David Chang Music

David and his team are great. Dedicated professionals every one! David has really innovative ideas about piano and personal development. His systems helped me greatly approaching my goals on and off the piano bench. I also worked w Isidora weekly. She’s a wonderful caring person with deep knowledge about piano and music theory. This is a meticulously run business and will definitely be a good fit for you if you’re a type A person. And will likely help you get organized even if you’re less type A. Thanks DCM!

Fair warning, LONG review. A word count hates to see me coming haha! I played until my early teens (up to ABRSM Gr. 7) but then stopped. 15 yrs later, I wanted to restart lessons and found David Chang Music. Enrollment was seamless: David set aside a whole 2 hrs to get to know me & figure out what would be best. We went with his Pianist Collective as I really wanted a sense of community for motivation & accountability. My goal piece was Scarlatti Sonata K.517 which felt hopeless (had tried it myself and couldn’t even make it past the first 2 measures lol). But with David, I learned it in just 2 months! I’m now able to play it at speeds that seemed impossible. Then followed Chopin’s Op. 25 #2 and Beethoven’s Pathétique Sonata - which I performed at my first recital ever! To go from insta-panic attack at the word "performance" (you could play a techno beat with my heart-rate if I caught a whiff of that word lol) to playing such a piece for an audience was huge, especially after a large gap in my learning. When I found David, I had a super traditional expectation of instruction: show up, put in my 1 hr, spend the week troubleshooting on my own, save questions for next week (hoping I remember them lol). Rinse & Repeat. But I can't stress how much better the Collective is than that. We have an incredible online platform to post questions, progress videos, fingerings, chat etc that keeps us constantly motivated & accountable to each other. At any time & with any issue, I can get a detailed reply from David, an adjunct instructor, a student (or all 3!) in mere hours. All outside class time. So you get near real-time feedback, social benefits of a community, AND 4 hrs of instruction & performance trading, plus recitals & weeks of training. My performance anxiety improved SO much due to the amount of exposure therapy we get. And critiquing each other in turn improved my ability to critique myself. It’s amazing the value you get at a cost that would amount to maybe 1 hr of weekly one-on-one instruction at best (and no feedback in between) in a more traditional setup. David also posts a wealth of knowledge on our platform & YouTube, with very detailed methodologies, most of which I’d never paid attention to before studying with him ("good enough" was my mantra for years haha) which I found quite invaluable. He sets you on the path to being GREAT, not just "good". Piano is a pretty isolating hobby so this next point really sets David apart: He curates his students impeccably. Everyone is SO warm, friendly & supportive! I've made real friendships (recently just flew to Seattle to visit a friend from the group). We have in-person meetups - just hanging out & playing for each other, that are so fun! It’s like a Gumbo class - the best parts of everything! Classes, recitals, meetups, and even private instruction too. We’re also a diverse bunch in terms of age, skill, background & ethnicities, so you’ll feel instantly comfortable. We have complete beginners & advanced players but everyone is as enthusiastic & encouraging as though we were all virtuosos haha. On a personal note, David is so kind in his interaction with all students. Very responsive & communicative, but also very attentive - I was at a very low point with a piece, and he detected that just from my demeanor & messaged to check up on me, which ended up in a mini counseling session about not being so hard on myself, that I really needed at that time. I find myself applying his guidance in my daily life. There’s a very special personal touch he has with everyone that makes you feel like you’re part of a family. He’s an inspiring virtuosic pianist, but is also an equally wonderful teacher - sometimes people with great skill aren’t able to translate that into instruction, but he’s uniquely adept in guiding both beginners & advanced students. I can’t adequately express how happy I am with the Collective and him as an instructor. No exaggeration when I say it’s been a life changing experience.

Before working with David, I had less than two years of piano experience. I was primarily working through Alfred’s adult method books and the Faber & Faber series. I began working with David in July, and I can confidently say that choosing to study with him was one of the best decisions I’ve made in my piano journey. From the very beginning—through August and September—David helped me dramatically improve my musicality, particularly my voicing between the hands and within each hand. He also placed a strong emphasis on dynamics, which led to a major improvement in my playing. Prior to working with David, I had never truly thought about voicing or dynamics in a meaningful way, and incorporating these elements has made my playing sound far more musical and professional. In August, I began learning Liebestraum No. 3 by Liszt, which became my first major goal piece with David. When he initially suggested attempting this work, I honestly thought it was far beyond my ability and somewhat unrealistic. However, with his guidance and structured approach, I made steady progress. By November, I performed approximately 75% of the piece in his Studio Class in front of David and other students. This was the first time I had ever performed for an audience, especially in a more formal setting. The feedback I received afterward—from both David and members of the Collective—was incredibly valuable and helped me clearly understand both my strengths and areas for improvement. In December, I performed everything except the final page of Liebestraum No. 3, as well as Pure Imagination, entirely from memory. David helped me manage my nerves leading up to the performance and guided me through overcoming the mental blocks and performance anxiety I was experiencing at the time. Now, in the first week of January, I am able to perform all of Liebestraum No. 3 from memory. In just five months, I went from believing that playing any part of this piece was impossible to performing the entire work musically from memory. This achievement alone has been worth every penny. David truly helped me accomplish something I once thought was completely out of reach. David is an exceptional teacher, and I always walk away from our lessons with valuable insights. My mindset, dynamics, voicing, technique, memorization skills, and performance abilities have all improved at an incredible pace. He is always approachable, responsive, and generous with his time outside of lessons. I’m excited to continue working with him more closely in the future as I pursue my goal of building my own piano teaching business, and I know David will be instrumental in helping me get there.

