As a part of Lee University’s 13th annual International Piano Festival, Dr. Michael Shinn of the Juilliard School in New York taught a live interactive master class on Friday, June 16, for participating students.

Students performed for Shinn on a Yamaha DCFX Disklavier PRO concert grand piano on Lee’s campus while a similarly equipped high-tech “reproducing” instrument at Yamaha Artist Services in New York recreated, in real time, their exact performances. By transmitting performance data over the internet, this unique instrument allowed Shinn to hear the students’ exact performances—with the piano’s keys and pedals moving up and down to capture the subtlest nuance.

“The remote masterclass is only one of many tools for performance and education that Yamaha technology makes possible,” said Dr. Cahill Smith, Lee music professor and festival artistic director. “We had talented young pianists from around the world coming together this week to perform and study. It was truly special to witness their surprise and amazement when they understood what was happening, and for them to be able to connect with Michael Shinn in such a real and highly-artistic way.”

Communicating over video chat on a big screen TV, Shinn and the students played back and forth to one another, with each artist playing the other’s piano, despite the hundreds of miles between them.

This new technology overcomes the challenge of distance, enabling top musicians and educators to conduct live piano master classes with students from anywhere in the world, making it seem as if the instructor and student are sitting on the same piano bench.

“The implications of this technology for teaching and performing are virtually endless,” said Smith.

As a pianist and chamber musician, Shinn regularly appears in concerts, lecture-recitals and workshops in New York City and across the country. He is the co-founder and co-artistic director of pianoSonoma Music Festival and the co-artistic director of the pianoSonoma Summer Workshop. As an advocate for the arts, Shinn has been a guest speaker at the Pebble Beach Authors & Ideas Festival as well as the SXSWEdu Conference & Festival, appearing with Juilliard President Joseph W. Polisi.

The Yamaha DCFX was provided to the Lee University International Piano Festival and Competition by Ellis Pianos (Birmingham, Alabama) and Yamaha Corporation.

For more information about the Festival, visit LeePiano. For more information about Lee’s School of Music, call (423) 614-8240.