TEACHERS & TRAININGS

During my training as a classical pianist in conservatory, I always wished that I could shadow a more advanced pianist during their practice session.

I was aware that mastery came from the ability to practice well: to know what to practice on, what tools to apply, how to apply them, and when to know a process was as good as I could get them to be given my current level of skill and awareness.

Likewise, I see my teachers as those who either helped open a path for me, taught me the skills and frameworks necessary to walk my path, closed a door for me, or a combination of these. Some of them are humans, others are non-humans.

Some of my teachers I know on a personal level, others I don’t - and yet their commitment to walking their path and sharing what they learned impacted me greatly.

The intention of sharing this list publicly is twofold for me:

1. To express my gratitude for these beings and to honor their legacy. Being a teacher is joyful and hard and lifegiving and heartbreaking - all at the same time. In their own unique ways, these beings nurtured me, challenged me, held me, and expanded me. Learning from every one of these beings is a privilege that I deeply cherish.

2. To remind myself and those reading this list that nobody does this work alone. We all come from somewhere. At some point, a human or a non-human being saw something in us we were incapable of seeing for ourselves and assisted us in cultivating it. We are all ecosystems - individually, interpersonally, and collectively.

This list of teachers is organized by alphabetical order of their last names. Where relevant, I have indicated the modality I learned from them as well as my years of formal study with them (ie. when I took courses or when I was in a formal mentorship container with them). In cases where no end date is indicated, I have either not formally completed my studies or we are in an ongoing formal mentorship.