I started studying with David about a year ago after numerous previous attempts to learn piano (including at conservatory), and I came to lessons with significant music experience having studied guitar for over 40 years, voice for over 20 years, and with significant exposure to composition and music theory. Still, something always missed when it came to anything close to proficiency on the piano. I chose and David agreed to let me pursue a piece that I had previously studied and attempted to play without mastering the piece. Using David’s logical methodology and performance coaching, I am further along in the piece than I have ever been able to achieve and am able to perform anywhere, anytime from memory. Working with David, I have made huge strides forward in performance ability, solidity of memory and consistency in performance. I have the good fortune of more recently working one-on-one with David as well as being a longer term member of his Pianist Collective. Even without the one-on-one exposure, my experience in the collective has greatly elevated my playing not to mention my confidence as a performer. I have had a wonderful experience meeting other like-minded members of the Collective, and I really feel like I am part of a team that are all rooting for me to succeed! It has been also extremely valuable working with Isidora (one of David’s senior teachers) - both live and asynchronously. Not only do I get the benefit of one but two masters of the instrument to facilitate my progress.  Both are expert in utilizing David’s proprietary  methodologies including identifying sets, adding in reverse, the specific notational system, spaced repetition, interleaving, physical technique, mental practice, emotional practice, and strategic considerations on many different levels. David’s methodology translates to my other musical studies, and utilizing crossover methods I have become a better musician all around.  More than anything, David has taught me the essence of the performer’s mindset - really the foundation of all learning and my continued success. Practically speaking, David is very accessible, easy to reach, and helpful outside of our individual lesson times and the Collective meetings. David and I have formed a personal relationship that goes beyond teacher and student. He really, really cares. Not only about me as a pianist, musician and performer, but as a human being.  David’s coaching is transcendent. My journey as a person and a musician is infinitely better having met and gotten to work with David.

I had the privilege of working with David Chang for a short time in 2023, and even though our time together wasn’t long, I truly can’t understate the impact he’s had on me. Before studying with him, I had already taught myself the full version of Comptine d’un autre été and was almost a minute into Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata (3rd movement). My goal was to fully master that third movement. What shifted under David went beyond technique, it was my entire approach to learning. Being in a group setting with his prodigy students was incredibly motivating. Watching their level of discipline and artistry made me feel like I had what it takes to stand right up there with them. It intimidated and fueled me at the same time. It ignited something in me. Even before our lessons formally began, David pointed me toward the book Make It Stick, which heavily informs his methodology. That concept; that the more difficulty and productive struggle it takes to learn something, the more deeply it sticks- changed the way I practiced. It strongly paralleled ideas in Mastery by Robert Greene (another book that I live by!), where pushing through boredom and repetition is what ultimately produces greatness. One of the most valuable technical lessons I took from him was to isolate even the smallest units of music (sometimes just a few notes at a time), and repeat them deliberately until mastered, instead of running larger sections over and over. I used to teach myself, and no stranger to the frequency effect in learning. However, that microscopic focus built real precision. I had already been doing a lot of mental practice before working with him, but it wasn’t until David validated and reinforced the science behind it that I realized how powerful it truly was. I’m genuinely sad that I had to part ways with his lessons. Around the time I reached out to him, I had just started my career as a flight attendant and underestimated how unpredictable and demanding that schedule would become. Consistency became difficult in ways I hadn’t anticipated. That said, I carry his teachings with me. Since then, I’ve learned many more pieces and made significant strides…with more confidence and structure than ever before. David played a pivotal role in shaping my piano journey, and I’m deeply grateful for the foundation and ambition he instilled in me. But just the fact that it is 1:55am on a random Sunday, I’m up practicing piano, randomly thinking about the impact he’s had on me and how much I wish I could continue with his lessons (and that this reflection, completely unprompted)- pushed me to sit down and write this review…should tell you all you need to know.

