Hey, welcome back to the PianoPod with Yukimi. Thanks for tuning in to the PianoPod Summer Special Series.
So for the next couple of weeks, I will create 21 short clips
featuring the guests from season 3 and post them on TPP's social media accounts like TikTok,
Instagram threads, and Facebook. So please follow the PianoPod on your favorite social media platform,
like this post, and share it or repost it on your account. If you have never listened to any episodes of the PianoPod,
please check them out. All the episodes from the previous seasons are available in an audio format on your favorite
podcasting platform and in the video format on TPP's YouTube channel.
So you ask why 21 short clips? Because this show is all about bringing the piano into the
21st century. And actually, the real reason is that last season, season 3, had 21 episodes.
Anyways, now that I've done three seasons of this podcast, which I am very proud of, I can see more clearly
why I wanted to do this initially and why I need to continue doing this show. Let me start by sharing my personal
story, my humble beginning in New York City as a graduate student and piano teacher, which was the year
2007, long time ago. So at that time, I just moved to New York City to attend the NYU graduate program.
Before that, I was actually a college teacher in Florida for several years, but I wanted to learn more and
felt that I needed to deepen my training and broaden my vision as a pianist. So I decided to pursue another
degree in piano and pack up everything and drove all the way from Florida to New York City on my own with my
Honda Accord with a U-Haul trailer hitched to my car. How crazy. I don't think I can ever do that sort of crazy
stuff anymore. So as I was attending NYU, I also started teaching piano on my own. And within a
few months, I ended up building a thriving community through piano teaching in a trendy neighborhood of
downtown Manhattan. However, I started noticing a huge gap between myself as a classical pianist and
educator, and my students and their parents. I noticed immediately that my students and their parents expectations
and my expectations toward music lessons and music education were so so different. Before even thinking
about, you know, how or what to teach, I had to face this big question. How can I present the beautiful
tradition of classical music to the 21st century audience in a fun, contemporary and engaging way? As a
classically trained pianist and educator, I believed and still believe in the power of classical music,
deeply rooted in the tradition and history laid out by great composers, pedagogues, researchers, and
performing artists. And classical music is still evolving so that it remains relevant to the people,
society and culture of that time. Anyway, going back to my story, in my graduate school year, one of
the music department's professors at NYU saw my struggles and concerns and suggested that I start a
podcast to create a digital community for classical musicians and music educators to start a
conversation about audience engagement. And finally, fast forward to season three, the last season,
the direction of this podcast went toward the subject of audience engagement. It took me nearly
three years since its launch to finally, you know, meet my goal. Since the launch of the PianoPod in
2020, I have had the privilege of interviewing A-list concert pianists, composers, arrangers, digital
streamers, influencers, music educators, neurodiverse specialists, and performance
psychologists. And particularly in the last season, season three, as you can see the pictures of guests
from the season, I have established a wide range of guest lineups from all walks of life in our
industry, which I am super, super grateful for. After three years, the PianoPod has nearly 100,000
downloads on audio formats and 2000 subscribers on YouTube. Just finished its third season in June,
but the show's format remains the same as previous seasons, which is bi-weekly, I interview a guest
speaker who has been breaking exciting new ground in the classical music industry. My mission as
a detective producer and host of the PianoPod is to provide a platform for classical musicians and
educators to reflect and discuss how to keep our industry robust and relevant in this rapidly
changing world and move it forward in the post pandemic era. For the new season, season four,
which will begin in September 2023. Now that things are back to normal after the difficult
three years we've experienced, I'd like to focus on two topics. One is the impact of COVID-19 in
the music industry. And the second one is our musical identity. Well, let's see how each guest
will lead the pathway through the interview session in the new season. We may end up talking
about entirely different topics, who knows? It all depends on where we are as a society at that time.
So before we go, please don't forget to like this video. Thanks for watching and listening to this
post and hope to see you soon.