Blog 5: Leader Profile – Andrew Furmanczyk

For my final Communication level two blog post I am to write about a leader in the piano community. At first, I considered choosing an obvious historical figure such as  Beethoven or a relatively more modern piano player such as Paul McCartney. But then I decided to pick one that has been more influential in my recent return to the piano. His name is Andrew Furmanczyk and he is my online piano teacher.

One of the requirements of this post is that I know a lot about the person I am writing about. However, to be honest I do not know very much about Furmanczyk. I only know the limited information that he provides about himself in his videos and I have never met him in person. Despite my little knowledge of him personally I would still call him a current leader in the piano community. There are a few reasons I would call him a leader.

The first reason that Andrew Furmanczyk is a leader in the piano community is because he makes the piano accessible. Right now, I cannot afford lessons in-person or otherwise. I love music and I want to tune my piano skills. However, because I am a college student on a tight budget lessons are not possible right now. Furmanczyk believes that everyone should have the chance to learn the piano (Furmanczyk, 2008). This altruism demonstrates that he is a leader in the community. Secondly, his excellent teaching skills shoes that he is a leader. Furmanczyk encourages his viewers to practice and he provides different mnemonics and stories to help with remembering different keys on the piano and how to play them (Furmanczyk, 2008). He has many different lessons available that progress by difficulty (Furmanczyk, 2008). All these traits are valuable in a teacher. Therefore, Andrew Furmanczyk’s teaching skills make him standout as a leader in the community.

In summary, Andrew Furmanczyk’s altruistic effort to make the piano lessons universally available and his strong teaching skills make him a modern leader in the piano community. Although I have never met him in person he appears to be a reputable leader in the piano playing community.

References:

Furmanczyk, A. [Andrew Furmanczyk] (2008, July 10th) How to Play Piano: The basics, piano lesson #1 [Video File] Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.co/watch?v=vphWgqbF-AM