In the middle of the Fresno City College Music Building sits Room 122. Nearly every day of the week, students take their seat at one of the many electric pianos and await instruction from FCC’s only full-time piano instructor, Olga Quercia.
The daughter of Italian immigrants, Quercia was born in Rochester, New York, where she began studying the piano at the age of 7.
“Piano lessons were given in public schools,” Quercia said. “I took lessons for a year and right after that my teacher enrolled me into the Eastman School of Music Preparatory Department, part of the University of Rochester.”
In 1947, the family left the frigid east coast for Fresno, which had the kind of mediterranean climate that Querica’s parents had left behind in Southern Italy.
After graduating from Fresno State College, though, Quercia felt it was time to return to Rochester.
“I always said I wanted to go back,” she said. “I kind of missed it.”
She entered graduate school at the Eastman School of Music at the University of Rochester.
“I went through what I see young people today go through when they finish college with a graduate degree,” Quercia said. “It’s like ‘Now what do I do? Do I really want to do this?’ It’s a real eye-opener, and I was discouraged.”
However, Quercia soon found the area where her musical skills would flourish.
“I didn’t know what I really wanted to do and I found out that teaching … is another art,” she said.
Little by little, Quercia became more interested in the art of teaching, and in 1975 that interest brought her to FCC. In the time that she has been teaching, Quercia has encountered challenges and frustrations. However, she has found that it is important to approach these frustrations with understanding.
“With students at city college, there’s a huge diversity … so kids come and maybe their social graces are not that exciting, and maybe their social habits are not that good,” she said. “So if the student shows up initially and then disappears, you could get really upset. But you have to wait and find out why, and when you do, usually there’s a good reason and then you go from there.”
Despite the frustration that can come with teaching at community college, Quercia enjoys being a part of her students’ college experience.
“I think that college age is one of the most wonderful ages,” she said. “You’re still kind of innocent, there’s still a little bit of the kid in you, yet you’re looking forward, you’re building on your dreams…and to be part of that is very exciting.”
Quercia will be retiring at the end of this semester after nearly 40 years as a member of the FCC community. However, she is spearheading one important project that she says will keep her around for a little while longer.
In order to address the lack of quality pianos for FCC students, Quercia is raising funds to obtain at least two Steinway pianos for the school.
“We desperately need pianos here,” she said. “The average age of our pianos is 58 years … and the condition of these pianos is very poor.”
Quercia strongly believes that students should have access to quality instruments; these instruments can produce volume and quality of sound that students learn to appreciate and eventually gravitate towards.
“I think it’s really important that they have that experience,” Quercia said, “because where else are they going to get it? Where else are they going to have a chance to play on a very fine instrument? And they deserve it as much as anybody else – as much as the people going to Juilliard or Eastman or wherever. That’s my philosophy.”
