Today we’d like to introduce you to Yuking Chou Brandenburgh.
Hi Yuking, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Hi! I’m a pianist and a piano teacher, originally from Taichung, Taiwan. I was first introduced to the piano when I was five years old and I fell in love with it right away. The most transformative moment in my life was when my parents decided to send me to Vienna, Austria, to pursue my piano studies soon after I finished elementary school.
I received my bachelor’s and master’s degrees in piano performance from the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna, Austria, and my doctorate from the College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati, where I worked as a graduate assistant at the Collaborative Piano Department and Secondary Piano Department.
Cincinnati and founder and owner of Yuking Chou Brandenburgh Piano Studio since 2009.
I was fortunate to win several international piano competition awards, such as 2nd prize at the Kimiko-Sato Music Competition in Vienna, Austria, 3rd prize at the Finale Ligure Piano Competition in Italy, and 3rd prize at the Maria Canals Jeunesse Piano Competition in Barcelona, Spain.
Growing up in Asia and Europe and receiving my doctorate from the College-Conservatory of Music at UC, I have benefited from training on three continents, and now my students can benefit from that training as well. I love to be able to share my experience in international competitions with a new generation of piano students, and in the last two years, three of my students have won international piano competitions and had the honor of performing at Carnegie Hall in New York City. Next year I will be included in the
125th anniversary Marquis Who’s Who.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
As a child in Taiwan, I was fortunate to take piano lessons from some really great teachers in my city. I even won some competitions each year. Because of this, my parents decided to find even better piano teachers in Taipei, which was a three-hour trip away. So, our weekends often meant long journeys, a one-hour piano lesson, and then the ride back home. It felt like my whole day was all about those piano lessons.
But after a while, I learned everything I could in Taiwan. So, my parents and I talked and did a lot of research, and they made a big decision: I should go to Vienna, Austria, which is ground zero for classical music. Many famous musicians started their careers there. But moving to a new country as a young teenager was tough. I had to learn a new language and get used to a different culture, all without my family around. But my parents knew, and I came to understand, that making sacrifices was necessary to chase my dream.
Leaving my home and family and going to a new country alone at 14 was really hard. They speak German in Austria, and that wasn’t easy to pick up, either. You can imagine how tough it was to suddenly have to deal with things like renting an apartment, buying groceries, paying bills, and going to university. I always seemed to be the youngest wherever I went.
I started living on my own in my apartment when I turned 16. I remember that coal heater very well. It was very important to me because I had just moved from the warm climate of Taiwan to the snowy mountains of Austria. Every winter, I had to either get a bunch of coal or chopped wood delivered, or I’d go to the store myself if I wanted to save money. Then, I’d drag those heavy coal bags back to my third-floor
apartment on a little cart. And every day during winter, I had to clean the oven and get rid of the ashes. Winter after winter, it felt like I was living a little bit like Cinderella!
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
In Vienna, I realized that when I was younger, no one had ever taught me to listen to my sound when practicing. To quote one of my later teachers, Vitaly Margulis, “A good pianist differs from a bad one, not because he or she hears well and the other doesn’t, but because he or she knows what’s good and bad sound. The bad pianist does not know.”
The more I listened, the more I realized there was no reason that younger pianists, even beginners, couldn’t also listen with trained ears.
In my lessons, I really teach them what to listen for. Was it good or bad, or do you think that it just didn’t sound right?
Why? I’ve made it my life’s mission to help students develop trained hearing. It is very rewarding when students, or even their parents, tell me that they now know what to listen for so they can practice like a pro.
Eventually, I learned to apply that thinking to all aspects of piano lessons. My teaching standard is consistent regardless of age, but I adapt my communication style to suit each student’s level and needs. Even young children, as young as 6 years old, need to learn about dynamics, articulations, and pedal markings to progress in their piano learning journey.
Without these details, they may struggle with technical or sound difficulties, and it’s not uncommon for this to cause children to lose interest in playing the piano.
I also really enjoy helping other pianists learn how to analyze music for themselves. I’ve noticed that when I only give specific instructions without explaining the rationale behind them, students may only apply those actions to one piece or situation. However, when I take the time to explain the reasoning behind those actions, my students are more likely to understand the concept and apply it to different scenarios.
That’s why I believe in the saying, “Give someone a fish, and you feed them for a day; teach someone to fish, and you feed them for a lifetime.”
Do you have any memories from childhood that you can share with us?
My father traveled to many other countries to do agricultural research and training. I remember that after living in France for a couple of years, he came home and brought a wonderful bottle of perfume for my mom. Another time, after he returned from Holland, he brought back the most exquisite chocolates, and at home, he started introducing us to various stinky cheeses. When some of those smelly cheeses, not at all common in Asia at that time, ended up in my school lunchbox, it caused no small commotion because the teachers eventually launched a search for dead animals! Wisely, when he came home from Germany, Dad brought us very nice teddy bears, which I fought over with my younger sister for many years! She still has them, and none of them are even a little stinky!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.yukingchou.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/yuking.chou/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-yuking-chou-brandenburgh-458243a1/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@DrYukingPianoChannel
Image Credits
Mark Lyons from Lyons Photography
