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hen Sarvar Kaziev was sixteen, he had friends who knew he was a musician. Due to this fact, his neighbors would find Kaziev to teach them a few notes on the guitar. For what reason did these adolescents seek a fellow teen for musical guidance? It was all for the intention of having young ladies to notice them. Kaziev explains, he would spend time with these teens to go under a balcony to sing and
g By Sabrina Kwon
play a few melodies to someone above. “It’s obvious, right? I would say that I could teach them guitar or they would tell me I want to sing for her, and we did that. Trust me, we did that” (Kaziev). From that age onwards, he started to really enjoy sharing his knowledge of music with people. Born in Uzbekistan into a family of musicians, Sarvar Kaziev is an open-minded, lenient and knowledgeable teacher at Avloni Academy of Music. He created his own
musical path during his twenties and traveled around the world with musicians professionally as an accompanist. Mr.Sarvar’s life has been filled with music; do you think one can live many days with silence? Studies show that simply listening to music benefits the mind and soul. Kaziev agrees that music isn’t just a curricular activity, it’s more than that. Kaziev thinks, “When we are young, we don’t understand enough; we think music is like tennis, like a
extra activity for a kid... Yes, for a kid, but for any person, you are practicing and trying to understand our soul.”
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n “Stop ‘defending’ Music Education”, Peter Greene states that listening to music is profoundly human, that it lets us touch and understand some of our most complicated feelings. He also states that it helps us know who we are, what we want, and how to be ourselves. Since we live in an age of vast musical riches from both past and present, we have access to exactly the music that suits our personality and mood. Likewise, Peter Runtenberg, a music director in Los Angeles, emphasizes the importance of music because “it aids in our general sense of well-being and improves our quality of life. At times, it brings us closer to the divine in all of us.” Music has always been a part of Kaziev’s life. After receiving special music education in high school, he enrolled into the Soviet army as a tank man to escape the many hours of music that crowded his life. In his time in the army, he taught music to many of his friends. When he returned home, he attended Uzbekistan State Conservatory of Music. During those years in the University, he had a choir course where he taught small children. Kaziev digs deep through his thoughts, “I started when I was 16 until. Now I’m 54.” Kaziev also started to play for jazz bands, rocks bands and for other bands after he completed his military duty. Alongside all of his involvement in music, he additionally did arrangements for songs. Kaziev states, “From a single melody, I just arrange for other instruments, let’s say for symphony, and a band. So then after that, I see that I can do the same for movies and for theater.”
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t the age of 22 he did music arrangement for several bands over the course of many years. He would help arrange what instruments would be played or added to a piece of music, by
building on a single melody with other instruments such as the guitar or piano. Composing has also been a great role in his life. Kaziev explains, “When
you start to think about this, what was in your time, let’s say it was a terrible time. I was frustrated when I was writing this melody. See? He or she already tells you the story of where the melody came from. Frustration, darkness, something dangerous, something happened; always, you can start and think of how to make that atmosphere.” He then wrote music for movies for theater in genres such as comedy, romance, and action. His original profession, however, is a conductor. The first time he came to the United States was in the early 2000’s. He recounts, “I have been with a band
in New York for 10 days and we played for people from our country; it was very great community from our country.” He has been in the US since 2004.
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n a normal teaching day, he opens the door and walks towards the worn out, charcoal grand piano on the left hand side of the room. Mirrors reflect the daylight from the right. Shoes brush against the wooden floor when he walks into what used to be a dance room. In the middle of the left side of the room, four black wooden tables with benches sit silently. A black upright piano hides itself in the right corner. Kaziev removes his fedora hat and sits down with his glasses on. The student plops down the pillow cushion on the piano chair and starts with scales and onto other techniques. I notice a wide-screen TV sitting in front of the room, which I found out from previous lessons, was for playing videos about music. The student then grabbed her notebook with a list of tasks and assignments for the class. The colors of the room gave off a welcoming feeling. I noticed Mr. Sarvar wearing a warm color and a orange goldfish on my t-shirt as I absorbed the pleasant atmosphere of the room.The student wearing pink, another student was wearing a salmon color and was sitting on the benches focusing on her theory workbook. Next to them, red chairs line the walls. As I was listening to the student playing and the teacher commenting on different parts, he used a rather interesting word to describe the fault in the student’s scale- “Hybrid”. It made sense, but not in a way someone would usually describe it. If it was up to me, I would go the normal route and say that it was “mixed up”.
Mr.Sarvar then tells me what he was preparing his student for, and explained ABRSM, a British Piano education examination system which consist of many elements. It is quite similar to the Certificate of Merit but more rounded and shaped. Taking a musical education test like the ABRSM is beneficial because, “it is a way for teachers to ensure that their students get a good, methodical education, learning pieces of different styles and periods, memorizing all the scales and arpeggios they will ever need in a structured fashion, improving their sight reading, and their aural skills” (Kampmeier). Mr. Sarvar believes that certain activities are suited for different individuals and based on what the students need in music, he plans accordingly to help the student reach the goal. I sit quietly as he creates beats by singing them out loud for the student to understand the musical rhythm, flow of the music, and keep in mind dynamics- Bum BumBumBum DaDa Da Bum Bum.
sure the student works hard on not making mistakes. “He would point out what you did wrong, lets you think about it, and then if you can’t figure it out, he will come in and help”, says Lilian, a student of Kaziev. He has a great attitude towards work and is very supportive of his students. “He said even if you come with a little practice, it’s totally better than quitting and he told me to never give up. It’s very encouraging,” says Mitra Mostowfi, an adult student of Mr. Sarvar and employee at Apple.
