Yuliyard Aesthetic Center Features a Teacher of Note

On the outskirts of Topanga State Park in Pacific Palisades, a standard office plaza is filled with a handful of ordinary businesses but one focuses on implementing the extraordinary. 

For more than 15 years, the Yuliyard Aesthetic Center or more informally, The Barsky Music Studio, has furnished students with quality music education. 

Founded and directed by Russian classical pianist Yuliya Barsky, the center offers music lessons to willing learners at any age, the youngest being 3 years old. Private piano instruction is the main concentration at this studio but Barsky also offers instruction in chamber ensemble, piano accompanying and piano duets.

Students are taught to generate keen musicianship skills including reading music, memorization, ear training and performance ability. Donned with a friendly smile and poised demeanor, Barsky said when it comes to her students sticking to their musical regimen, she doesn’t have to tell them much.

“I hope that the lessons translate into something that is pleasant for them, something that they enjoy. They have to understand that music is a language, the acquiring of a vocabulary. Once you learn a foreign language you can start making sense of it and it becomes fun,” Barsky said. “It can become a timeless way of speaking.”

Playing piano since the age of 4, Barsky studied in Russia and earned a degree in piano pedagogy and accompaniment as well as a master’s degree in music performance from UCLA.

Barsky utilizes traditional Russian classical techniques in her teaching while gauging students on their level of interest and commitment to playing. Although it is important for Barsky to keep her students engaged, she also passionately encourages parents of the younger pupils to stay involved. 

“Sometimes parents just become drivers,” said Barsky. She explains that getting parents involved in the musicianship skills of their child requires a substantial amount of communication. 

“Here, they get to do something together that requires mental and emotional effort. Through the process they learn about each other. Music is not just math or just sound. It is a combination of so many different things, and imagery must be evoked,” Barsky said.

Music can be entertaining but Barsky becomes cautious when she hears parents ask their children whether their lesson was fun. 

“The truth is that this is not a comedy. This is not a circus. This is not a playground. This is place where a child is probably going to work harder than any other place,” said Barsky. “So, sometimes they might not have fun. They might even have a really bad time. But I make sure that they know that it’s OK. These compositions were written a long time ago. I explain to students that the music is a mystery that we are solving. We need to read the message [or music] and decode it.”

Once hard work and parental support are implemented, Barsky believes musicianship will improve a child’s coordination, problem solving and teamwork skills, self-expression, self-confidence, concentration, attentiveness and grace. 

The Yuliyard Center has about four concerts a year to showcase all of the studio’s students as well as quizzes on technique. Technique quizzes involve participants all playing the same composition and being judged by a jury that cannot see who is playing. Parents and other family members are encouraged to act as judges. The studio also holds events that focus on one composer, which due to certain levels of difficulty may not include all of the students.

As a special treat, Barsky issued a fairy tale CD in 2002. Adventures of Pekka was put together by Barsky and included students' performances of baroque music selections from composers such as Bach, Vivaldi and Handel .

The Yuliyard Aesthetic Center consists of two spaces, one in Pacific Palisades and the other in Playa del Rey, where Barsky’s mother teaches.

To learn more about the Yuliyard Aesthetic Center, click here.