Siyoung L. flute, music theory Gardena, CA

             Siyoung is a flutist, improviser and educator from South Korea, based out of California.  She recently completed her Master's Degree in multi-focus flute performance at the California Institute of the Arts, holding a Bachelor's degree in flute performance from University of California, Davis. Throughout the years in California, she has studied with the greatest teachers such as Rachel Rudich, Tod Brody, Jim Walker, Cynthia Ellis, and Eileen Holt. Furthermore, she has worked closely with a range of artists including Marc Menzise,  Erika Duke-Kirkpatrick, and Liam Viney. She is very active in the field of classical, contemporary and experimental music and performs regularly as a soloist as well as a chamber musician. She performs with New Century Players, Baroque Ensemble with Allen Vogel, Michael Pisaro's Experimental Music Ensemble and the Vinny Golia Large Ensemble. As a supporter of new compositions, she has premiered many pieces by great composers such as Zapping by Ada Gentile at the Walt Disney REDCAT Theater and Revé by Alain Bioteau at California Institute of the Arts R.O.D Hall. She has 5 years of teaching private and group students while working as a Graduate Assistant Flute Instructor at CalArts and an assistant director at Harper Junior High School Band. 

My teaching emphasizes on developing artistic and musical performance skills while making sure each students have strong technicality. I encourage students to relate their experiences and feelings with music they play- we always talk about phrasing, telling stories while playing, thinking of a bigger picture, playing in bigger beats, and details such as sound between notes, silence between sounds, colors, character, gesture, moods and more. I believe it is the most crucial that students enjoy playing and studying music.

When I first meet a new student, I try to find his/her strength to compliment and weakness to work extra hard on. To briefly summarize my idea of teaching technique, I pay close attention to student’s producing strong and focused sound in all registers with great support while each note being clearly articulated.

I begin each lesson with warm-up (whistle tone, harmonics, long tones, fast and slow scales) - then technique studies (breathing, vibrato, dynamic, articulation, arpeggio, register studies), etude (one a week), solo repertoire (Bach to Berio), and duet for developing sight reading skills and for fun! I know when students like to be challenged, and I make sure they work hard each week. I also incorporate music theory  in the lesson and often talk about ways of playing well in groups (band, orchestra, wind ensemble, etc.)

I play and teach all kinds of music from baroque music to improvisational music. My teaching emphasizes more on the classical music (Bach to Berio).

flute, music theory