#PianoPodRewind ⏮️ The Journey of Finding Your Unique Artistic Voice

5 Feb 2025 · 0 min

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This content was created by The Piano Pod with Yukimi Song. This content was uploaded by The Piano Pod with Yukimi Song. This is a YouTube video titled "#PianoPodRewind ⏮️ The Journey of Finding Your Unique Artistic Voice" (created 2025-02-05). The excerpt is a spoken segment by pianist Sarah Davis Buchner describing how, early in her career and piano competitions, she played repertoire she studied with Rudolf Firkusny (including works by Martinu and Janáček), was frequently compared to Firkusny, and reflects on the lengthy process of finding and playing in her own artistic voice.

And at the time I got out of school and I was entering piano competitions, I played repertoire that I had studied with him, including Czech music of Martinu and Janáček that he played a lot. And people complimented me and said, oh, you play just like Firkusny. That's a great compliment. But the problem is I'm not Rudolf Firkusny. I'm Sarah Davis Buchner. I wasn't playing even that— I was playing the music well, but I wasn't playing it like me. It takes an awfully long time to play like yourself.