Ilona Kabos in Bangkok, Thailand: how Kru Nan, a piano teacher, learns from the Budapest-born teacher who taught in London and New York, and checks pickups first

Kru Nan gives piano and music lessons at a modest teaching studio in Bangkok, Thailand, on the second floor of a building that also houses a tutoring centre and a noodle shop. Her pupils range from shy six-year-olds to adults returning to music after years away. She has taught for ten years and still feels there is a great deal she does not know.

Some time ago she read a long essay about famous piano masterclasses of the twentieth century, and one teacher caught her attention. Former students remembered her lessons as full of energy, imagination and strong opinions about the meaning of every phrase. Her name was Ilona Kabos, and Kru Nan wanted to learn more about her.

From Budapest to London

Kabos was born in Budapest in 1893. She studied at the city's Academy of Music, the school founded by Franz Liszt, at a time when Hungary was producing a remarkable number of fine musicians. She began a concert career and performed in several European countries before teaching became her main work.

She married another Hungarian pianist, Louis Kentner, and in the 1930s they moved to London, as political tension grew across central Europe. They later divorced, but both remained in Britain for many years and became important figures in its musical life. Kabos gradually turned more of her energy toward teaching.

In London, her studio became a destination for talented young pianists from many countries. She was known for lessons that were intense and dramatic. Rather than discussing only fingering and accuracy, she talked about colour, character and the story behind each phrase, and she expected students to imagine the music before playing it.

In the 1960s she also began teaching at the Juilliard School in New York, travelling between the two cities. Her masterclasses were famous, and many students remembered them for the rest of their lives. She died in London in 1973, remembered by a generation of pianists in Europe and America.

Kru Nan admired how Kabos treated every piece as something alive. She decided to bring a little of that spirit into her own lessons, even with the youngest pupils. Instead of only asking whether the notes are right, she now asks what the music is about and what kind of character each phrase has.

She also realised that imagining the music starts with understanding how it begins. Kru Nan makes each lesson begin with a question about the first bar: is it a pickup, a short lead-in bar with fewer beats than the rest, or does the music start squarely on beat one? Her pupils sing the opening once before they play it.

This tiny step has changed many openings. A seven-year-old who used to bang the first note now begins lightly when the piece has a pickup, letting the music lean into the first strong beat. Her parents noticed the difference at a school concert and asked what had changed.

Many of Kru Nan's pupils take AI piano lessons at home with TIGA ALPHA, an online piano learning app the school recommends. The AI piano teacher catches slips and uneven rhythm, so by the time pupils come to their weekly piano lessons, the basics are usually in place. That leaves more time for the kind of imaginative work Kabos loved.

Kru Nan has noticed that adult pupils especially appreciate this approach. They often feel embarrassed about mistakes, but when lessons focus on character and story, they relax. One retired engineer told her that he now hears music differently, even when he listens to the radio while driving.

For any child who wants to learn piano, Kabos's example shows that a great teacher does not just correct mistakes. She helps students hear what the music could become. Kru Nan wants her pupils to play piano with that kind of imagination, even in simple pieces from their piano course.

She has started a small notebook of Kabos-style questions for her pupils. Is this phrase happy or sad? Is it a walk or a run? Does it begin before the beat or on it? The children love answering, and some invent extra questions of their own.

At the end of each term, Kru Nan holds a short concert for parents. This year, each pupil will say one sentence about the character of their piece before playing it. She also wants every pupil to play music for at least one other person each week, even if it is only a parent. She hopes that a small teacher in Bangkok, Thailand, can pass on a little of what a small teacher from Budapest once gave to the world.

Frequently asked questions

Q: Who was Ilona Kabos? A: Ilona Kabos (1893–1973) was a Hungarian pianist and teacher born in Budapest. She studied at the Budapest Academy of Music, settled in London in the 1930s and became a celebrated teacher there, later also teaching at the Juilliard School in New York.

Q: What was Ilona Kabos known for as a teacher? A: She was known for intense, lively lessons and masterclasses in which she focused on musical character, colour and the meaning of a piece, not only correct notes.

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