I’m from… Sapporo City, Japan
I started teaching music… more than 25 years ago
I started teaching at the Conservatory… more than 20 years ago
My inspiration: I love nature and visual arts, which inspire my writing music.
Few people know that I… Like to make art (painting, sculpting, craft, etc.) I also like to grow plants.
Education: Hokkaido University of Education, Sapporo, Japan – B.A. in Education
Berklee College of Music, Boston, MA – B.A. in Music, summa cum laude
Lesley University, Cambridge, MA – Master of Education
Teachers College, Columbia University, NY – Doctoral study in Music Education
I play and teach: Piano
My other artistic/musical endeavors: I write music for the media, films, poems, stories, events and perform my compositions in my own quintet.
Personal Teaching Statement: As a pianist and composer, I have been teaching classical and jazz piano for more than 20 years focusing on basic techniques and musical knowledge from children to adults.
Understanding music as life – long learning, that also keeps us growing. I plan lessons based on students’ needs in their learning stages and interests, using these approaches to improve various elements of music making.
Biography: Yoko Yates, pianist and composer, was born in Sapporo City, Japan. She began her keyboard study at age four and was always exposed to variety of music in a music-loving family. In addition to her ongoing classical piano studies, as a student at Hokkaido University of Education, her interest towards “art” education motivated her to study more improvisational music and to find innovative approaches which nurture sensibilities and creativity of people in the US. She was awarded the Cultural Merit Scholarship from Sapporo City and the Professional Music scholarship from Berklee College of Music to further her studies in Boston. Graduating from Berklee with a B.A. in music, summa cum laude, she went on to receive a Master’s degree in education from Lesley University in Cambridge, MA. She then continued her studies at Columbia University, Teachers College in New York for doctoral study in music education, where she was awarded a teaching assistantship and Minority Scholarship.
Yoko has been a member of the piano faculty at Brooklyn Conservatory of Music and Greenwich House Music School in Manhattan since 1996, along with teaching at numerous other schools. At Brooklyn Conservatory of Music, she served as the Piano Chair from 2011-2013. All through her schooling and teaching years, she has maintained a performing career as a pianist and sometimes as a vocalist, and has been particularly active as a composer in recent years. She has been contributing music to film, media and literacy events, which have been showcased at international film festivals and “Reuters Business Weekly.” Her album “Mystic Life” will be released by SteepleChase LookOut in April 2022.