Jean Lyons School of Music

Everything I learned about learning, I learned at the Jean Lyons School of Music. And that is no overstatement, as I will go on to explain.
I graduated from Jean Lyons’ school after receiving my ARCT diploma in Piano Performance from the Royal Conservatory of Music with First Class Honors when I was a teenager. More than 20 years and 5 degrees later (including a JD from UBC and a Master’s in Music from Boston University), I am still constantly recalling and applying the lessons I learned at Jean Lyons, which were not at all limited to the art of playing the piano. Most importantly, I learned *how to learn* — deeply and independently — which has translated well into all other facets of life and intellectual pursuits. More than I would have ever fathomed as a child awaiting her weekly piano lesson at the music school.
My primary teacher for 10 years was Gail Chiu, who was a true artist and fantastic teacher (she studied with Jane Coop). She taught me how to really *listen* — to the message of music, to the underlying emotion, mood, and character of music. Many of my favorite memories at piano lessons are of listening to classical vinyl records of the great masters, and discussing interpretive ideas — pedaling, phrasing, dynamics, contrast, color. To this day, whenever I hear certain pieces, I still evoke scenes, stories, and emotions that Ms. Chiu taught me to discover and interpret at the keyboard. And she had boundless patience, which was so crucial for insecure, sensitive, and overwrought teens like myself at the time.
I also had the honor of studying with Ms. Jean Lyons once a week at her master-​classes. She was an amazing pedagogue. Under her highly-​skilled tutelage, the students in my group reached incredible feats of technique. She taught me how to love technique (yes, it’s possible!), the deep satisfaction of taking on a series of arpeggios in 24 keys. When I see fast 32^nd notes in a score nowadays, I say «Bring it!» And this, from a kid who hated practicing — especially technique — for most of her childhood. Which reveals and underscores the value of practicing technique in those master-​classes — we faced down our insecurities and challenges, and learned to work through them. Perseverance, diligence, discipline: those things don’t necessarily come naturally to tweens and teens — they are learned, practiced, rehearsed. In many ways, training in classical piano is very similar to high-​level competitive sports or dance, and there are many parallels that could be drawn as to the intensity and rigor of training. As an adult, I often joke with my friends and colleagues that the New York and California bar exams (licensing exams for lawyers) were the only exams that reached the same intensity as RCM’s Grade X and ARCT! I’m only half-​joking. Because the act of learning, memorizing, and eventually mastering a Beethoven Sonata or Bach Partita is really not that different from learning, memorizing, and eventually mastering principles and codes of law — or anything else for that matter. And the confidence and self-​assurance gained from the former as a child or teen, will be the exact coping mechanism and deep emotional reserve needed when attaining the latter.
The School also offered group theory classes, ensemble performance classes, monthly recitals, improvisation workshops, and many competition and performance opportunities throughout Vancouver, Canada, and internationally. The training I received in those classes evolved into a very rewarding profession for me as an active solo performer, accompanist, ensemble player, composer/​arranger, and piano/​music educator in the studio and schools. I’m a full-​time attorney, but enjoyed a double career in both music and law for many years. That would have never happened without Jean Lyons School of Music.
I live in California now, and as a parent with kids interested and involved in music, I sincerely wish we had a Jean Lyons School of Music here. They are the *gold* standard. The lessons I learned there have been invaluable, enduring, life-​wide, and life-​long.