Today we’d like to introduce you to Stephen Pierce.
Hi Stephen, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I would say that my life’s journey has been marked by several key transitions and accompanying challenges. I believe that these transitions and challenges have shaped me into who I am and helped me get to where I am today.
I was born and grew up in South Africa in the city of Boksburg, near Johannesburg as one of five children in a pretty close-knit family. Music has always been an important part of my life and I loved to sing as a child. My father also loved singing and would sing to us every night before bed. However, neither of my parents ever received any formal music lessons. When I was quite young, my paternal grandmother immigrated to Tasmania, Australia and so we inherited her upright piano. The instrument intrigued me and I would doodle on it, trying to figure out melodies by ear. I also learned a few pieces by rote. After much nagging on my part, my parents found a piano teacher for me and I started with lessons around the age of ten. Admittedly, they have always been incredibly supportive of what I do and continue to be my biggest cheerleaders.
My elementary school years were rather unhappy. I was interested in creative pursuits like music and art whereas the teachers and students at my school together with the greater culture in my hometown seemed to think that these were peculiar, even unorthodox interests for a boy. Boys were apparently not supposed to sing nor be interested in piano playing and drawing. In addition, I was rather effeminate and teased mercilessly for it. As a result, my parents recognized that I needed a change of environment and I auditioned for and was accepted into the world-famous Drakensberg Boys Choir School. This was the first significant transition in my life and brought about a considerable set of challenges.
The Drakensberg Boys Choir School is a boarding school located in one of the most spectacularly beautiful regions of South Africa (and where my parents and oldest brother and sister-in-law honeymooned!), known as the Champagne Valley. It is about five hours drive from my parents’ home. I initially felt I had made a huge mistake going there as I was exceedingly homesick and found the excessive use of corporal punishment severe. However, it was a thoroughly musically immersive experience and I fell deeply in love with music there. I also recognized the incredible power of music and how our choral performances were able to visibly move our audiences (sometimes to tears). As a member of the choir, we performed music of a various styles and genres all over the country at a very high artistic level. I was also selected for two international choir tours. One of these was to the United States in 1993 and this trip sowed the seed for my eventual move to Ohio for graduate school in 2004. I truly believe that my time at the choir school was incredibly formative. The training there was rigorous, and I learned a lot about music while also developing a strong work ethic. I also had some incredible mentors and made some lifelong friends there.
My next transition took place when I finished ninth grade and graduated from the choir school. My piano teacher at the time (together with my parents’ support) felt I needed to move to another artistically accepting, if not nurturing environment. As a result, I attended Pro Arte Alphen Park High School (PAAP), a performing arts high school located in Pretoria, South Africa. At PAAP, my focus moved from singing to piano. I also took up percussion as a second instrument. My first year at PAAP was challenging. At the choir school, everything had been regimentally scheduled; at the art school, I had to create my own schedule and be completely self-disciplined about my work and practice habits. In addition, I had twice been awarded “most accomplished pianist” at the choir school; at PAAP, I was one of the weakest pianists in my tenth-grade cohort. Fortunately, I had auditioned for and been accepted into the studio of a legendary piano teacher, Joseph Stanford who taught at the University of Pretoria. He ended up being my teacher for almost nine years (all through high school and my undergraduate degrees) and remains one of my most important mentors. Under his guidance, my playing transformed dramatically and after a lot of hard work and dedication to improving, I graduated as the outstanding music student and pianist at PAAP in my senior year.
Thinking back, I can only imagine how poorly I played for him at first; he must have recognized that I had some potential but also noted the many pianistic deficiencies present in my playing. Most problematic was that I did not know how to practice the piano effectively or efficiently. In my first year at PAAP, I would spend up to 8 hours a day at the piano but I was not practicing productively; rather, I was merely playing mindlessly with spurts of focus and concentration and innumerable bad physical habits. It took years for me to figure out how to practice effectively and utilize my time (and body) more optimally. Teaching my own students today how to practice effectively is therefore the cornerstone of my philosophy. My hope is that I will spare them much time and aggravation.
After high school, it was time for another transition and I was off to the University of Pretoria where I completed my undergraduate degrees in piano performance under the guidance of Prof. Stanford. These were mostly wonderful years in which I grew as a pianist and person and made great friends. I experienced all kinds of things at university for the first time, all of which translated into making me a better musician and more thoughtful and empathetic person (with many mistakes along the way). Upon graduation, I was very fortunate to receive the Vice-Chancellor’s medal for academic achievement – a huge honor for which I was designated the top graduating student within the school of humanities.
During my undergraduate studies, I also sort of fell into teaching. My percussion teacher at PAAP immigrated to Germany at the end of my Freshman year and the school was struggling to find a replacement. As a financially strapped 19-year-old with no income, I was excited to make a little money and jumped at the opportunity of filling in temporarily. Little did I know that I would stay there for five years and that teaching music would become my life’s passion. Upon reflection, I cannot imagine that my teaching was terrifically effective at first; however, I was passionate about learning as a teacher and very dedicated to my students and improved quite quickly. I enjoyed my time teaching at PAAP tremendously and was tempted not to leave. I also inherited four phenomenal piano students during this time and started to accompany all of the best instrumentalists at the school when a colleague went on maternity leave. All of these experiences fomented my love of teaching and mentoring other musicians.