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esides teaching the piano, he also teaches piano theory and composition. During his group theory class on Saturday morning, the atmosphere wasn’t as warm as usual. I believe it was mainly because he only goes to a student to see if they need any help with their theory, makes sure to answer any questions or check their work. However, whenever a student ask him to let us do ear training, he was more than happy to cover the keyboard with his iPad from the side to hide the keys on the piano, and have each student get a turn answering what the interval, chord, or musicality he played.
Kaziev teaches students to learn music with the heart and not just play the notes. According to Richard Ding, the father of one of his students, “He had an interesting way of teaching, he said to picture your left hand as waves and right hand as a boat, and you don’t want to
rock the boat!” Passionate, encouraging, and focused, Kaziev also makes
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“Music is a language. It’s universal
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r. Sarvar asserts, “You know, the best thing about being a teacher is always if the student is playing better than how you play as a teacher.” Kaziev has always loved teaching as he feels it is a great feeling, sharing one’s knowledge and ideas with others. Mostiev adds, “He was very friendly, welcoming, very nice and kind. He gave me confidence. I mean that’s what I liked about him, he didn’t ask too many questions; his impression was, anyone could learn music.”
to the sounds produced by it. Just by training his ears, he was able to tell what note it was and says
There have been many parents who like to have their child learn music and Sarvar believes that music is an art. “Art when you see pictures, when you go to museum, when you listen to music. You are cleansing your heart. You are working on your soul.” As quoted from Mostiev, “It takes you some-
and that’s why people love it.” here was one day when Mr.Sarvar had his group theory student figure out the distance between notes on the black old piano he played behind the classroom. All of the students were facing the front of the room, where the white board that had faded out black musical lines on it, hanged. After each student’s turn, he circled back to one of the students sitting in the middle of the classroom; he couldn’t interpret the sound produced by two keys on the piano, rather equal distance apart. After naming all the possible intervals that could have been the answer, from second to a perfect eighth, Mr.Sarvar finally told us that it sounds like the honking of a car. Almost everyone probably thought “The honking of a car?” Then he played the interval a few more times and we agreed in unison that it did sounded like honking. It was a third and he played many different variations of it, such as how a old car would sound and a new one. Mr.Sarvar then went in front of our awed faces to tell us the story of his previous music teacher. Kaziev said he was a
with a smile “By age 9 or ten and even now, I can tell you without seeing what kind of note it is, on the piano.” There would be times when he enjoys saying humorous remarks to his students, and when he does, his cheeks reach the edges of his eyes when he smiles, creating upside down halfmoons at the top of his oval-like face.
bit quirky, but had great ears and would listen to the honking of cars outside the classroom to name it’s interval on the piano. Sometimes his teacher would ask the students immediately after he hears a honk outside- What was that interval? Kaziev enjoys telling anecdotes of his past experiences that relates to music. He told a story of when he was five and six; he used to pick up the phone and would listen
where stress free. Hassle-free. helps you move on with other hassles of life.”
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n Grand Obsession, Perri Knize maintains that “If our emotions have universally understood frequencies, if music is a transducer of our emotions, and if our physical bodies respond to emotion expressed through music, resonating like soundboards, then when we listen to music our very cells must entrain with the pulses of the musician’s intention” (Knize 298). As a composer and a musician, Kaziev tries to write music that comes from within.
Received his degree in movie and television composition online at Berklee Music of College in Boston thirteen years ago, Mr. Sarvar is still teaching. He is not one-hundred percent sure where he will be heading later on in his life. However, what he does know is that he does not want to repeat the same chapters in his life and wants to try something new. Kaziev plans to learn woodcarving, reach back to his religious roots and hopes to use music to change how Islamic people view Muslims. Although he hasn’t been teaching for long, in this short amount of
time, he has reached his students with a big heart and shared his musical soul to those around him. Indeed, he is like the warm colors of the room leaving an echo of a giocoso melody. According to Kaziev, “Music is a language. It’s universal and that’s why people love it.” And it seems that music won’t be going anywhere as there will be always another Kaziev somewhere out there to teach it.
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Works Cited Ding, Lilian. Personal interview 1. 9 September 2015. Ding, Richard. Personal interview 1. 9 September 2015. Greene, Peter. “Stop ‘defending’ Music Education”. Huffington Post. 11 June 2015. Web. 08 September 2015. Kampmeier, Valerie. “Music exams- what do you think?” musicteachershelper. 28 February. 2011. Web.07 October. 2015. Kaziev, Sarvar. Personal interview 1. 14 September 2015. Kaziev, Sarvar. Personal interview 2. 3 October 2014. Knize, Perri. Grand Obsession. New York : Scribner, 2008. Print. Mostowfi, Mitra.Personal interview. 24 September 2015. Rutenberg,Peter. “The Importance of Music in Everyone’s Life”. shumeiarts. Web. 07 October 2015. Schutte, Christy. “ More Than Just Music – The Power of Piano“. steinwaycincinnati. January 2013. Web. 29 September 2015.
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