Note-worthy Experiences Music Studio
F E A T U R E
Interview with Ivan Gueorguiev
F E A T U R E
Interview with Ivan Gueorguiev
How old were you when you started to learn piano?
I’m sometimes afraid to say I wasn’t like everybody else who started when they were 5. I started piano and music learning when I was 18. Piano is the only instrument I play and I wanted to focus only on that. But I remember I had an immense ambition to be good and be able to play all the classical virtuoso pieces. To be fair, I had a small keyboard when I was 8 and I played it for a few months but with no lessons or teacher. Just by myself using the handbook that was there. And I knew I had potential because I learned all of the songs on the keyboard but then I had nowhere to go from there so I stopped playing. It wasn’t until 10 years later when I saw a friend of mine playing the piano that I wanted to try again. This time I found more ways to keep going particularly through YouTube and their lessons. But I started taking some music classes at my college at first which helped a lot and started my transition from a business major to a music major.
How long did you used to practice when you started playing as opposed to now?
At first, I made it a goal to practice at least a few minutes every day; my original goal in the first few days I remember, was to see how good I could get if I did it every day. But as I started to watch more YouTube and learn more about different artists, especially these younger high-level classical musicians, they were a big inspiration to me because their interview said they practiced up to 8 hours a day! So I quickly changed my practice routine and started doing 5-7 hours a day. This was for about the first 4 years of my playing, especially through college. That is how I managed to catch up and make it in my undergrad along with the guidance of my professors. Nowadays, I just teach and I want to keep my playing as sharp as I can but I can only do about 2 hours a day and sometimes it’s not even every day anymore. But I keep myself busy with new repertoire as I still have a lot of music on my bucket list to learn!
What projects are you currently working on?
This ties into the last question. Some of the repertoire I’m currently learning is all 24 preludes of Chopin. Each prelude has a different challenge and this is a great project that I came up with purely myself. My goal is to try to record each one, and then perhaps even make a CD later and do a performance of all of them once I have it. Right now with limited practice time, it’s a slow process but I’m making progress nonetheless, so I’m really excited to get through this music!
When did you first start teaching piano?
I first started teaching piano when I was 20. I remember it was 2 and a half years after I started playing. I’m coming up now with 11 years of teaching and 14 years of playing. My first professor from college referred me to a music school in Dallas and I interviewed with the director and got hired. I had maybe 1 or 2 private students a couple months before that so I could say I had some teaching experience. But a funny story is that in the interview back then I lied to the director and said I had been playing piano not for 2 and a half years but for 4 years. As if that makes any difference. I remember her exclaiming, “Wow only 4 years?!”
When you’re not performing or teaching, what other hobbies or interests do you have?
I have a lot of other hobbies, mostly being a very active person and a very active kid long before I even started playing piano. I used to play all kinds of sports. Nowadays I’ve narrowed it down to basketball, and currently, I spend more time with martial arts. I’ve done tae kwon do since I was 11 and a lot of other different martial arts. Now I train with some friends in “tricking” which is a relatively new sport combining martial arts and gymnastics. We throw a bunch of kicking combinations and make it up as we go. It’s a lot of fun!
Learn more about Ivan on his Teacher page.
I’m sometimes afraid to say I wasn’t like everybody else who started when they were 5. I started piano and music learning when I was 18. Piano is the only instrument I play and I wanted to focus only on that. But I remember I had an immense ambition to be good and be able to play all the classical virtuoso pieces. To be fair, I had a small keyboard when I was 8 and I played it for a few months but with no lessons or teacher. Just by myself using the handbook that was there. And I knew I had potential because I learned all of the songs on the keyboard but then I had nowhere to go from there so I stopped playing. It wasn’t until 10 years later when I saw a friend of mine playing the piano that I wanted to try again. This time I found more ways to keep going particularly through YouTube and their lessons. But I started taking some music classes at my college at first which helped a lot and started my transition from a business major to a music major.
How long did you used to practice when you started playing as opposed to now?
At first, I made it a goal to practice at least a few minutes every day; my original goal in the first few days I remember, was to see how good I could get if I did it every day. But as I started to watch more YouTube and learn more about different artists, especially these younger high-level classical musicians, they were a big inspiration to me because their interview said they practiced up to 8 hours a day! So I quickly changed my practice routine and started doing 5-7 hours a day. This was for about the first 4 years of my playing, especially through college. That is how I managed to catch up and make it in my undergrad along with the guidance of my professors. Nowadays, I just teach and I want to keep my playing as sharp as I can but I can only do about 2 hours a day and sometimes it’s not even every day anymore. But I keep myself busy with new repertoire as I still have a lot of music on my bucket list to learn!
What projects are you currently working on?
This ties into the last question. Some of the repertoire I’m currently learning is all 24 preludes of Chopin. Each prelude has a different challenge and this is a great project that I came up with purely myself. My goal is to try to record each one, and then perhaps even make a CD later and do a performance of all of them once I have it. Right now with limited practice time, it’s a slow process but I’m making progress nonetheless, so I’m really excited to get through this music!
When did you first start teaching piano?
I first started teaching piano when I was 20. I remember it was 2 and a half years after I started playing. I’m coming up now with 11 years of teaching and 14 years of playing. My first professor from college referred me to a music school in Dallas and I interviewed with the director and got hired. I had maybe 1 or 2 private students a couple months before that so I could say I had some teaching experience. But a funny story is that in the interview back then I lied to the director and said I had been playing piano not for 2 and a half years but for 4 years. As if that makes any difference. I remember her exclaiming, “Wow only 4 years?!”
When you’re not performing or teaching, what other hobbies or interests do you have?
I have a lot of other hobbies, mostly being a very active person and a very active kid long before I even started playing piano. I used to play all kinds of sports. Nowadays I’ve narrowed it down to basketball, and currently, I spend more time with martial arts. I’ve done tae kwon do since I was 11 and a lot of other different martial arts. Now I train with some friends in “tricking” which is a relatively new sport combining martial arts and gymnastics. We throw a bunch of kicking combinations and make it up as we go. It’s a lot of fun!
Learn more about Ivan on his Teacher page.