Vespers Recital

You’re invited to a Vespers Recital, featuring your teacher with some friends (violin, trombone, tenor) on Sunday @5pm! We will be playing Classical and Sacred music, including Bach's Toccata and Fugue in Dm, Beethoven's Spring Sonata, Franck’s Panis Angelicus, and other well-known hymns and tunes.

Dr Thomas Otten Masterclass and Workshop

October 4, 2025 @ Westminster Presbyterian Church

The Olympia Music Teachers Association invited well-known pianist and pedagogue, Dr. Thomas Otten, for a day-long workshop about “How do I get my student to sound artistic?” Dr. Otten studied with Nelita True and John Perry, both giants in the piano world, and he communicated many helpful and practical tips to reveal and coax ARTISTRY from our students. It was inspiring to the teachers!

The workshop was followed by Masterclasses for both Intermediate and Advanced young pianists. Alexander, Landon, and Shaylan were able to participate in this event - good job to all! Demanding and direct, yet encouraging and positive, Dr. Otten demonstrated an approach uncompromisingly dedicated to helping students play more musically and artistically (“which is the whole point of music”)!

First Group Lessons of Fall!

Happy October, everyone! Students have been practicing diligently this fall, and Group Performances Classes are an opportunity to share what we've been working on. There are no Regular Lessons this week unless previously arranged. Please bring your music and be ready to perform a piece for your fellow young pianists.

Our Group Lessons:  
1.  develop performance skills!
2.  bolster management of performance stress!
3.  hone good listening skills!
4.  give exposure to more piano music!
5.  develop a community of young pianists!
6.  are full of supportive and empathetic listeners!
7.  enhance theory and history knowledge through games!
8.  and more!!

Summer Movie and Lake Afternoon!

Students gathered for an afternoon of Disney’s original “Fantasia” (1940), one of the top 100 films of all time! Some of the favorite sections were “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” by Paul Dukas, the “Nutcracker Suite”, and the hippo ballet (aka “Dance of the Hours” by Ponchielli). They even enjoyed a FULL length Symphony (Beethoven’s “Spring Symphony”), which is quite a lot to focus on!

With such beautiful weather, they finished off the afternoon with paddling, swimming, and kayaking on the lake. And of course lots of yummy snacks to fuel all the great energy!

Alexander at the WA State Conference!

On Monday, June 30, Alexander performed at the WA State Conference for one of the Honor Recitals. Performers are selected during MAP week at the WSMTA Honor Recital Competition, and Alexander was selected as the First Alternate. He performed Chopin’s Waltz in Ab, Op. 42 (a favorite of President Harry Truman, who was a fine amateur pianist)! One of the highlights of the performance included performing on a very rare (and expensive) 9’6” Bosendorfer Imperial Grand Piano - with 9 extra keys! Great job representing Olympia Chapter, Alex!

Chloe's Senior Recital June 6 - Stunning Performance!

Within a week after earning both her High School Diploma from Olympia High School, AND Diploma in Music from the American College of Musicians, Chloe presented her SENIOR RECITAL for her friends and family and community! It was a culmination of many years of practice, honing her musical talent, and she performed some of her favorite piano works, some of which were pieces she had dreamed of performing for much of her life.

The recital began with the awe-inspiring Bach Prelude and Fugue in Fm, WTC 2, followed by Beethoven’s stormy and agile Tempest Sonata. The Heroic Polonaise was a dream piece which took years to develop the demanding technique required. The first half ended with Prokofiev’s “Young Juliet” and the heart-stopping Pletnev-Tchaikovsky “Pas de Deux”. After a brief intermission to catch a breath, Chloe wowed the crowd with Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue! Two encores followed: Chopin’s Black Key Etude and the “Brahms in Salsa” duet!

In between numbers, Chloe gave a brief description of the pieces and what they personally meant to her, something the listeners loved. It was a great crowd, probably close to a hundred people, out to support and enjoy Chloe’s beautiful music! Afterwards, the hungry audience enjoyed lots of snacks, drinks, and photos. We will miss Chloe very much, and we wish her all the best as she moves on to pursue her music major as a scholarship student at the University of Washington!

National Guild Recitals

National Guild Recitals: I encourage everyone to do one or two (or more!) performances of your wonderful Guild Repertoire for family, friends, neighbors, etc!

Phoebe performed at Stonewell last week!

Landon performed for friends a few days ago, along with a few other activities - we called it the Piano, Pizza, Popsicle, Pokemon, Ping Pong, 3D Printing, and food Pantry Recital!

National Guild 2025 Update!

National Guild Auditions Update: Kudos to all for a Guild Audition well-done and well-prepared! All students passed with high marks. The practice and extra effort paid off.

These are pins awarded to National Guild participants. The top octagonal one is for the 15-piece International Programs, such as the High School Diploma Audition. The bottom left is for all students who do the 10-piece National Level Program. The bottom right is the Composer Pin awarded to all students who have 5 or more National Level Auditions. This year’s composer is Mendelssohn. Congratulations, Everyone!

Another National Guild Audition in the books! Here are some of the students with their Superior ribbons - 10 to 15 memorized pieces - well done!

Mini Pianos

Some mini pianos have been spotted around the studio! L to R: Lego Jazz Quartet, 3D printed upright, paper and tape piano made by Landon.

Spring Recital Update!

Part of our recital included celebrating our amazing senior - CONGRATULATIONS, CHLOE!

