Over the last 30 years creator of Tales of a Musical Journey method books for beginners Irina Gorin has established a reputation as one of the most prominent piano pedagogues for children in the United States and beyond. Tales of a Musical Journey is the culmination of Gorin’s vast education and teaching experience.
The series uniquely blend Russian and world’s teaching methods to prepare beginning piano students for a classical repertoire.
Translated into fourteen languages with more coming, tens of thousands of copies of this publication have been sold in more than ninety countries.
Irina Gorin currently offers piano pedagogy courses and teaches individual sessions.
Education
Irina Gorin was born in Kyiv, Ukraine. Studied at the Music College in Kyiv and Kharkiv Conservatory (Kharkiv National University of Arts named after I. P. Kotlyarevsky), the leading music and drama institution of higher education in Ukraine. She holds Master’s Degrees in Piano Performance, Piano Pedagogy, Chamber Ensemble, and Accompaniment.
Presenter
Since 2013, Irina contributed to the enrichment of piano teachers by regularly conducting workshops, lectures, presentation and master classes, and judging at national and international piano competitions in many states of America, Canada, Puerto Rico, Italy, UK, Germany, Spain, Portugal, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore and Australia.
Pianist
In order to showcase the talent of young pianists, Irina Gorin founded and served as President of the Carmel Klavier International Piano Competition, which has welcomed performers from all over the world since 2014. From 2020, Carmel Klavier was founded in Columbia as Carmel Klavier Latin America and in London as Carmel Klavier Europe.
Influencer
Irina Gorin YouTube channel and Tales YouTube channel audience includes 15K + followers and the videos were watched more than seven million times!
Unique approach to pedagogy
Written in a form of a chapter book, Tales of a Musical Journey uses fairy tale setting and characters to introduce and expand musical concepts. In the series, the young minds are set on a journey through fictitious musical land, where they become friends with the inhabitants of the land.
Entertaining and logically interconnected stories develop a young student’s understanding and appreciation of music and piano playing. Comprehensive analogies with the fairy tale characters and their adventures make studying complicated techniques easy and fun. Ear training exercises and theory activities further train and develop young musical ears.
The primary focus of the first year of studying the piano is learning necessary technical skills through freedom and flexibility of all upper body parts: shoulders, arms, wrists, and fingers.
Method for beginners
The series primarily target 4-7 year old beginners. However, older students will benefit from it too. Books 1A-B and 2A-B cover the span of the first year of study and will sufficiently prepare all for playing the classical repertoire.
Video Demos sets where Irina demonstrates how to play every piece in the series: eighty-nine (89) videos for book 1 and seventy-three (73) for book 2 are recommended as a teaching support resource.
The Handbook for Teachers offers a detailed explanation of the key ideas and approaches for the Tales of a Musical Journey curriculum.
Free audio play-along tracks available on the website will add to your lessons another valuable dimension.