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I Am Accepting 4-7 Years-Old Beginners Only As My New Students at This Time
The best time to start piano is between age 4 and 7
I
have a few openings ONLY for children 7 y-o and younger at this time. I am a concert pianist and I am competent to teach your child until he/she develops into an
advanced piano student. At this point of my career, I have become determined to start all my students by myself at very young
age, focusing on developing:
(1) natural/relaxed hand use (2) keen sound/music listening ability (3) creative and playful heart attuned to his/her own delicate and authentic
feelings inside.
I would like
my piano studio to be where I can cultivate and cherish each student's unique and individual talent over a long period of
time, ideally, throughout his/her entire childhood.
• Free 30 minutes trial lesson
Striving for Spreading Life-long Love and
Skills of Piano Playing among Children of Busy Families in Walnut Creek
I am not a Suzuki certified teacher, but I grew up with
Suzuki method, and I use Suzuki lesson books and audio materials along with other lesson books and other audio materials for
my teaching.
I
am also a passionate and active concert pianist and a mother of young loving children and I love these all three hats I wear.
I strive for spreading my love and skills of beautiful music making among children in Walnut
Creek.
My focuses and goals are for my students to grow up with the joy
of :
•
Music making • Finding their potentials
through music study • Getting more confident,
independent, efficient, goal-oriented in studying •
Finding and expressing how they feel inside thorough music making
I
strive for making “real” piano study reachable to active Walnut Creek families busy with other activities.
Questions to Ask Yourself Before Contacting
Me
• Is your child showing interest in piano study? • Would you like to give your
child a chance to try out piano lessons? • Would you like to give your child life-long gift of love and
skills for music making at piano? • If your child really gets interested in it, could you make a long-term commitment to
support him/her in this? • Do you have a piano? • Could you possibly get a real piano if you don't have one
yet? (I can help you find an affordable piano)
My Typical 30 Munites Lesson
• 10 minutes: Finger
Skill and Theory Background Building"Finger
Builders" Scales, arpeggio, and other finger training and very importantly, hidden theory background building by ingraining
the subconscious understanding of relationships between 24 keys (12 keys, Major and minor) with key signatures and circle
of fifth/fourth, function of the degrees (I, IV, V, vii...etc) in each key, …the useful essentials of music theory
that the students can actually start using consciously once they have 3+ years experience and are older than 4 or 5th grade. •
10 minutes: Music Reading Skill Building Lesson
books (Alfred "Music for Little Mozarts", Faber "Piano Adventures", Bastien "Piano"...etc) -
students are encouraged to learn the material by themselves. The students start this task with lots of help first, and then
I gradually take the training wheels off. The focus is on building up the ability to learn the music - rhythm, pitch, articulations,
expression - by yourself. This also gives the student chance to experience various styles of music. One or two piece per week.
We do not necessarily try to perfect these pieces. Students learn a piece or two in a week, quick corrections are given by
me, and then they move on to next project. Depending on the development level in student's understanding and interest in theory
study, I point out theory background in each music quickly (especially, "tonic","dominant", "leading
tone" note and chord, and "cadence" - dominant 7th to tonic chord progression) Young students enjoy collecting
“gold stars” in this part of the lesson. •
10 minutes: Artistry Development with Challenge
Pieces - Suzuki Lesson Books, Keith Snell Repertoires and Other Selected Pieces by Various Composers - students are ENCOURAGED
to learn the material by ears. The focus is artistry (beautiful and artistic music making) - tone, intonation, articulations,
expressiveness, style...etc. I also sometimes help students with music of their interest - pop music, movie duet, jazz repertoires,
classical duets, seasonal music (Christmas songs…etc), preparation for talent show, wedding…etc using this time. •
In between: Ear training (I strive for building perfect pitch or at least, good relative pitch in my students.) This
is in fun quiz format and helps students get their focus back when their minds get a little tired. I keep track of my students’
progress in building perfect or relative pitch ability.
About My Studio
• Many of my students go to Valle Verde Elementary
and Walnut Acres Elementary • Home studio in Limeridge, at Concord/Walnut Creek border • 5 years of experience in
piano teaching (I now know what I want to do in my piano teaching, how I can to do it, and I am ready for a mass production
of fluent natural young musicians. It did take 5 years or experience to be able to feel this way.) • Instruction given at Steinway
B (concert grand) and Yamaha Baby Grand • 1 to 2 time(s)/year student recital at Berkeley Piano Club clubhouse - Unbeatable
setting - best pianos, acoustics, stage, spotlight, beautifully designed room...etc • I feel especially gifted in connecting
with very young children • Free 30 minutes trial lesson
Some Personal Goals in Piano Teaching
and its Timeline
I strive for getting my students: • started with right (relaxed) use of hand/finger (0-6 months
experience) •
started with piano study in sheer joy of music making (0-6 months exp.) • to master beautiful legato (connected) playing (0-1 years
exp.) • to master how to produce
beautiful tone/intonation (0-3 years exp.) • to get interested and curious to master dance-like arm/hand coordination and accurate
and organic articulations that give life to the music (0–3 years exp.) • to understand that the rhythm is the key
in music making (0-3 years exp.) • to gradually move towards more disciplined study (1-2 years exp., 2-5th graders) • to learn how to practice
efficiently (2-3 years exp., 4-6th graders) • exposed and experienced in different styles (Baroque, Classical, Romantic,
Modern and also Jazz and Pop depending on the students’ interest) (1+ years experience, usually 2nd grade and above)
About Child Prodigies
• I am NOT interested in training child prodigies
for competitions at this point of my career as I would like to focus on ALL of my students and also, my own young children.
But I would be a good first teacher for exceptionally talented very young students. I can help them find their gifts and can
get them started with music in sheer joy and love of piano playing. If I find exceptional talent in my very young (7 y-o or
younger) students, I will let you know after about a year, and I will introduce you to the perfect teacher for your exceptionally
gifted child if you would like him/her to pursue competitive path.
Student Demography
1 - 10th grader 4 - 6th graders 4 - 5th graders 8 - 4th graders 6 - 3rd graders 5 - 2nd graders 11 - 1st graders 3- Kindergartner 2- Preschooler
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