Dreams
10. Ravel Mother Goose Suite: “Little Plain Jane, Empress of the Nodding Dolls” (4-hand duet with studio-mate, Natalie)

Concerto No. 1 for Piano and Strings by A. Peskanov, Mvt. 1 - Lydia, age 9

Laughs and learning at Group Classes!
Though it’s a HUGE effort to schedule 22 very busy young people with multiple siblings and family schedules, I believe the sense of communal support and engagement for students is worth it. Piano study, though incredibly gratifying, can be an isolating experience, particularly for the young and more social types.

We played “Musical Spoons”, making major, minor, diminished and augmented triads using special cards with notes on them, and the same game with key signatures. We enjoyed “Silly Sentences”, where students perform a sentence in a certain way to get the others to guess a musical term. For example, someone got the term “cantabile”, and performed their sentence in a singing manner. 🎶 The youngest group played “Screamer Match”, matching and defining numerous music symbols.

Students performed repertoire for each other that they’re preparing to play in recital and competition, complete with bows and applause. They developed listening and evaluation skills by filling out a sheet on various aspects of everyone’s performance - each student also gave 1 positive and 1 constructive comment.

We talked about how practicing for a performance is different from practicing, and how to prepare to play under pressure, despite internal and external distractions. The activity that probably was the biggest hit of the afternoon was allowing students to create some distractions for the student that was playing. You can only imagine the mayhem! I will post those videos separately, as you can’t mix media.

Esther Chung Marks Piano Studio Student Recital 🎶🎹
We had a joyful celebration of these young artists with their exciting and fun performances last weekend!
Thank you to Kaya and Lucia’s mom, Yun Li, of https://www.facebook.com/yunliphoto for capturing these beautiful moments with her pro photography!