Congratulations to Timothy Do, our October “Student of the Month”!  Timothy us 10 years old and in 5th grade. He has been taking piano lessons for about 2 years now along with his twin bother, Teddy, and his sister, Trisha. Timothy says that he just enjoys the sounds of the music he makes!

Timothy has proven himself to be a strong performer and has participated in many of our events. Last year, he earned a gold medal in the TVMTA Festival Auditions and received a very high score in the GUILD (Am. College of Musicians) assessments. He also performed in the Holiday Recital and the Year-End Summer Awards Recital. He is also one of our top participants in the Piano Maestro program.

Timothy’s favorite subject in school is math, but he says that he also likes science, art, reading, and social studies! His goal this year is to get straight A’s!  In addition to piano and his school studies, Timothy also participates in karate and has earned himself one six-striped wrasse!

Timothy’s favorite food is shredded beef . His favorite movie is, “Harry Potter”, and his favorite books are “Inheritance” and the Harry Potter book, “Goblet of Fire”. His favorite place to visit is with his family is Universal Studios.

I am always happy to see Timothy and his family when they come for lessons. Timothy practices well, comes prepared, and has a fun and positive attitude which makes him a great student to teach!

This year, I am looking forward to Timothy as he continues to improve. With his drive and dedication, I know he has a great year ahead of him!

Jordan Chen

Januray 2018

August 2017

Elisha Ho

April 2018

Kylie Tsai

Kylie Tsai

April 2018

Congratulations to Jordan Chen, our January “Student-of-the- Month”!  Jordan is 8 years old and in 2nd grade this year. He began his piano lessons at our studio about 2 years ago and has been making great ​progress. Jordan comes to lessons with his sister, Joanna, who began lessons here a few years earlier. He says that he likes playing the “fun” songs the best and enjoys singing along with them!

Jordan has participated the last 2 years in the TVMTA Festival Auditions and earned himself a gold medal for both years!  During his 2 years of lessons, he also performed each year in the Holiday Recitals and the Studio Awards Recitals. His 2 favorite songs to date are “Gypsy Earrings” by Bret Adams and “Majestic Mountain” by Randall Hartsell. The later was performed at our December Holiday Recital.  He is proving himself to be a confident performer and always comes through with great performances that we enjoy so much!

Jordan is a student that is making study progress. One of his technical strengths is the ability to pick out the details in the music. This “gift”  is so important and will be a great help as he continues on his musical journey!  Jordan has natural rhythm and is very musical. I love listening to him sing along with some of the pieces that he enjoys the most!

Jordan’s favorite subject in school is math. He also likes to play soccer and tetherball.  His favorite foods are pasta and pizza and his favorite movies are, “Sing”, “Moana”, and “The Secret Life of Pets”. He says that a couple of his favorite places to go with his family are LegoLand and Sea World!

As Jordan’s teacher, I enjoy our lesson time together very much. Jordan always seems to be cheerful and fun loving. He always arrives for his lessons with a smile and a playful attitude that makes our time together so much fun!   Jordan is steadily taking on more challenging pieces and I’m excited to see how he progresses this year. I am confident that with his positive attitude and eye for detail, he will continue to make excellent progress!

2017-2018 Students of the Month

Jessica Wray

May 2018

October 2017

Timothy Do

Timothy Do

October 2017

​​Congratulations to Jessica Wray!  Jessica 13 years old and finishing up 8th grade. She has been studying piano for about 8 years now.

Jessica says that she enjoys the satisfaction that she gets when she finally masters a piece. This year she has mastered quite a few pieces and participated in more events than any other year. I am extremely proud of how she has grown in her performance skills which have been consistent and become confident.

Here are Jessica’s accomplishments so far this year:


  • CAPMT Auditions - earned top ‘5’ score - Trophy
  • CAPMT Southern Festival - by invitation -Gold Medal
  • MTAC Sonata Festival - Top ‘5’ score - Trophy
  • TVMTA Festival Auditions - Gold Medal
  • Bach Local Competition - top evaluation with invitation to participate in the Bach Regional Competition on May 12th.


Jessica is an excellent student at school. She enjoys reading and drawing, and she says that her favorite subject is art. She also plays on the school softball team.

Her favorite food is Chinese beef noodle soup made from a special recipe from her mother’s home town. Her favorite place to visit is China. Jessica also enjoys sewing, cooking, and loves jokes & riddles. I know this because I look forward to the riddle she asks me at the close of each lesson!

As Jessica’s teacher, I always enjoy seeing her at lesson time. She is prepared and has a great attitude, and I am so pleased with the consistent diligence she has shown this year. Her careful practice is really paying off!

Elisha Ho

August 2017

June 2018

Naomi Tsai

Congratulations to Elisha Ho, our August “Student of the Month”!  Elisha is 9 years old and in 3rd grade this year. She has been taking piano lessons for almost 3 years now, but began at our studio about 8 months ago. Elisha says that she finds it relaxing to play the piano and she enjoys the melodies that she learns!

Last year, Elisha participated for the first time in our Studio Summer Recital. She performed with ease and confidence! She has shown herself to be a great student and has worked hard to improve her note reading and hand positions. Elisha has shown dramatic improvement in both technique and musicality. This next year Elisha is planning to participate in several of our programs including the Royal Conservatory MDP, TVMTA Festival Auditions, the Holiday Recital, and the Summer Recital. I have no doubt that she will continue to excel in these events!

