The Keys of the Duo

Tatyana

My name is Tatyana! Music has been part of my life since childhood — I played piano by ear with both hands from an early age, graduated from the choral department of the S.P. Diaghilev School of Arts in Zelenograd (Moscow), then studied at the Music Education faculty of MGPU, after which I taught in secondary schools and also worked as a choirmaster and teacher of music literature and music theory at the very same school of arts I had graduated from. My main instrument is piano, but I have always been curious about other instruments too. I learned folk-style guitar from video lessons by a guitarist friend, received an accordion from my aunt — on which I sometimes play solo right-hand parts — and recently started learning ukulele. On my to-do list: recorder, kantele, and something from the pitched percussion family. Currently I work as a music teacher at the IZUM Learning and Development Centre in Tallinn.

Jazz is something still largely uncharted for me, but immensely fascinating and powerful. In jazz you are allowed to not hold back your emotions and simply be yourself — yet differently every time, always improving, and never afraid of mistakes.

Being in a musical duo means learning to truly listen to each other, catching your partner's emotions, pauses and breaths, picking up spontaneously, improvising, and simply finding genuine joy in the act of making music together, right here, right now.