karine vann

Like many youngsters, I was drawn to the magnetic pull of the piano keys from an early age. I started lessons when I was six years old in a compound in Saudi Arabia, where my father was stationed for work. Upon returning to the states, I spent the next decade studying pre-college Classical piano at the Levine School of Music in the DC area. In high school, I attended the Boston University’s Tanglewood Institute’s summer music program in the woods of Lenox, Massachusetts. I went on to major in Classical music in college at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music, with piano as my instrument and an outside field in Psychology.

While there, I took many eye-opening courses, but perhaps the most practical was piano pedagogy with Karen Taylor, a wise and compassionate teacher of pre-college piano. Her critiques of traditional approaches to teaching piano struck me as familiar. They paralleled my own early experiences with music: the emphasis on learning music visually with little emphasis on developing aural skills, as well as the lack of emphasis on the historical and cultural context of the music being taught, and most curiously, the disdain for improvisation and original composition at the keyboard. I felt compelled to teach that I might try a more progressive approach.

Upon graduation, I started a small piano studio in the Northern Virginia area, consisting of students ages 5 to 17. I also enrolled in a Master’s degree in piano pedagogy at George Mason University on scholarship. During this time, I started studying jazz and improvisation with prominent DC jazz pianist Wade Beach. As a classically trained musician, this shift opened up a new world for me and further informed my perspective on pedagogy. After about a year of the program, however, I changed course. In 2013, I traveled to Armenia for the first time. The experience of exploring my ancestral roots and witnessing the state of the country shook me. I left the pedagogy course, and thanks to a scholarship from the Armenian government, got my Master’s in Musicology at the University of Oxford.

A long and winding road then ensued that took me from Yerevan to New York City to Boston, during which time, I acquired an interest in organic farming, which brought me finally to the Napa Valley in 2022, where I now live with my husband and our young son. In the summer of 2022, I started Janapar Piano Studio, a small, intimate, in-home piano studio that emphasizes a more holistic introduction to musical skills. “Janapar” (pronounced jah-nah-par) is an Armenian word, which translates to "path" or "journey" in English. I chose this word in part to pay homage to my roots, but also because I like the imagery the word conjures, as I view piano lessons to be one pathway into a whole world of music. This journey will look different for everyone and I hope to be a guide as students navigate exciting and challenging new ways of listening, thinking, and moving.

We all hope to get something out of learning to play an instrument and as a teacher, I will do my best to honor those wishes alongside my own personal teaching philosophies, which are always evolving. I look forward to hearing from you!