HUEI-YUAN PAN

Hi, and thanks for stopping by –

my name is Huei.

I’m a professional Creative and musician based in Cupertino, CA, and I pursued my passion of playing and teaching music.

MY STORY

My career grew out of a serious love for playing music.

Chicago

I trained for many years as a classical percussionist with the intent of becoming a college professor, but took a surprising career detour after I finished my Masters degree in Percussion Performance.

I accepted a position teaching full-time at a high school in Chicago (Lyons Township High School), and during those 5 years, my personal relationship with music changed dramatically.  Working with seasoned teachers and a wide range of students, I realized my connection to music went far beyond just playing; it’s deeply rooted in teaching as well.

During that time, I taught everywhere and anywhere, oftentimes 7 days a week.  I love Chicago, but my personal life brought me to Los Angeles in 2012.  This was by far one of the hardest transitions in my career, and I found myself having to “start over” – figuring out where and how I could connect with people and building a new network as a professional musician. Again, I found myself playing and teaching everywhere I could.

I experienced rejection and self-doubt, but by hustling hard and not giving up, this became one of the most valuable learning periods in seeing what it takes to make a living as a professional musician.

Los Angeles

While working on my DMA coursework, I began serving as faculty at the Colburn School in downtown Los Angeles. There we founded the Jumpstart Young Musicians Program, an instrumental program that began as 3 teachers and 35 students, and over the next 5 years, grew into a roster of 20+ Conservatory Teaching Artists and the 120+ students.

At USC, I worked for 3 years as a graduate TA in the Music Technology program covering courses in Pro Tools, Ableton, Logic, Critical Listening, and Recording Techniques. I completed coursework for my doctoral degree in Music Teaching and Learning at USC Thornton School of Music, but life took be elsewhere before completing my dissertation. I hope to complete this chapter of my journey when life allows me a moment to breathe for myself again.

I also maintained a selectively small private studio of beginning percussion students, a lab for me to continue to refine my thinking and approach to teaching young musicians.  Beyond contests and accolades, my main priority for my students was to develop a love for learning and an awareness and appreciation for mature musicianship.

Most of my percussion playing time was spent collaborating with composers in Southern California on their new works and film scores.

Online

It was in Los Angeles I began to combine all my varied experiences in teaching, technology/media, and launched into the space of original content creation.

I broadcasted over 500+ live streams, including free Sunday Sessions, a rudimental percussion lesson series that began as providing access and community for people passionate about teaching and learning how to play rudimental marching percussion.

I went on to write my first book entitled the Marching Percussion Playbook, began creating community-centered online video course, Drumline Blueprint, and created a podcast centered on Artists, Teachers and Creators – now available on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, Libsyn, and Spotify – The Huei-Yuan Pan Show.

Cupertino

In 2018, I joined an educational software startup as the Executive Creative Director, bridging my work in education, digital media, and original content creation. Here we brought together our team of designers, teachers, illustrators, translators to collaborate with our software team.

In December of 2019, we successfully launched both iOS and Android apps for mobile and tablet use in the Chinese app stores

2020 was a difficult year for the entire world, but we were able to continue bring our passion for learning as a lifelong and joyful experience to be shared between children, parents, and teachers through B2B and B2C markets in China.

What’s happening now

In 2021, I officially moved into a full time role with Ensemble Block, an educational technology and media company specializing in enhanced teaching and learning experiences. The culmination of the past five years of work, I felt a strong calling to return to my roots in creativity, teaching & learning, and the arts.

Through our partnerships with institutions, teachers and other content creators, we are on a mission to help support teachers, students, and parents in our current global health climate, while continuing to push the boundaries and possibilities of teaching and learning experiences through the power of technology.

THANK YOU & 2021 Projects

A large amount of my work time is now spent creating online articles, video lessons, digital products, and weekly live video streams for percussion students and teachers. For more information, please visit the Free Lessons section or find me on your favorite social media platform @hueiyuanpan.

Through this website, I’ll share my experiences – what I’m doing and how I do it, with the hopes of connecting to people who might find it interesting or helpful.  I’ve been fortunate to work with incredible mentors and colleagues over the years, and I hope to share the things that have helped me along the way.

Thanks for taking the time to read this, and please take a moment to say hi – I’d love to connect!

Huei-Yuan Pan

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CONTACT

I’m a big fan of collaboration.  If you have an idea for a project, or just want to say hi – send me a message below!