Sunghee Stepak grasps the importance of positive encouragement for her voice and piano students, and disagrees with the rigid structure typically used to teach classical music. “Because it's a very forceful and very technical method they are using to teach classical music, they don't emphasize how to give children interest in music,” says Sunghee, explaining that she quit learning classical music when she was 14 and instead followed her own tastes.
“I started playing Van Halen, Led Zeppelin, Ozzy Osbourne, Guns n’ Roses, Metallica, Chick Corea, Ella Fitzgerald, Carpenters and a lot of other great music, and I learned chords and scales — contemporary music.” This experience and her convictions make Sunghee an inspired and professional music coach and mentor. She runs Singing Piano Lessons Vancouver and teaches kids and adults voice and piano in styles including pop, musical theatre, R&B, jazz, rock, blues, Latin, folk, country, new age and classical.
Sunghee has been singing and playing the piano since the age of six. She moved to Canada from South Korea in 1998 and finished her music diploma in 2000 at Selkirk College in Nelson, BC. She went on to complete a bachelor’s degree in jazz voice at Capilano University in Vancouver before starting her business. She operates from her charming Vancouver studio apartment. While taking lessons, students can take in the scenic view out across the Burrard Inlet and on to the North Shore Mountains. Alternatively, both the student and Sunghee can stay in their own homes and conduct a lesson over the internet via Skype.
