I have been taking piano lessons with Laura Ponti at Albany Music School for the last 2-3months…read more Lessons are offered to both kids and adults from beginner to intermediate skill levels. If you are looking to take piano lessons, I highly recommend Laura. She is kind, patient, passionate and dedicated to teaching you how to play the piano the right way. This is a nice music school. It's not too big or too small. They have 5 rooms for lessons and they offer a variety of lessons with musical instruments including the piano, violin, drum, voice, and guitar. Both Lina (owner) and Judy (receptionist) run the school quite well and they are organized and professional. The only problem is that this studio doesnt have adequate insulation, which feels even hotter than it is (especially during the heat wave we are going through). I hope the building managers take this seriously and get the problem fixed soon. I recommend dressing light and drinking lots of water to stay hydrated. I highly recommend Albany Music School. Great piano teacher and staff.

YAY!!!!!!!!!!! I finally did it!!!! I finally started…read moreplaying the piano...and you know what...I LOVE IT!!!!!! I've passed this place several times since it's in my neighborhood and I kept saying I have to call, I have to call. Finally I did :) The place is located in an upstairs studio. Very nice place and well lite. There are 3 piano rooms and a nice waiting area :) I take private lessons w/Lina who is such a cutie pie. Since this is my first time taking lessons she is soooooo helpful and very pleasant. She goes over everything with you and reassures you :) I love her!!!!! The monthly fee to attend the school is $240. That includes the private lessons, the materials and they opportunity to come in any time and practice and listen to others. They also have other lessons available. I know for sure when I go, there's this little boy who plays the violin. He's really good too :)

I've been a long time student of Rebecca's and highly recommend her for anyone who wants to learn…read morepiano. She is very skilled at assessing and correcting technical difficulties and is equally talented in teaching expressive technique. In addition she fosters a warm and supportive community by hosting regular workshops where her students meet to perform for one another.

She is a great teacher but only takes advanced adults but her videos online are great tooread more

Ellen is talented, patient and fun! I never would have thought that I'd enjoy piano lessons so…read moremuch. You will look forward to your next lesson. Thanks Ellen.

I'd been playing piano off and on for a long time, but I hadn't taken private lessons in many…read moreyears. After I retired and had more time to practice, I wanted to take lessons again. I specifically wanted to work on my jazz playing. I'd heard Ellen play a number of times over the years and was impressed by how well she plays jazz as well as many other musical styles. When I started lessons with her, I was very pleased by how quickly Ellen assessed my skills and knowledge. She is a gifted teacher and has been able to seamlessly tailor her instructional approach to me and what I want to learn. I am very happy that Ellen does not use a 'one size fits all' teaching approach! (I've unfortunately encountered that in the past.) Soon after I began lessons with Ellen, an opportunity came up to take the vocal duo I'm in to the next level. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that Ellen also does vocal coaching and helps vocal and instrumental groups enhance the arrangements they've developed. I'm thrilled that one teacher can help me with all my disparate musical interests and endeavors, and that it's no problem for Ellen to roll with it when I want to do a 180 and switch to something totally different from what we were last working on. I am grateful to have found such a flexible and student-centered teacher!

This place is terrific. The owners are warm and knowledgeable, and the store is beautifully…read morestocked with an enormous variety of both conventional and unusual instruments. I purchased instruments from them and they were courteous and extremely helpful.

I've shopped at Berkeley Wind for years and Julius has always been a great help and very…read moreknowledgeable about all the musical instruments he sells. I'm a multi-instrumentalist musician, instructor and am glad I can find NEW musical instruments at a reasonable price. I've been very satisfied with all my purchases and would highly recommend shopping at Berkeley Wind.

Time flies by when I have my voice lessons with Crystal. I've always had some natural talent for…read morepitch and rhythm, and participated in other singing activities in the past. Now as an adult learner, my goals are to improve my breathing technique and practice songs to help maintain my vocal range. Crystal's location and scheduling have been convenient, and she has been accommodating and pleasant to work with. She also has a deep understanding of music theory and showmanship which are great supplements to the practicing. I have enjoyed my time with Crystal so far and plan to stay as long as I am with my band.

Crystal offered voice lessons to my 12 year old daughter during the pandemic via Zoom. My daughter…read moreloved her lessons and improved so much!

Bought two violins here and had a great experience both times. Customer service was excellent, and…read moreall the staff were very friendly and helpful. Really appreciated the welcoming atmosphere and support throughout the process. They gave us plenty of time to test the violins and even offered to let us take multiple instruments home for comparison and testing, which made the experience much more comfortable and thoughtful.

I'm a self-taught player who has been on the same beginner violin for years now, so I was a bit…read morenervous at first, but I had an extraordinary experience at Ifshin! I booked an appointment to try violins and Sarah walked me through prices and ranges of violins, narrowing it down to a couple which I loved. They let me bring them both back home for a week to test, which I very much appreciated! In any case, I'll definitely be back and highly recommend.

I signed up for Ilana with duet musician services for my SF City Hall (1Hr) Wedding and It was…read moreAmazing!! Through the entire process she was very responsive, and I was able to make payment easily thru her suggested methods - we also used Google docs for the agreement. For my wedding she worked with Lewis P a cellist as I really wanted to hear both instruments. Btw, She is on the approved musician list for SF City Hall- so if you are in need of a violinist for the SF City Hall, she's the one! Her website includes a variety of of songs from R&B, classics, oldies and pop. We had two custom songs done for an added fee in addition to the hour service. We got many compliments and we were happy with our modern selections being changed into such wonderful instrumental violin and cello sounds that our guests were able to recognize in amazement. We were so happy with her professionalism and both their talents. Fabulous- and I would totally sign up again!

Ilana is truly amazing and truly made our wedding magical! Everyone loved her music! She made the…read moreprocess to pick out music extremely easy since she has a huge selection on her repertoire. Thank you for being a part of our day and making it so special!

I paid almost $100 for one voice lesson and the lesson was her lecturing me for an hour I didn't…read moreget to sing. She had laminated lecture notes and the whole works for plans for lectures in the future. I didn't come back because I don't want to spend money on lectures I've already had voice training in my lifetime and none of it ever involved being voiceless and quiet for an hour. I wanted to sing and be coached on my singing. I think people have a lot of respect for tradition and might not be as honest and straightforward as I'm being in this review. I think it's fair to know before you go in there that this is about $100 for a lecture unless she changes her style of teaching which I don't think is going to happen because this person seems really used to doing this the way she does it.

I have come to Scarlett at different times in my life. The first to come back to a love of singing…read moreafter stopping upon leaving my high school choir. At that time she helped me through her skill and encouragement to pursue my dream of singing, going as far as to help me audition and attend SF conservatory of music. After realizing while I love to sing, I didn't neccesarily want to become an opera singer, I went back to Scarlett a second time for support in coming up with an original song adaptation to sing for my wife at our marriage ceremony. The reason why I outline these moments is to firstly express my gratitude to Scarlett in all the ways she has supported me in my life in having the joy of singing be a bigger part of it. Secondly is to let others know the incredible range that Scarlett has to meet and mold her students to become whatever they might want to be in their singing aspirations. Scarlett is an incredible voice teacher, a gifted pianist and accompanist, as well as having a huge knowledge and music library to match any vocal students unique singing styles and desires. Scarlett is patient, funny, compassionate, and a general wonderful person to be around. 5 stars all the way, I couldn't recommend her enough.