Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Yuhan Yeh. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Hi Yuhan, appreciate you sitting with us today to share your wisdom with our readers. So, let’s start with resilience – where do you get your resilience from?
I hesitate to believe any single factor could comprehend a pianist’s resilience. Instead, I could provide some insights on why we could presume one’s resilience when one is introduced as a pianist. It all comes from solitude.
Years ago, this online article titled “The Pianist’s Loneliness” by the Crossed-Eyes Pianist deeply resonates with me:
“The pianist’s life is, by necessity, lonely. One of the main reasons pianists spend so much time alone is that we must practice more than other musicians because we have many more notes and symbols to decode, learn and upkeep. This prolonged solitary process may eventually result in a public performance, at which we exchange the loneliness of the practice room for the solitude of the concert platform.
The concert pianist experiences a particular kind of solitude. The solitude of traveling alone – the monotony of airport lounges, the Sisyphean accumulation of air miles, nights spent alone in faceless hotels. Dining alone, sleeping alone, breakfast alone, rising early to practice alone. And there is the concert itself: waiting backstage, alone, in the green room, and then the moment when you cross the stage, entirely alone…”
I vividly remember the first time I left home for a music festival in one of the Boston suburbs, I counted down every night in my bed to the date I could fly back. I remember during the winters of auditions, the bitter cold I felt trekking alone through snowstorms to those concert halls. I remember the morning after my graduation recital, I sat alone in silence when hearing from my parents that my dear grandpa passed away several days ago. Throughout a major part of my life, I’ve been pushed to handle things alone and survive. Solitude cultivates my resilience.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
I started piano at the age of five in my hometown, Tainan, Taiwan. I remember watching my older brother sitting in front of a big square box (back then we had an upright Yamaha), doing mysterious tricks with his fingers. “It’s magic!!” I thought to myself when some foreign yet lovely tunes flowed in the air. A new desire grew in me – I wanted to create beautiful sounds out of this box as well.
I kept observing my brother during his daily practice sessions, and somehow taught myself how to read a healthy amount of notes on the score. I couldn’t figure out all of the corresponding keys on the piano and was looking for help. My parents stepped in with the decision that it’s time to be serious about it, and found me a patient and knowledgeable piano teacher, Ms. Lin. Our weekly piano lessons were filled with cartoon stickers, colored pencils, Peanuts piano course books, and laughter. It must have been quite a success, considering I’m still fond of both Snoopy and piano to this day.
My educational background includes a kaleidoscope of cultures and schools: I received my Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA) degree in piano performance from Thornton School of Music, University of Southern California. I earned my Master of Music degree from Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University, and my Bachelor of Music degree from Taipei National University of the Arts in Taiwan. My beloved teachers include Canadian pianist Bernadene Blaha, Russian-American pianist Boris Slutsky, German pianist Rolf-Peter Wille, and Taiwanese pianist Grace Chung.
In addition to academic studies, an essential part of my music training is built upon traveling and exposing myself to new ideas, people, and surroundings. Music festivals, competitions, auditions, interviews, lectures… There are numerous reasons for musicians to travel. During these trips, I would usually study with established musicians, give lessons and classes to youngsters, collaborate with friends and colleagues through chamber music, and perform. Thanks to a great diversity of influence, my simple desire was coaxed into full bloom.
If you had to pick three core elements of your profession that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most? How do they influence your career path?
My career is an extension of music sharing, training, and performance. As my profession harmonizes with my childhood desire, I discover the joy of sharing ideas with others through the most prevalent language, music. Teaching and performing serve as two major platforms. However, after years of freelancing career as a music performer and instructor in the San Jose area, I couldn’t help but question myself, “is this the right place for musicians to survive and thrive?”
We are all faced with the challenge of insufficient performance opportunities for ourselves as musicians, and our enthusiastic students. Public performances exist for the purpose of bridging composers from the past and audience at present. Unfortunately the high-pressure and competitive environment in the bay area has taken a toll on classical music, or fine arts in general. Our communities are less engaged, people are less willing to invest their time and energy into something as spiritual as music appreciation or learning – they’d rather worry about inflation, housing, homeless, or tech company layoffs.
Some couldn’t care less about music, while there are students from underprivileged families, pouring hearts and souls into music. Their parents may have a hard time making ends meet, yet still try their very best to send their kids to music classes and lessons. Similar stories happen so often in our circle that we feel a strong calling to help and contribute. I always remember how the scholarships and grants I was awarded in the past have helped me travel overseas and work with musicians of such high caliber. I’m hoping something alike would be offered to the new talents as well.
Nova Music Production 501(c) was founded in 2023 with the mission of creating performance opportunities and supporting professional music training. So far we have hosted recitals and concerts in venues ranging from retiring homes’ lobbies to concert halls. All donations go directly to scholarship funds and performance-related costs, such as venue rentals, instruments, devices, and performers’ compensations. We are looking forward to establishing more charity concert series and music festivals in California and Asia, through the cooperation with other nonprofits.
Is there a particular challenge you are currently facing?
Recently I’ve been interacting with more non-musicians, and at times I find it challenging to explain my profession as a pianist. They seem to have this misunderstanding that music careers don’t require much effort since musicians are all born, not made. It’s probably a mixture of both. I could play “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” by ear with my right-hand index finger when I first started piano, and now I can perform sophisticated compositions by Bach, Beethoven, Liszt, Rachmaninoff, and many more. Between Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and Rachmaninoff, I went to music schools and have been practicing quite diligently.
Why did I decide to study classical music? Well, at first I’d just like to know a more reasonable fingering for Twinkle Twinkle Little Star instead of only using my right-hand index finger. I wondered how to incorporate my left hand with some basic chord progressions as accompaniment. Later on I was told that Mozart composed twelve variations on “Ah! vous dirai-je, maman,” the original French folk tune of this popular lullaby. I was then curious about what Variation form is, but realized I needed to learn Binary form and Sonata form as well… Knowledge is endless.
So is practice. I spend a lot of time focusing on playing and memorizing precise notes, rhythms, articulations, dynamics, and so on. A solid technical foundation gives me a sense of security during performance. Then I move on to something more vital, as cellist Steven Isserlis described it, “[that] is to remind oneself of the exact position of every note in the work as a whole.” Oftentimes I become obsessed with certain notes, trying to reveal the secret messages behind them. Each step consumes too much time and energy. Musicians are usually exhausted, both mentally and physically, after practicing.
Are musicians born or made? It almost feels like an insult to simply put “you’re born with it” after knowing (a bit of) our hard work. But I take it as a compliment, since I know exactly how much effort it takes to seem effortless.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @novamusicproduction501c3
- Facebook: @yuhanyeh42
Image Credits
Nova Music Production 501 (c)