Check out the Spring Newsletter to read more on Chloe’s many accomplishments. The future is bright!

End of Spring Quarter Events

The end of the Spring Quarter is approaching, and we have some exciting culminating events coming up!

RECITALS AND NATIONAL GUILD

*June 1 (Sunday) @ 3pm: Spring Recital! Location: Westminster Presbyterian Church - this is only a couple weeks away, and everyone has been working hard to prepare!

*June 8 (Sunday) @ 9-3pm: National Guild Auditions. Location: St. Martins University - students are performing International, National and District level memorized programs, a huge accomplishment! This is only about 3 weeks away, so I have been encouraging all students to put in extra practice every day, +30 would be great!

*June 13 (Friday) @ 6:30pm: Chloe's Senior Recital. Location: Gospel Outreach Church. Come support Chloe as she presents an amazing program before taking off for college!

END OF SPRING QUARTER

The final private lessons of Spring Quarter will take place the last week of May (5/26-30) - regular lesson schedule. We will be changing our Group Performance Class to June 3. If anyone needs an extra lesson, we will add that on the week of June 2.

SUMMER LESSONS

Summer lessons will be offered on these weeks. Sign up for a minimum of 4 if you plan to take part in the Concerto Competition, and please let me know ASAP which weeks you would like lessons.

Week of: June 9 & 16; July 1 & 21; August 4 & 25

PERFORMANCES

Consider putting on a small recital (or two) for family and friends! It's a fun way to celebrate the talent and hard work of each of our young pianists. I would love to see photos and/or recordings of any such events! Also, congratulations to our students who performed in the District IV Conference Recital in Chehalis, the Pop/Jazz/Duet Recital in Olympia, and the MCE Competition at SPSCC!

Let me know if you have any questions, and let's finish out the quarter strong!

Pop/Jazz/Duet Recital and District IV Conference Recital weekend

It’s been a great weekend of music with the Pop/Jazz/Duet Recitals on May 3rd, followed by the District IV Conference Recital on May 4th.

Landon and Seiya played a duet by Czerny, full of sparkling runs and flashy fingers. Sebastien played the cello with Landon on the piano for a rendition of Vince Guaraldi’s Linus and Lucy for a very cool finale to the recital. Everyone got to celebrate the Pop/Duet recital with a soda “pop”!

All Winners (Chloe), First Alternates (Alexander) and Honorable Mentions (Grant) from the WSMTA State Conference Competitions were invited to be showcased in the District IV Conference Recital. Winners came from about 6 different counties. Alexander performed Chopin’s Waltz in Ab, and he will represent Olympia at the State Conference this June - congrats! Chloe performed Pletnev-Tchaikovsky’s Pas de Deux, much to the delight of the audience (and just a week after winning at State with this piece!). A delicious cookie reception followed (chocolate strawberry whoopie pies, anyone?)

Congratulations to all of these fine young pianists!

State Solo & Ensemble Results (Congratulations to Chloe!) and Scale Olympics Result

State Solo & Ensemble: April 26 at CWU - Congratulations to Chloe - 2nd Place Winner (Solo Piano Division) in the whole state 🏆! This annual state-wide competition features the winners from every Washington state high school, the best in each region.

Our studio also had some student winners in the orchestral and chamber divisions - well done!

The annual Scale Olympics took place at our April Group Performance Class. Students raced through their Guild technical requirements - it’s amazing how much faster and stronger everyone’s fingers have gotten this year! From scales, to Dominant and diminished 7th chords, arpeggios, modulations, and cadences, these skills help in the formation of '“fine-motor athletes”. Good job to everyone!

Gold: Chloe

Silver: Alexander

Bronze: Phoebe

Spring Meet Ups and Nobuyuki Tsujii

Nobuyuki Tsujii was in town during Spring Break for 3 performances of Rach 3 with the Seattle Symphony. Blind from birth, Tsujii grabbed the world’s attention when he won the Van Cliburn in 2009. Rachmaninoff’s 3rd piano concerto is one of the hardest in the repertoire, and it was a STUNNING and INSPIRING performance! We were lucky to get some of the last tickets available. Brahms 4th Symphony comprised the 2nd half of the program - Seattle Symphony is so good! After a standing ovation and repeated calls for an encore, Tsujii played a Kapustin Concert Etude, making it look easy.

An added treat was being able to see Sky. Now in her first year of the engineering program at UW, she toured us through some of the campus, the beautiful cherry blossoms, and some yummy Korean food nearby. She still finds time to enjoy music weekly with the university orchestra!

Earlier in the spring, the OG AP Music Theory study group met up for some pastries downtown- so proud of how these three persevered and took the exam during the pandemic, with a 100% pass rate! It was fun to hear what everyone is up to post college, all navigating careers and adult life!

WSMTA State Competition Results

The WSMTA State Honor Recital Competition takes place every year the Sunday before MAP. Students from the Music Artistry Program are eligible for this contest, and winners are announced after MAP is over.

This year, our judge Dr. Susan Chan, was pleased to hear a number of exceptionally talented Olympia students in two afternoon recitals. The 2 winners of the competition will go on to the State Conference in June to perform with other honors students from all around Washington. Students are also given awards and travel stipends.

Winner, Alternates and Hon Mention from our studio:

Winner: Chloe! First Alternate: Alexander! Hon. Mention: Grant!

Great job to all performers!