Tiffany Poon | classical pianist of the new generation

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Schumann Sonata No.2 in G Minor, Op.22 - 1st movement | Tiffany Poon

Chopin Andante Spianato et Grande Polonaise Brillante, Op.22 | Tiffany Poon

Play For Charity Live Stream Concert | Tiffany Poon

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With over 24 million YouTube video views and 250,000+ social media followers,

Tiffany is now embarking on a career as an expressive artist of the new generation

tiffanypianist

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The most boring practice clip you might see on Instagram ever, but that's honestly what's going on today. Trying to correct my younger playing style of walking wobbly on egg shells...😬 18 days till concert! @dreamstagelive
Schumann Abegg Variations

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Endlessly fascinating

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Hi. Sorry, I don't have anything interesting to say with this picture, but just a little reminder: 3 weeks (and one day) till I perform Schumann on @dreamstagelive 😊 I've wanted to play an all-Schumann concert for some years now, so this is special to me ❣️
March 21st, 11am ET 🎟️ link in bio
P. S. Gee, it took me half hour to figure out how to pose my hands and fingers without looking like awkward 🍟

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Why keep striving if you know you will never be as good as someone else – who you think is more gifted than you, or better than you?
Simply because you love music. You work hard out of your love and respect for music.

You invest in a friendship or relationship with someone because you like or love the person. You don’t do things for your friend because you want to be better than their other friends. You just do because you like them or love them. If you truly care for your friend, you wouldn’t stop being their great friend because you think their other friends are better, whatever that means… i.e. they live closer, bake better cookies, get them better presents, etc.
Shouldn’t the same be for your relationship with music?

I thought of this analogy yesterday after reading a follower's DM and was inspired to post this because it's one of the most common comment/questions I get. Hope this reaches everyone who has had this question❣️

P. S. Did I bake cookies at 9 in the morning just for this post? Absolutely. Did I realize that it'd take longer to plate cookies in a way that doesn't make them look like 💩 than make up my face? Nope. But! Anything to stay in my robe and not have to get ready for the camera and look Instagrammable and be the center of attention. Thanks, cookies, for being my face's substitute and my breakfast.

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Weird photo, but realistically my perspective. Having one of those mornings where I just want to think about things and look out the window sideways, laugh on the phone about funny things with a friend, while lying on my couch all day. Well...probably going to read soon because I found this book called "Purity in Music" that Schumann highly recommended by Thibaut. Have you read it? I'll eventually crawl over to my piano to practice because it's 25 days till my @dreamstagelive Schumann concert and I still have some notes to learn and memorize. I'm just tired from thinking and this happens a lot, which is why I've only been able to spend energy on one platform (YouTube) for some years... Maybe I'm overwhelmed by how many things I want to do and need to do. Or I'm distracted by how pretty the sky and its reflection in the waters look right now. Or both. But I just don't have the aesthetic brain power today to make an "Instagram pretty" post. Tomorrow...maybe. That's it for the end of update on my journey with life and Schumann today. This is how I sound and post with a writer's block 🙊
Edit: I actually didn't practice at all today 🤷🏻‍♀️

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I was 12 when I learned and performed my very first Schumann piece, his beautiful Arabeske. Before you say "omg, child prodigy" or "I wish I was like that" etc, or "heck, you weren't that good," let me explain.
I was an oblivious kid living in her own bubble (I still do in a way, but at least I'm conscious about it.) I learned this piece because I thought it sounded pretty. As simple as that. I didn't know anything about Schumann (I still don't to a full extent). I don't remember why I chose to perform this in my benefit concert at my old school @calhounschool for their scholarship program, but I remember I heard of this piece through Horowitz's recordings. Speaking of school, I was alone in my interest in classical music (probably not yet passion at this age.) Kids my age at that time would always ask me, "how fast can you play?" Awkward, but I survived.
So if you're thinking you wish you were me, or you're a parent thinking you wish your kid was like me, please don't. In a way, I'm happy for you because it means you/your kid is able to have normal children experiences and friendships.
Anyway, why do I explain this? It's because, looking back at this video after 12 years, I remember and can hear what I was and was not feeling. For the first 10+ years of my piano playing, I would let music guide me through each and every time I played a piece. Just 99% intuition played in a state of oblivion. I wasn't fully conscious of what notes came after what. I remember I got scared of forgetting notes in this modulation and was relieved when my subconscious guide managed. I never put much thought or hard effort into expressing the music (funny that's how I approach my Instagram now 😅). Also, why in the world did I skip the repeats?!
11 years later, I returned to this piece last summer in my very first live stream concert on stage in the midst of chaos, mixed with existential insecurities about my career (still here), founding @togetherwithclassical, moving into my own studio apartment, pandemic, etc. When I got to play the concert, I was so glad to be fully in the moment of music, trying so hard to play each and every note as well as I could. Music became my passion ❤

