Today, we’d like to introduce you to Lauren Barr. Lauren was introduced to us by the brilliant and talented Aglaya Shadrina. Lauren is on Aglaya’s students and she shares her experience with us below.
Lauren, tell us a little bit about yourself and how you came to study with Aglaya.
I’m one of Aglaya’s adult students. I’ve worked most of my career in financial communications for publicly-traded companies in the US and abroad.
I quit piano lessons at age 12 with an admonition from my mom: “You’ll regret it!” It took almost fifty years for me to acknowledge she was right!
After a few weeks of using a piano app, I decided to go “old school” — with a “real” teacher. My initial hunt began with a Google search for “five-star rated piano teachers near me.” Once I found Aglaya’s website, learned her philosophy of teaching, and read her reviews, I did everything I could to get a place in her studio!
Just as she had a space available, the pandemic hit and the opportunity for in-person learning was placed on hold. I was initially skeptical that online teaching could be as impactful as in-person lessons, but Aglaya encouraged me to try one lesson and see how it felt. Success! She was well prepared with all the tech needed for successful Zoom lessons. And what a great use of our time, no matter what time zone we find ourselves in. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate being able to record critical lesson insights and examples that I can refer to in between lessons.
Can you talk to us about Aglaya’s teaching approach?
I’ve studied with Aglaya for almost three years now. There are several things that really stand out about her and her teaching style: Joy, professional versatility, and customization. Aglaya is by nature a joyful person and has made happiness a core tenet of her teaching. Too often, learning something new can be stressful. Returning to lessons after a lengthy absence can create unrealistic expectations about skills — leaving students disappointed or frustrated. Aglaya’s teaching style reconnected me to the joy of music, the joy of learning, and the joy of level-appropriate accomplishment. As for professional versatility, imagine my delight when I found that Aglays is not just a highly skilled music teacher, but has studied neuroscience extensively. Not only does she know how to teach music, but she has a rich and practical understanding of how we learn . . . and how we can learn better. I tend to be rather analytical by nature — her ability to reach me through both music AND science has kept me engaged and definitely accelerated my progress. Further, Aglaya’s ability to tailor lessons to each student is remarkable. I’m not just talking about her ability to select music that students will like (she learned my tastes and interests incredibly quickly!) or arrangements that will meet both the student’s level and skill development goals. She can adjust lessons on the fly based on what the student brings to the table that day. I’ve been known to come to the occasional lesson woefully unprepared and she will turn it into a remarkable learning session! She won’t let me brood about what I “can’t do,” she reconnects me to the things I can do, helps me take them to a new level, and introduces me to the next things I can achieve.
What else can you share about your experience with Aglya?
All of Aglya’s students have different levels of piano experience and varying goals. At almost 62, I am not studying for a scholarship to Julliard. But that doesn’t mean I don’t want to be as good as I can be. She gets that. She knows when to give me the “master class” experience, helping me refine my pieces like a conservatory-bound pupil, or when to give me the latitude to “improv” my way through a piece to keep my confidence and momentum up.
As a mature adult, my expectations about my skills and what I could reasonably achieve were initially unrealistic. This led me to some frustration in the early days (weeks, months, etc) of our lessons. Magically, Aglaya knew when to interject her knowledge of neuroscience and how we learn, when to let me make discoveries on my own, and how long it would take me to realize I’d reach my goals more quickly if I listened and followed her lead!
In the three years we’ve worked together, I’ve experienced many of the challenges we often face with health, work demands, the needs of aging parents, etc. Aglaya has used her teaching philosophy to keep me connected to the joy of music and learning no matter what’s going on in my life or the broader world. She instinctively knows when to push for that extra bit of commitment from me and when to let “just showing up” be enough.
Sounds a bit corny but it’s true: reconnecting to piano has been “instrumental” in so many areas of my life. I don’t have to practice for two hours non-stop to get results. I can do multiple blocks of 10-15 minutes at a time and actually achieve more! Working with Aglaya has proven to me that consistency is more important than inspiration. Often, I won’t pursue something because I think “I don’t have the time.” But we make time for the things we love, and Aglaya has certainly rekindled my love of piano.
That rekindling is apparent in many ways: I’ve started going to hear live music and concerts again. I listen to film and TV soundtracks differently. I hear the “beat” in popular music and nature in ways I haven’t in years (if ever!)
The biggest takeaway for me is the joy of sticking with something. Three years ago, I “kind of” wanted to play the piano again. Now, I can’t wait to get home from work every day and start my practice. Pieces that were absolutely above my ability then are a joy now.
Aglaya has shown me that I don’t have to “wish” I could achieve a challenging goal. I can make a plan, stick with the plan and be better tomorrow than I am today.
Image Credits
Selfie! No credits needed 🙂