David helped me integrate dreams and wishes along my journey as a piano lover since the age of 6. I've been, for the most part, playing on my own with sporadic lessons during my youth, and have started taking lessons regularly with another teacher since 2022. I came to David when my technical blockers could no longer be overcome with repetitions. I was already playing challenging pieces such as Pathetique, Appassionata, and several Chopin etudes, but struggled to take things to the next level. David is a great piano teacher and coach who is willing to explore new solutions together with great passion. He held a gentle space and listened to my story, my self-limiting beliefs related to piano, and insecurities about my own playing. David also laid out his performance training approach which was exactly what I lacked with my other piano teacher. There were many "I could never" statements that very quickly turned around once David told me what to actually focus on - not to correct the mistakes, but to keep the flow going, in a "the show must go on" sort of way. Both David and I found out surprisingly that I COULD actually memorize long pieces, play from memory, play well, fast, and relaxed, and not freak out when mistakes happen, when I don't let myself stand in the way. Outside of sessions, I've enjoyed listening to David's various videos on physical methodologies, while taking notes and thinking immediately how I could apply them to the pieces I was learning. I learned many things about making the most out of my practice time by being mindful - metronome cycling, practicing in sets, playing all louds with accents... As for my insecurities, it was through many deeply reflective conversations during our sessions that I figured out what piano was to me in different stages of life, and who I would like to be as a pianist and a musician. I realized through David's perspective that where I am with the piano compared to others my age is rare and celebration-worthy already. In the five months we've worked together, every session has unlocked something for me - could be a new way of understanding how to play the piano, what to listen to when I or someone else plays, who I am as a pianist, why I held the self-limiting beliefs that I had, the role of piano in my own life. We both value authenticity which is what made these transformations possible. Playing virtuosically no longer felt like a hopeless dream. After a home recital earlier this year where my brain "snapped" from an unrecoverable mistake playing Appassionata, I bounded back after taking lessons with David and just had my forty-audience recital playing pieces that I once thought I could never play well. This took many things that came to fruition from my sessions with David, and his videos on practice methods and performance training. I also benefited immensely from performing in the Collective ahead of my recital, where I received constructive comments about musicality from not just David himself but also the community of learners that he curated. Thanks to David, I went from having great fear of judgment to truly embracing the act of creating music. I look forward to a new year of learning with David and bringing myself closer to my goal piece (Mephisto Waltz No. 1) and many more performances to come.

I ran across David Chang through a simple google search doubting I'd find the kind of teacher I really needed for online teaching. After a few conversations, I opted to work with Isidora on David's team and have to say it was such a great decision. After a year, and under Isidora's wonderful teaching guidance, I've completed learned two challenging Beethoven sonata movements (probably could have learned more if I had more practice time) but I didn't just learned these movement, I really really know them deeply. I feel ready to perform them in front of an audience. I was trained as a pianist at a young age and then stopped for a few decades. Picking it back up and applying David's techniques have been game changers for me. I've learned strategies I haven't used in the past and feel this team's approach is what I've needed as an adult learner. I greatly appreciate the work Isidora put into working with me over the past year and highly recommend her as a teacher!

I've had a great experience! I took lessons from Isidora Vladic and I made great progress. I played piano on and off for a about 8 years and I work full time, but in just 4 months of lessons, I made a lot more progress than I did before. My technique and my ability to understand the music has improved a lot. I studied Janacek, and Chopin mazurkas, preludes and etudes. I highly recommend!

Malissa was an incredible instructor as I enrolled. She helped me tune up on the basics and I was playing my chosen song within 3 months. I would recommend this to anyone who wants that jump start on the piano or is returning after long periods away from the instrument. Great for beginners and returning players alike.

I’m in my 30s and despite having a learned classical music on another instrument, for one reason or another I had never in my life played the piano. But I always wanted to, and it has so much utility for making music with others that I finally decided to take the leap at my “older” age and start learning. I had a lot of hesitation about starting to learn and how. It’s difficult to learn to play an instrument after childhood-adolescence has passed, and most teachers focus on teaching pedagogies that are tailed for children. I got recommended David Chang from a friend. David has authored various programs tailored for teaching piano specifically to adults. Although based in New York, his programs are taught through zoom, so accessible everywhere in the country. What stood out to me about his programs was 1. That he specializes in teaching adults and 2. That his methods are intended to be rigorous and get adults to play at a high level in as short a time as possible. Sounds too good to be true right? David had me start immediately with Claire de Lune, which is far beyond beginner level material. A pianist friend from my local area told me that it sounded insane to start a beginner student with that piece. David and I first experimented doing his Pianist Collective program, but he soon realized that private lessons were more suitable for my style of learning. So, after a month of doing the Collective program, I switched over to taking private lessons with Isidora. Long story short, within 8 months of doing privates with Isidora (1 hour per week), I can play the entire Claire de Lun at full tempo and with voicing and musicality. I recently traveled to visit family (I didn’t tell them that I was learning :) ) and they were shocked that all of a sudden, I was playing piano like an advanced player. What makes their David’s and Isidora’s methods work? Whilst conventional teaching goes from basics+fundamentals and building up into more advanced playing, Isidora goes straight to your dream piece, and then she teaches you the fundamentals and whatever else is needed to technically and musically perform it. Doing this method, I realize that we have incidentally covered a TON of piano topics such as tension-free playing, pedaling, hand positioning and hitting keys using proper arm weight and rotation, methods of practicing and putting left and right hands together, and voicing and balance. Highly recommend this program to any serious adult who is willing to put in the time (for practicing) and money (the private lessons are not cheap) and wants to learn fast.