Sarah holds her Bachelor of Arts in Music with a Concentration in Piano Performance from Stanford University.
She has served as accompanist for the Stanford Flute Ensemble and has performed in numerous conventions, honor recitals, and competitions, including the Sacramento State University Valencia Piano Competition (1st), 2nd Annual Young Artists Mozart Competition (Winner), University of Pacific Zeiter Piano Competition (2nd).
Sarah loves teaching piano ever since her first student in 2003. She also taught at the Albany Music School and currently holds her own studio as a traveling instructor in Alameda. She most enjoys seeing students progress and discover new levels of musical expression.
Teaching Philosophy
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My goal as a teacher is to enable students to become fluent and versatile pianists who develop a lifelong love for music.
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We work on multiple facets of musicianship: technique, sight reading, rhythm, theory, performance, and listening. I have created a ‘Well-rounded Musician’ studio award which helps students track their progress in all of these areas.
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I believe students learn by being engaged.
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In my lessons, I use a hands-on approach and interactive questions.
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I use a custom collection of games for all levels of students that reinforce musical concepts, note-reading, and listening.
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I teach from a primarily classical approach with a mix of any other style the student enjoys.
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Why classical? Classical music (used in reference to Baroque, Classical, Romantic, and 20th century music) was written at a time of great artistic creativity and virtuosity, and contains some of the most well developed and technically advanced repertoire ever written for the piano. There is a wide variety of music written from these generations which is great for gradually building the student’s technique while exposing them to excellent works that specifically showcase the piano.
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I also know that music is fun when it is familiar and relevant, so my students also love playing tunes from movies and video games, new age music, and pop songs!
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I believe in the importance of listening to music.
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Much like learning a language, we can speak the language much better if we know how it sounds. The more that students, especially young children, can be immersed in a musical home culture, the more advantage they have in developing an early musical instinct.
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If you or your child wishes to excel at classical music, play it in the car, play it when you take a nap, watch Youtube performances, stream it on your favorite station, go to concerts!
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I have developed a set of Listening Sheets which recommends a range of piano and orchestral repertoire from influential composers, both classical and beyond. I can offer this resource to you as a guide.
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