faculty

Nyela Basney – Piano Instructor.

Nyela Basney is a pianist and an orchestra conductor who has given over 700 performances.  She earned her undergraduate and graduate degrees in piano performance, with highest distinction, from the Eastman School of Music.

In addition to performing as a soloist and as a collaborative pianist, she spent 15 years conducting professionally, such ensembles as the American Symphony Orchestra at Lincoln Center, the Shreveport, Virginia, and Toledo Symphony Orchestras and the Rochester Philharmonic, to name a few.  She took pleasure in not only conducting Masterworks performances, but also Pops concerts, Tiny Tots, mall, educational, parks, musical theater, opera and youth orchestra performances.  And she took 2,500 flights as she travelled across the U.S., to South America, Hong Kong, Italy, Bosnia, England and Scotland.

Nyela does not remember exactly when she began playing the piano, although she knows she was playing before she started kindergarten.  Once in grade school she began formal lessons which helped her develop as a pianist more rapidly (and involved needing to unlearn a few bad habits!).  She never lost her love of exploring music freely and playing the piano for her own enjoyment, however, and she hopes to encourage her students to follow their heart as they explore repertoire.

Her piano teaching philosophy begins by meeting the student where they are, at any age, whether a beginner, a mature player, or in between, and developing a mutually helpful and personalized vocabulary to talk about music and technique.  While she believes it is important to focus on technical fundamentals so that students can develop their pianistic skills to any level they choose, her most important goal is to help them express the music they find within themselves.