Throughout his teaching career, Sasha Burdin taught music in a variety of settings and worked with students of various age, background, and abilities, including students with special needs. Sasha Burdin was a teaching assistant in the departments of piano area and jazz studies of the School of Music at the University of Iowa. His responsibilities there included teaching group and private piano lessons, assisting jazz history class, performing in collaborative projects, including concerts and tours with the Center for New Music and Johnson County Jazz band (My secondary area of study is jazz studies).
Burdin also was a piano faculty at Iowa Wesleyan University and Indian Hills Community College. He currently holds a title of a Distinguished Master Teacher at Pacific Piano School in San Jose, California. His students regularly participate in the established programs of certification such as Certificate of Merit by MTAC, and successfully perform at competitions such as United States Open Music Competition.
Here are some of the comments Sasha Burdin received from his students:
Music mastery is only achieved through commitment to daily practice. Students learn the importance of mindfulness and concentration. One of the core Burdin's principle is "practice has to be practical." One shall always know why he or she practices, what and how. Techniques of self-monitoring, and self-review sessions are also highly valued in Burdin's studio.
Concentration on specific aspects of musical art is crucial in achieving the level of true mastery in performance. In his lessons Burdin pays attention to the principles:
- cantilena and legato, or "singing with one's fingers"
- emotional content of each composition, and developing a personal "emotional palette"
- sensitivity to a musical phrase and its cyclic principles
- ability to maintain a big-picture view while executing the finest details of the performance
- design and performance of a story-line/scenario of a piece
- understanding of the multidimensional nature of performing art and the skill to switch attention between those dimensions.
Besides practicing at the piano, the teacher encourages his disciples to practice in their mind. They frequently asked to exercise the mental run-throughs of the piece or a section of the piece, maintaining a steady pulse in their mind. Techniques of self-monitoring, and self-review sessions are also highly valued in Burdin's studio.
Dr. Burdin encourages curiosity and exploration through various music activities: deep listening, score study, harmonic analysis, sight reading, transcription, improvisation (including basic jazz improv. skills), aural skill, solfege, ear training, and rhythmic exercises.
Creativity and imagination are stimulated through associations with different arts such as literature, fine arts, dance, theater and architecture, and natural phenomena such as rain, sun, ocean waves, rocks, mountains, etc.
Students of Burdin are learning interactively - through collaborative activities: ensemble playing, group listening, performance observations, and group discussions.
Burdin's teaching strongly emphasizes physical efficiency of playing piano and wise use of natural forces, such as gravity, relationship between gravity and arm/body weight, body balance, and centering, trajectory of the movement, precise sense of distance in arm shifts, principles of tension and release, economy of the movements.
Dr. Burdin is convinced that established piano practice greatly helps to develop human being in a balanced and harmonious way. It stimulates physical awareness, balance, movement coordination, brain functions and meta-skills, such as concentration, deep focus, imagination, analytical skills, creativity and logic, emotional intelligence, sense of commitment, and dedication.
Burdin also was a piano faculty at Iowa Wesleyan University and Indian Hills Community College. He currently holds a title of a Distinguished Master Teacher at Pacific Piano School in San Jose, California. His students regularly participate in the established programs of certification such as Certificate of Merit by MTAC, and successfully perform at competitions such as United States Open Music Competition.
Here are some of the comments Sasha Burdin received from his students:
“Not only lessons are applicable to piano but
other areas of use, both inside and outside
classroom”
“The piano lessons go so in depth! And he has
taught me many new things in music”
"[He] is a very special musician with a lot of teaching and performance experience, with a very strong sense of responsibility, goals ... with a unique and warm personality and with a very strong sense of work ethic.
Colleagues also respect Burdin's teaching work:
"[He] is a very special musician with a lot of teaching and performance experience, with a very strong sense of responsibility, goals ... with a unique and warm personality and with a very strong sense of work ethic.
Teaching Philosophy
In his piano studio Dr. Burdin teaches the values of commitment, concentration, curiosity, creativity, and collaboration.Music mastery is only achieved through commitment to daily practice. Students learn the importance of mindfulness and concentration. One of the core Burdin's principle is "practice has to be practical." One shall always know why he or she practices, what and how. Techniques of self-monitoring, and self-review sessions are also highly valued in Burdin's studio.
Concentration on specific aspects of musical art is crucial in achieving the level of true mastery in performance. In his lessons Burdin pays attention to the principles:
- cantilena and legato, or "singing with one's fingers"
- emotional content of each composition, and developing a personal "emotional palette"
- sensitivity to a musical phrase and its cyclic principles
- ability to maintain a big-picture view while executing the finest details of the performance
- design and performance of a story-line/scenario of a piece
- understanding of the multidimensional nature of performing art and the skill to switch attention between those dimensions.
Besides practicing at the piano, the teacher encourages his disciples to practice in their mind. They frequently asked to exercise the mental run-throughs of the piece or a section of the piece, maintaining a steady pulse in their mind. Techniques of self-monitoring, and self-review sessions are also highly valued in Burdin's studio.
Dr. Burdin encourages curiosity and exploration through various music activities: deep listening, score study, harmonic analysis, sight reading, transcription, improvisation (including basic jazz improv. skills), aural skill, solfege, ear training, and rhythmic exercises.
Creativity and imagination are stimulated through associations with different arts such as literature, fine arts, dance, theater and architecture, and natural phenomena such as rain, sun, ocean waves, rocks, mountains, etc.
Students of Burdin are learning interactively - through collaborative activities: ensemble playing, group listening, performance observations, and group discussions.
Burdin's teaching strongly emphasizes physical efficiency of playing piano and wise use of natural forces, such as gravity, relationship between gravity and arm/body weight, body balance, and centering, trajectory of the movement, precise sense of distance in arm shifts, principles of tension and release, economy of the movements.
Dr. Burdin is convinced that established piano practice greatly helps to develop human being in a balanced and harmonious way. It stimulates physical awareness, balance, movement coordination, brain functions and meta-skills, such as concentration, deep focus, imagination, analytical skills, creativity and logic, emotional intelligence, sense of commitment, and dedication.