He was not a child prodigy nor did he even exhibit any particular interest in music until he began the study of piano and music theory in his twenties. He studied harmony with WilIiam Happich, counterpoint with H. Alexander Matthews, and piano with George Boyle from 1939 to 1941. His work attracted the attention of José Iturbi in the 1930's and beginning in 1944, that of Eugene Ormandy, who championed it and performed and even recorded many of his pieces with the prestigious Philadelphia Orchestra. Later Yardumian attended Pierre Monteux's conducting school in Hancock, Maine (summer, 1947), received additional musical training from Thomson in New York between the years 1952 and 1954.