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I definitely just stopped practicing to stare out the window. Back to usual programming about Schumann tomorrow morning. So much for trying hard to post consistently about music on Instagram...🙃
#nofilter #sky

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The piece that started my journey with Schumann: Träumerei from Kinderszenen. Here's the story: if you have parents who played classical music for babies CDs (yes, CDs because I was born in 20th century) or calm playlists, chances are, you've heard this piece before you even recognized that it was Schumann. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if that was how I first encountered his music, but consciously, my first experience was listening/watching Horowitz's concert in Moscow on DVD. If you don't know who that is, please look it up on YouTube and I'll link it on my stories for you to watch. I thought about including a clip here in my post, but it didn't seem respectful to post Horowitz's deep, godly playing on my Instagram page...Did I know how special his playing was? No, I was a child. My father was an audiophile and had the ears (not a musician though), so he would play Horowitz (and many other things) a lot when I was a child. Träumerei was the first piece that I learned of Schumann's, simply because it was "easy," one page, not many notes, despite the few chord stretches and the melody is easy to understand for any child. I remember I would look at the next page Am Kamin and other movements of Kinderszenen to sightread, or more like play a few right hand notes and then give up because it looked complicated. I was probably 6-7 years old, I don't remember...
I didn't learn the entire suite of Kinderszenen until 15 years later. It'll take me some time to relive my memories to remember why I picked it up then, but now a little back story of the clip here.
In July 2019, a handful of my followers here on Instagram came to see me play Schumann Kinderszenen on Horowitz's piano at @steinwayandsons hall in New York. This was the day that, by pure luck, I met senior director of marketing who, together with the CEO, decided to loan me a Steinway 3 days later. It's all because of you guys ❤️
Truthfully, I still didn't sound my best here in this clip, but it's 8:30am and I'm drinking coffee in my robe and don't want to disturb my neighbors to record a probably better version that will take me an additional hour...Post took me an hour to write. Laundry time now 🧺

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What if I actually tried on Instagram? Will I be able to bring you and new audiences into Schumann's music? I don't know... (sorry for the long caption ahead)
But I've been thinking for many hours about this. I want to figure out how to share with you my entire journey with Schumann's music from the very beginning and have you understand my passion. Yes, you: currently reading this wondering when will this caption end. I already knew my experiences learning various Schumann pieces have been very emotional, but it was difficult to remember exactly when I learned certain pieces, so I had to scroll back through my entire Instagram to find out (what a millennial.) In the process, I've had to relive some painful/bittersweet personal memories and I'm a ball of emotions right now typing this... 🥺
Point is, I actually don't put any real effort into my Instagram (as you can probably tell) and have been focused on YouTube for some years. But I'm curious, for the love of Schumann and sharing his music, can I actually put in the effort? Will you actually be interested? Will others be?
I never told anyone this before, but I'm quite an introvert and I get incredibly drained after taking even one photo/video (I passed out for 3 days after this self-photoshoot...) At the same time, I want to do this as a dedication to Schumann. What do you think? What questions do you have for my experiences with Schumann? What do you want to see about my journey with his music? There's my timeline with all the Schumann pieces I've learned so far (obviously missing 2 chamber music pieces I'm learning right now, but I ran out of lines.) It's been over 12 years and counting...! Ask me about it if you'd like. I'll go make dinner now.
P. S. I just realized at the end of writing this caption, Toccata is missing from the list...I started it sometime in 2016.
Edit P. S. Thanks to one of you pointing this out, I also forgot to list Sonata No. 2 - 2020 😳

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I finally looked up and out the window after 4 hours editing/posting...😃💙 Have a lovely weekend! I promise I'm going to leave you in peace for the weekend (I'm sorry for so many posts today, I'm just really really excited...)

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If there's one concert that means the most to me up to this day, it's this next one "Schumann Soirée" on March 21st. I don't know how to explain how much it means to me to bring you along on my musical journey with Schumann. Each concert I play is another experience for me to learn more about the composer. And to be able to do this for a composer I love... 🥺 I really, really hope you'll join in 🙏🎶❤️🙏 It'll be an emotional experience to finally play his beautiful Piano Quartet with such wonderful musicians @janvoglercello
@arnaudsussmann @melodiousmatt1
P. S. Please don't get sick of me sharing about how much I love Schumann... 🥺

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Ahhhh 😫 But I love playing, so I'll keep trying 💪
Schumann Abegg Variations practice/relearning after 10 years vlog is up on YouTube 😉

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