"The Path to Piano Performance" — Tongyue Music Lecture Series

September 21, 2024, 19:00

At the Yue'er Concert Hall in Yang Yang Piano Studio,

Dr. Yin Jiaying delivered

an insightful and enriching private lecture.

Students and teachers from

Yang Yang Piano Studio and Tongyue Music

were all invited to attend.

"

Yin Jiaying

Doctor of Piano Performance, Germany

"

Dr. Yin Jiaying holds a Doctorate in Piano Performance from Germany. She began studying piano at age 6 under Professor Zhu Zhu at Yunnan Arts University. In 2012 she entered the affiliated high school of Sichuan Conservatory of Music under Professor Yang Chenggang, then continued under Associate Professor Yang Yang, and also received guidance from pianist Wang Xiaohan of the affiliated high school of the Central Conservatory of Music. At 15 she gave her first solo recital at Yunnan University. In 2016 she was admitted to the Hochschule für Musik Münster in Germany — ranking first in the entrance exam and being the only piano student admitted that year — where she completed her Bachelor and Master degrees in Piano Performance, studying under world-active pianist, conductor, and composer Professor Peter von Wienhardt.

During her time in Germany she received guidance from several distinguished German piano professors, including Klaus Baessler, Thomas Leander, Gesa Lücke, Andreas Froelich, and Ilja Scheps, earning high praise from all of them. In 2023 she was admitted to the doctoral artist-diploma programme at the same institution under Professor Heribert Koch, President of the European Piano Teachers Association. Alongside solo work, she is dedicated to collaborative piano, studying chamber music under Ulrich Beetz and Birgit Erichson of the renowned Abegg Trio, and forming the cello-piano duo Jantablias with cellist Julia Wasmund. As an active concert performer, she has participated in and organized dozens of concerts in and outside her institution, and attended numerous music festivals including the Milan Early Keyboard Festival and the Münster Mensch Musik Festival, presenting several all-Beethoven concerts in collaboration with WDR in both Germany and China.

Her prizes include: Gold Award in Piano at the Yunnan Hope Cup Arts Competition; Gold Award at the Golden Sunflower National Youth Piano Competition; Gold Award and Excellence Award at the Xinghai Cup Piano Competition; Gold Award at the Chuncheng Cup National Piano Competition; and Second Prize at the Nice International Piano Competition (France), among others.

As a teacher, she is committed to piano education and aspires to pass on great music in the most flexible way possible. Since 2021 she has been on the faculty of the Aalto Theater music school in Essen, Germany, and multiple students have won first and second prizes — including perfect scores — at Germany's largest youth music competition, Jugend Musiziert.

In the lecture she spoke from a student's perspective, sharing her methods and experiences of learning music, practising, and score reading. Her insights were unique and her thinking lively, resonating with the students present and prompting much reflection. Students were engaged in active thinking and answered questions throughout. Afterwards, everyone came away with fresh inspiration for their own musical learning. Dr. Yin's humorous, natural, and dignified manner — and her entertaining, interactive style — delighted and captivated the young audience.

"We need to know what we are really talking about when we discuss a musical topic. Rhythm doesn't necessarily represent note values — it represents the entire bodily and muscular feeling. Some say dynamics means loud and soft; others say it is phrasing; but I say it is logic…"

"Music is a language. When we treat the process of learning music as learning our mother tongue, many things become simple and interesting. Just as we can quickly and accurately hear the different ways people speak — and even their dialects — when music is learned in the right way, appreciating music becomes as natural as appreciating language."

— Dr. Yin Jiaying

The lecture was full of insights like these, each one like a stone dropped into water, sending ripple after ripple of thought through the students.

This lecture gave students and parents a window into a different educational system and culture, broadening their artistic and international horizons, bringing new inspiration and ideas, and elevating their overall cultural awareness. They gained an initial understanding of German-Austrian methods, techniques, and trends in music teaching, and experienced a far richer and more colourful educational journey.

Dr. Yin also shared many performance techniques, gave live demonstrations at the piano, and exchanged ideas with students — together exploring the joy of practising and playing. She condensed the latest German piano teaching methods and trends into a brief and accessible introduction that gave everyone a meaningful first taste.

On September 22, Dr. Yin Jiaying also offered one-on-one masterclasses, building on the themes of the previous day's lecture. She taught with focused attention and thoroughness — from foundational exercises to professional musical knowledge — doing her best within limited time to give each student the most comprehensive guidance possible, and equipping them with methods for independent learning and cross-application. Students left the lessons full of admiration.

This will be

an enlightening musical journey of knowledge~

Going forward we will invite

more high-quality educational resources from abroad,

presenting more lectures and courses,

exploring through an international lens

the hidden, mysterious connection

between musicality and technique in piano performance,

and opening the magic door to the world of music!

We also look forward to Dr. Yin Jiaying returning

to share something new with us again.

-END-

"

"

yypianomusic2011