However, after five years at PAAP as well as completing my bachelor’s and honors degrees, it was time for a new challenge. After a grueling set of auditions, I decided to enroll for my master’s degree in piano performance at the University of Cincinnati, College Conservatory of Music (CCM) in Ohio. At CCM, I again went through a huge period of transition and adjustment. I was miserable at first with the freezing weather and lack of sunshine in winter. I also realized I had much still to learn comparative to my peers; I had been a big fish in the small South African piano pond for a long time. Fortunately, I again had a wonderful set of mentors to guide me and both my musicianship and teaching improved. I decided to try to stay in Cincinnati for my doctorate in part because I met my husband, Ryan there and we wanted to be together, but also because I wanted to spend more time working with my teacher, Frank Weinstock. He introduced many new ideas to me and I wanted more time with him to develop these parts of my playing and thinking. During my doctorate at CCM, teaching took on even more importance and I became increasingly interested in the field of pedagogy. As a result, my doctoral cognate or minor field was focused on piano pedagogy.
As I was completing my terminal degree, a slew of wonderful opportunities led to a succession of transitions. Firstly, I was exceedingly fortunate to land a one-year sabbatical replacement position at Oberlin College. This incredibly fortuitous event helped pave the way for subsequent opportunities. Following an incredibly enjoyable year at Oberlin, I moved to Greeley, Colorado and taught at the University of Northern Colorado for two years. When my current position at USC was advertised, I was initially hesitant to apply as I did not feel that my resumé and work experience made me competitive. However, Ryan, my husband, who is ever supportive, encouraged me to apply and I hesitantly submitted my application at the very last minute. Somehow the stars aligned and I was fortunate to win the job. I cannot quite believe that I will start my ninth year at USC this fall.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I am not sure that a smooth road truly exists for anyone. Moreover, a road without bumps might be more of a curse than a blessing as I believe we learn the most from our disappointments and failings rather than our successes and achievements. While I have been luckier than many and the recipient of some incredibly good fortune and serendipity, I have also had many setbacks. One of my greatest disappointments was not winning a scholarship in South Africa for which I had worked incredibly hard and which almost everyone at the time thought I would win. However, I went on to win it the following year after committing to working even harder and smarter, much personal reflection and many tears! This scholarship actually aided me in my ability to study in the United States. I have also lost out on opportunities (I did not succeed at getting the first college job for which I interviewed, for example), only to have something even more amazing come along and being better prepared to take advantage of it. The key is to try to learn from our failures and continually strive to improve. I make mistakes everyday but do my best to learn from these.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I think of myself as someone who works as a musician and teaching artist. I am a pianist and specialize in teaching classical piano and also piano pedagogy; that is teaching other pianists how to teach the piano effectively. At the USC Thornton School of Music, I do quite a few things including overseeing all secondary piano instruction and supervising 12 graduate teaching assistants. In addition, I teach piano lessons to students of varying levels ranging in age from 8 to adult at my studio in Pasadena, Artisan Music Studio.
My students would probably all point to my gorgeous calico cat, Callie who is the official mascot of my studio, Artisan Music Studio as the best element of it (haha) or my husband, who is a wonderful cook. In all seriousness, it is my hope that I am valued by others for my patient and authoritative approach to teaching. I try my utmost to prioritize the joy of music-making in lessons versus focusing on perfection, error detection and correction, and external rewards. Keyboard wellness, teaching a comprehensive music curriculum, and developing artistry from the very first lesson are all essential elements of my teaching philosophy.
I am most proud of helping my students grow and improve as artists, and hopefully also as human beings. I try not to compare myself – I work in a field with so many unbelievably gifted and dedicated colleagues, yet we all bring something different to our teaching practice and artistry. I am driven by a sense of duty to try to help my students feel successful as artists. As such, I invest a lot of time in them outside of lessons (including planning their repertoire and curriculum; working out fingering for pieces; recording their pieces for them; listening to their recordings and offering feedback, etc.). I also try to inspire them to disseminate the true meaning of music through their playing. That is – I believe music is essential to life and that as musicians, we have a responsibility to be ambassadors of music and endeavor to perform music in a way that moves others, stirs the emotions, and says something unique and meaningful.
Networking and finding a mentor can have such a positive impact on one’s life and career. Any advice?
I would encourage others to reach out to the people they respect and admire and kindly ask them for advice. People can be incredibly charitable with their time and offer valuable suggestions; I have benefitted greatly from this kind of generosity. I think approaching a mentor with sincerity is key too. I am always happy to help others who are earnestly interested in improving themselves or dedicated to better serving their students, music, and the profession. My mentors have certainly been that way and I try to emulate them.
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Website: https://music.usc.edu/stephen-pierce/
Image Credits:
Personal Photo: Stephen Pierce Headshot: Ryan Prijic (2021) Additional Photos (in order): Stephen Pierce Headshot with Piano: Ryan Prijic (2021) Stephen Pierce with students and Toomy Trojan at USC (L to R, Sophie, Connor and Sarah Tran): Jenny Ngo (2020) Stephen Pierce with Prof. Joseph Stanford: Ryan Prijic (2013) Stephen Pierce with Prof. Frank Weinstock: Ryan Prijic (2010) Stephen Practicing with Callie: Ryan Prijic (2020) Ryan Prijic and Stephen Pierce: Chris Reynolds (2013)
