I studied flute with Cecily for 7 years (6-12th grade) and she helped me grow so much as a…read moremusician, both in solo and orchestral playing. I started taking lessons as almost a brand-new flute player, and over the years, Cecily helped me prepare for and pass orchestra auditions, win awards, and play more confidently everywhere, including: - Youth orchestra (GSYO), where Cecily helped me level up from the lowest (6th grade) to highest (12th grade) group, and played successful auditions to earn principal flute and piccolo parts. - 2025 CASMEC (all-state), qualifying as one of 40 of the state's top flutists. - Solo recitals, where Cecily encouraged and coached me to perform challenging and exciting repertoire. - Admission to Northwestern University, where I prepared a flute performance portfolio as part of my academic application. Cecily has been an extremely well-rounded teacher; in private lessons, we always cover tone, technique, musicality, interpretation, etc. - everything to be successful in performing and auditioning. She shares different methods for approaching challenging pieces or excerpts, clearly drawing from her own training and experiences as a musician. She responds quickly over text about scheduling lessons and questions about music, and she's professional yet friendly. With Cecily, I've grown as both a musician and a person. Highly highly recommend taking lessons with Cecily!

Terminated Without Explanation and then Ghosted…read more My daughter, now 13, started weekly flute lessons with Cecily one year ago, in November 2020. We had an OK experience with her up until this month. All lessons have been remote via FaceTime, we have never met her in person. Yesterday I received an email and a text from Cecily, out of the blue, stating that it has not been working out and the lessons will stop. When I immediately replied, asking for details about why, she did not respond. The only possible reason I can imagine for her "terminating" us is related to a billing question that came up this month. But this is truly an unreasonable way to resolve such a difference. Here is what happened. Each month, Cecily sends an invoice in advance of that month's lessons. The invoice is sent by email and payment is expected by the 7th. The invoice is sent on different days, for example I received: -- August invoice on 8/4 -- September invoice on 8/29 -- October invoice on 10/16 -- November invoice on 11/3 Though the invoice is for upcoming lessons, she states that payments are late if not received by the 7th. This month I missed the 11/3 email and so she replied on 11/9 that I now owed a late fee of $25. I promptly paid the invoice plus late fee, but also sent some feedback such as: -- typical payment terms for businesses are things like NET30, NET45 which is based on the invoice date; I have never received an invoice from any business that is considered late within 4 days -- if you are expecting payment by 7th of each month, sending the invoice on the 3rd is putting a lot of burden on your customers to monitor their email boxes and respond in just a few days -- you are invoicing for services not yet rendered, which seems even less reasonable to call a payment late for a service not yet rendered and a suggestion: -- One simple change you could consider to mitigate most of the above concerns is to send your invoices sooner or have the due date be a little later in the month. Say you send on the 1st and they are due on the 15th, or keep the date at 7th but send the invoice 14 days before that. Cecily also cited that her "studio policy" clearly states that there is a late fee. However, I had only signed the previous year's version, which had no mention of late fees. She never sent me the "2021" version (which does mention a late fee) until after this month's discussion. I was in the process of debating whether to continue with her -- because it wasn't clear how much benefit my daughter was gaining from the lessons -- and so I didn't immediately send back the signed 2021 studio policy. So that was the situation when I got the email and text from Cecily.  No explanation of what wasn't working out. No effort to provide any closure to her young student, or give her any final feedback or encouragement about her playing. She just pulled the plug and ghosted me. Fortunately my daughter is quite resilient and didn't take this personally. But I felt I needed to share my story here for others who are considering working with Cecily.

I have had two lessons with Jamie so far and I am appreciative of her help. I am a bit of an…read moreoddball student. I took piano as a child and have had a relationship with music my whole life, but have lost what piano-related muscle memory I once may have had. She was able to adjust and give me what seem like the right set of challenges and exercises to help me grow. She was able to find a convenient spot in the schedule for me and the price is right. She has periodic recitals as well, so there are opportunities to perform, which is a very good thing, particularly for younger students.

I started taking piano lessons with Dr. Jamie Lucia Del Priore at the beginning of the year. As an…read moreadult in my mid 40's who has never sat down at a piano in my life, I marvel each week at how quickly and easily I am learning thanks to Dr. Jamie! She is a patient, thorough and utterly fantastic teacher. She is making learning piano a joy and I am excited each week to practice and meet up with her again to learn more.

Rumyana is a wonderful piano teacher who's very good with children. My kids love to learn from her…read moreas she's very patient and she teaches each child at his/her pace and level. My kids have enjoyed playing the piano because Rumyana makes it fun for them. We're so happy to have found the perfect piano teacher for our kids and have recommended to several of our friends and they're all very happy as well.