Elisha’s favorite subject in school is science. She also likes to swim and ice skate and has been taking ice skating lessons for the last 3 years!  Her newest hobby right now is collecting Fidget Spinners!

Elisha's favorite food is spaghetti. Her favorite movie is, “Diary of a Wimpy Kid, The Long Haul”, and her favorite book is Charlotte’s Web. She says that her favorite place to visit is Hawaii!

As her teacher, I am always happy to see Elisha and I enjoy our time together. She is always prepared and has a positive attitude that is so vital for learning and also makes the lessons fun! This next year will be her first BIG year participating in many of our available activities and I’m so excited to have the opportunity to work with her and see how she progresses. I know she is going to have a fantastic year!

Eli Kirshberg

Nov./Dec. 2017

Congratulations to Eli Kirshberg!  Due to Nov. & Dec. being shorter months, we have combined the months so Eli is our outstanding student of Nov./Dec.  Eli is 10 years old and in 5th grade. He attends Antelope Hills Elementary School in Murrieta. He has 2 brothers, and is the middle child.

Eli has been playing the piano for about 4 years, and he says that even though it is difficult sometimes to concentrate on his pieces, he likes the sound of music.   

This year, Eli will be participating in the CAPMT Piano Auditions for the second time. He will perform two solo pieces by memory and 1 duet for the adjudicator. In previous years, Eli has participated and earned a trophy in the CAPMT Auditions,  a gold medal in the TVMTA Festival Auditions, earned high marks in the Guild (Am. College of Musicians) assessments, and performed in several of our Holiday and Summer Awards Recitals.

Eli’s favorite subject in school is math, which he says comes easy to him.  He says his mom really loves listening him play music, so he is also learning to play the saxophone in the school  band this year.  He also likes to listen to a lot of music on Pandora and Sirius XM.

Soccer is his favorite sport, and he says it is “so much fun”.  Eli has been playing club soccer for about 3 years now. He also likes to play basketball and baseball.  Eli also plays chess twice a month with his special needs buddies and their siblings.  When he is not playing music or sports, he likes to play on his Xbox.  He says that South Park is one of his favorite TV shows.

Sushi is his favorite food, but he also like to eat crabs, raw oysters, fried fish, and shrimps.  He says that he doesn’t like garlic or onions.  For places he likes to go, Eli says that Six Flags has the best roller coaster rides.  He likes them fast and tall.  He also likes going down the street to visit his good friend.

As Eli’s teacher, he is a fun student to teach. Eli usually comes to lessons with a smile and well prepared. Eli is out-going and direct and I enjoy our time together!  I’m really happy to see all the improvements he has made this last year, I’m looking forward to what the future has for him!

November/December 2017

Eli Kirshberg

​​Congratulations to Naomi Tsai! Naomi will be 6 years this month and is finishing up her last week of Kindergarten.  She has just completed her first year of piano lessons which she attends with her sister Kylie.  Naomi also has another younger sister, Faith.  She is caring, responsible and independent, and helps to take good care of her younger sister. It’s so nice to see all 3 sisters together each week as they come to lessons. They really get along well together!

Naomi says that one of the best things she likes about playing piano is memorizing songs. In her first year of piano, Naomi has already participated in 2 recitals; the Holiday recital and our Student Summer Awards Recital. We are looking forward to even more events for next year!

Naomi says that her favorite subjects in school are drawing and crafts. She is also active in soccer and swimming, and enjoys playing games on her iPad as well as board games. She has quite the competitive nature and does her best to win at whatever game or sport she is playing!

Naomi’s favorite foods are vegetables. She also says that her favorite animals are turtles, and she enjoys going to the zoo to visit them. Her favorite books are the “Elephant and Piggy” series.

As Naomi’s teacher, I get to see her fun sense of humor that peaks out during lessons!  She is a good student and always comes prepared and happy. She has done really well this first year and I always enjoy our time together. I’m looking forward to another great year with her!

Naomi Tsai

June 2018

May 2018

Jessica Wray

Congratulations to Kylie Tsai, our April “Student-of-the- Month”!  Kylie is 8 years old and in 2nd grade this year. She began her piano lessons when she was 5 years old. Kylie comes to lessons with her sister, Naomi, who has recently began lessons. She says that she really enjoys the recitals and performances. She loves getting dressed up for the occasion and sharing the results of her hard work.

Last year, Kylie participated for the first time in the Royal Conservatory of Music Certificate Program and received a rating of “First Class Honors”!  She also participated in the TVMTA Festival Auditions earning a gold medal last year.  In addition to these assessments, Kylie has performed for the last 2 years in our Holiday Recitals.  Currently, Kylie has moved to the next level of the Royal Conservatory, and is working hard to prepare for assessments in June.

Kylie has been making good progress in her technique, and is very good at observing all the details in her pieces. She also has a nice gentle touch and good sense of rhythm which is so important in a pianist!

At school, Kylie’s favorite subject is reading, and she also loves to draw and is very artistic! If you look in our studio, you will find 2 wonderful origami pianos which she brought in to share! In addition to reading and drawing, Kylie plays soccer.  Her favorite vacation place with her family is Hawaii, where she loves to hula dance and build sand castles on the beach.

As Kylie’s teacher, I always look of forward to our lesson time. Kylie is always pleasant and comes prepared. She is also inquisitive and checks out everything in the music. This makes her a wonderful piano student.  I know that with Kylie’s positive attitude and eye for detail, she will continue to improve and I’m looking forward to watching her progress this year!

January 2018

Jordan Chen