Karen Zereconsky

As the President of the Lumen International Music Academy, my aim is to provide a program of study and performing opportunities for students and fellow musicians; offering them the tools and information necessary to achieve and reach their own unique individual potential.

The three major components which we address intensively are the ear, technique, and analysis (both structural and harmonic). It is our belief that when one of these main components  is weak or underdeveloped the result will not be rewarding and satisfying for the performer.  We aim to develop and create an informed and complete musician.   The greater the musician, the greater their individual contribution to society and to themselves.

The first component to consider is the ear.  Can you hear all the voices that you are playing and can you hear them simultaneously?  Imagine that you are listening to two persons speaking at the same time and you are asked to respond and comment on what you are hearing.  Perhaps you heard a part of what one person was saying and then switched over and listened to what the other person was saying.  The challenge for pianists is to hear two or more voices independently and collectively and to be able to hear all upper and lower range notes as if they were played in the center register.  We respond and react to what we hear, but in order to respond accurately, we must be able to hear and follow all voices independently and collectively.

The second component is technique.  I have heard from countless pianists who have suffered  from tendonitis and whom are limited in reproducing their ideal image as heard in their inner ear.  Technique is akin to having a set of tools and in order to produce and create different sonorities of sound and a multitude of different technical patterns, it is necessary to know which tool one needs to produce that particular sound.  The pianist must be the master of controlling the muscles from the hands to the shoulders and back and must understand which movement is necessary to produce the touch or sound that they desire. No one should experience pain when playing and if there is pain they must stop and realize that the manner in which they are playing is incorrect.

The third component is analysis.  Musicians must interpret the intent of the composer and than respond to the it as performers.  As musicians, our work involves delivering the intent of the composer as best we can to the public.  All the necessary information is found directly within the music, but one must understand how to find it and understand how to decipher  that information and its significance.  It is not enough to know that Beethoven wrote nine Symphonies but how each one is unique in its structure and development and how  each evolved over a lifetime of work.

The goal of the Lumen International Music Academy is to offer the tools necessary for musicians to become independent and fulfilled artists.  We strive to preserve an important classical music culture and raise the level of awareness  and excellence for every individual.  In turn, each musician can pass this information on to their students and can continue the valuable tradition of classical music. Music can become a valuable vehicle to uplift the human spirit wiyhin ourselves and in others, bringing the idea of hope, joy and love closer to a reality.