Rani taught piano to both our boys when they were in elementary school, and has been our daughter's…read moreteacher for five years. She is patient, kind, encouraging, and responsive, and she has fostered a great love for music in our daughter. Rani uses a classical music curriculum, but she's not rigid -- she is willing to teach 'fun' pieces to students when they request them. She organizes student performances a few times/year. Our daughter can read music and play with expression, and Rani has even figured out a way to get her to practice with the metronome voluntarily and without complaining (any musician will recognize this major pedagogical accomplishment...)! After nearly a decade of having her teach my children, I highly recommend Rani.

Rani has taught my daughter piano from the beginning and is great with kids. She is very gentle…read moreand clear, and makes learning a non-stressful experience. She has a great musical background and tells us about concerts and other educational things we can do.

Elly was my daughter's piano teacher for the last six years. She learned so much over the years…read moreincluding music theory, which prepared her for her music classes at school and the choir she later joined. I'm truly amazed at how much she knows about music now. Elly is also patient, dedicated, and engaging especially at the younger ages when they're just beginning. She also pushed when my daughter needed the challenge. We were so lucky to have found her.

I have taken lessons with Elly for a few months, and absolutely love her teaching style! I am 25…read moreand have a background in singing, but am not great with physical instruments. I'm learning way faster than I expected. Elly has provided me spot-on guidance, compassion, relevant examples, and helpful exercises. She is the epitome of what you would want in a music teacher. Please go to her if you have ever wanted to take piano!

Alison was fantastic! She was so patient and motivating for my children and very skilled in her…read morecraft. A very educated and knowledgeable teacher. A total gem!

We found Alison view Yelp a few years ago to teach my kids to learn piano, and she's great. She is…read morevery patience and knows how to reach them at their level. We see the improvement every week, and we appreciate that she teaches music theory in addition to the technique.

My daughter has been learning piano with teacher Hera for over a year. Hera is a great teacher who…read moreis very kind and patient. My daughter loves going to her class and I am thrilled to see how much she has learned and advanced in her piano skills.

Hera is a caring and talented piano teacher. I have known her for four years and she has always…read morebeen passionate about what she does. I really appreciate her love towards children and her patience in helping younger students to improve musical skills.

I can strongly recommend Denise as a violin teacher from the perspective of an adult student. I…read morestarted taking violin lessons in my late 50's, and I can be quite picky about whom I trust as teachers. Denise wasn't my first violin instructor, but she is by far the most knowledgeable and creative one I have ever met. She has been my teacher for the past 3.5 years. For each of her students, she customizes the lessons so that they develop under firm but positive guidance. She helps students of all levels meet their goals and also to set new ones. I would ask endless questions, and Denise would answer them thoughtfully, often drawing on her deep understanding of music theory, violin techniques, composers' styles and music history. So I learned way, way more than just how to play the fiddle with her! Denise is passionate about helping students reach their potential and to teach them *to play music,* not just to play notes.

My 13-year old daughter has been taking lessons with Dr. Chevalier for over a month now, and I've…read morebeen sitting in. I am over-the-moon happy with our decision to study with her! As a classically-trained musician since my childhood, I've seen many music teachers, both for myself and for my daughter, and Dr. Chevalier is one of the best, perhaps the best. Here's what I love about her teaching: * She focuses on musicality. Dr. Chevalier is always pushing my daughter to listen actively, to hear more nuance in others' performances, and to develop the ability to express subtle musical ideas. * She focuses on music that motivates the student. My daughter expressed her love for the Bruch violin concerto, which is far beyond her current skill. Rather than tell her so, Dr. Chevalier is encouraging her to work on the first page, to build those skills she needs, and she's also introducing other more basic music to work on, connecting them musically to parts of the Bruch to motivate working on them. * She has high standards, and she's patient. Dr. Chevalier doesn't give up when my daughter doesn't quickly get the idea she's presenting, but she also stays patient, trying to communicate subtle ideas in multiple ways to get them across. * She's kind. My daughter is quite sensitive, and she can be find negative feedback demotivating. Dr. Chevalier told me early on that she never says anything negative to her students and I thought she must be exaggerating. But so far, it's true. She's only been super kind to my daughter. * She's thoughtful and clever. Here's an example: to motivate her students to practice, she has them post practice logs on the wall of her studio. Her students look at each others' logs, and they do compare, giving each motivation to impress the rest. I'm so grateful we found Dr. Chevalier and I'm looking forward to years more of my daughter studying with her!