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Wednesday, January 6, 2016 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
Perfect pitch, classically trained
By Derek Wiley
The Dalles Chronicle
THE DALLES (AP) —
Faith Gouge is fluent in two
languages — English and
Russian.
But The Dalles 9-year-
old does most of her talking
through music.
She gets that from her
mother.
Tanya Gouge, who plays
piano on Sunday mornings at
First United Methodist and St.
Peter’s Catholic Church, grew
up in Ukraine.
Along with going to a reg-
ular school, Tanya and her two
brothers also went to a music
school for seven years. She
then went to college for music
and began teaching piano les-
sons at Columbia River Music
when she moved to The Dalles
in 2005.
When Tanya was pregnant,
she would go to tap dance
classes and listen to classical
music.
“I was really hungry for
that,” Tanya said. “I never had
access and I knew she was
kind of responding. I knew
she was going to love music.”
Once Faith was born in
2006, Tanya quickly noticed
her rhythm.
“She was moving
rhythmically so I knew she
was going to be very tal-
ented,” Tanya said. “She
couldn’t walk yet but she was
dancing to music.”
At age 3, Faith picked out
her first musical instrument.
But it wasn’t a piano.
“She was in a stroller and I
took her to a music store and
there was a violin teacher,”
Tanya said. “She started with
a violin. She wanted it. It was
also fun because I play piano
and I knew I would teach her
(piano) but I don’t play violin.
She was three years old and
we would play together and it
was so much fun.”
Faith still has the small vio-
lin and doesn’t want to sell it.
When she was 4, Faith
began playing the piano. She
would sit in her mom’s lap
and play by ear because she
couldn’t yet read music.
Faith was born with perfect
pitch. When her mom plays
a note or interval, Faith can
identify it right away in Eng-
lish or Russian just by hearing
it.
“Some kids struggle with
hearing,” Tanya said. “She’s
just a natural, which makes
things easier. She can play
from ear any song at any
time.”
Faith put this to the test one
Christmas when she played
her grandfather’s favorite
song — “Amazing Grace.”
“There was no practice and
she started playing,” Tanya
said. “She just knows whether
the tune goes up or down. If
she’s already heard it before,
she can play it.”
At 5, Faith began taking
piano lessons twice a month in
Portland with Elena Istratova,
who grew up in the Soviet
Union and has 32 years of
teaching experience.
“Russian piano, ballet and
music school is one of the best
in the world,” Tanya said. “I
was happy to take her to those
classes. She listens to her
more than me.”
Working with Istratova,
Faith began going to piano
competitions and won her first
one in 2013 at the Contempo-
rary Festival in Portland.
A Level 4 pianist, Faith
now has five trophies from
competitions organized by the
Oregon Music Teachers Asso-
ciation in the Portland Piano
Company’s four recital halls.
Faith’s favorite thing about
the competitions, besides win-
ning trophies, is the pianos she
gets to play on. Fazioli grand
pianos are made in Sacile,
Italy and cost about $250,000
apiece. The Portland Piano
Company has four. “The better
the piano the better for your
fingers,” Tanya said. “They’re
still researching and they pat-
ent every new invention, how
to make longer sound. The
Fazioli does something super
special with longer keys. It’s
really cool. They have those
at every Portland competition.
And they let small kids do
recitals. That’s pretty cool.”
Faith’s biggest trophy
came from Eugene when she
won the Level 4 2014 Oregon
State Sonata-Sonatina at the
University of Oregon.
“State was tough because
you had to play the same song
as everyone,” Tanya said.
“They come from Southern
Oregon and Bend. They come
from everywhere but mostly
Portland and Eugene.”
After the competition,
Faith played in a gala with
all the other winners, Levels
1-10.
She hasn’t been in a com-
petition since spring but has a
class recital in January and a
contemporary festival in Feb-
ruary. Faith may also compete
in the U.S. Open next year in
California.
She often plays violin with
her mother at church and is
joining Kirill Gliadkovsky,
who began his musical study
in Moscow at the age of 5 and
now lives in Los Angeles, for
a special concert on Feb. 12 at
Calvary Baptist Church.
Faith’s favorite musicians
aren’t Taylor Swift or One
Direction but 70-year-old
Israeli-American violinist
Itzhak Perlman and 42-year-
old Ukrainian-American clas-
sical pianist Valentina Lisitsa.
Faith and Tanya saw Perl-
man in concert in Portland
and Faith would like to attend
his six-week summer camp in
Philadelphia.
Faith, who also owns a
ukulele, sings and loves to
play percussion instruments
as well, isn’t sure where she
wants music to take her. And
her mother isn’t putting any
pressure on her either.
“If she doesn’t want to be
a musician, that’s OK,” Tanya
said. “The goal is when you
really know music as a lan-
guage, you are fluent in it, you
can express yourself.
“Whenever you are frus-
trated or upset, music is such
a relief. It helps to survive
sometimes. You can under-
stand what others are saying.
Music can express even more.
Music helps a lot. Some-
times you don’t have to go to
a counselor. You just sit and
play.”
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