The Berkeley Academy of Music is a private music studio located near downtown Berkeley, and offers private piano lessons (Suzuki and Traditional) to students of all ages. Studying music sets the foundation for success in all facets of life. We are dedicated to jumpstarting important qualities that enhance creativity and encourage exploration of the arts.
Pia Siegwart, a native from Switzerland, holds an equivalent of a master's degree in piano and piano pedagogy from the conservatory in Luzern, Switzerland. For over 28 years, she has taught individual and group piano lessons to children and adults at several music schools in Switzerland. Since 2002 she maintains a private studio at her home in Berkeley and teaches at CCMC, Berkeley. She enjoys teaching students of all ages and backgrounds.
We offer children and parents the opportunity to learn the beautiful Mandarin language through the ease and fun of music making while strengthening the bond between parent and child. Children will learn basic Mandarin vocabularies, instrument exploration, object manipulation, active listening thru Chinese
folk songs and traditional Western melodies sung in Chinese. This program will benefit families who would like for their children to learn Mandarin as a second language, or families who want to encourage their children to practice and retain proficiency with their mother tongue.
Kindermusik is a music and movement program. Each week in class you’ll play, listen, and dance to music that will impact you and your child in profound ways. That’s because every song, story, and two-step has a carefully chosen purpose in this creative curriculum—one that’s designed to stimulate and strengthen the vital neural wiring taking place in your child’s mind, right now. A Kindermusik educator will guide you every step of the way so you know how each activity contributes to your child’s overall growth and development.
Group Class for Children is designed to give children as young as 3 years old an excellent start in their musical life. APAM’s focus is first to naturally cultivate a love of music in every child and to foster an understanding of music second. Therefore, musical concepts will be introduced in a fun way using the Dalcroze method - music education through body movement. Every activity is designed to teach a musical concept through multi-sensory approach - aural (listening and singing), visual (reading, recognizing symbols and notes) and kinestic (movement and games).
Toddler’s Class is designed for 3 to 5-year-olds to start having fun with elements in music. The class explores basic musical concepts such as pitch, dynamics, tempo, and rhythm. The class includes fun activities of playing musical games, puzzles, drawing, singing and dancing. It is the perfect music introduction class for your children.
The most important thing I bring to a piano lesson is my joy in music & joy in teaching. Comprehensive approach to music education: sight-reading, ear training, technique, repertoire. Youth students perform for each other, in recitals, in community; many participate in Certificate of Merit program. Adult students perform for each other. Studied piano with Raymond Francis Foote, Patricia Taylor Lee, Naomi Sparrow, Ellen Wassermann.
I truly love teaching. I enjoy watching my students develop into music lovers and achieve competency on their instruments.
My strengths are an abundance of patience, and an ability to work with all learning styles. As such, while I teach students of all ages I am particularly well suited to teaching the very young beginner. I use many of the techniques that I learned in my Suzuki teacher training while incorporating notation reading that I consider to be important. Piano lends itself so well to notation reading that I do not use the Suzuki method.
Alisa is a member of the Real Vocal String Quartet and Quartet San Francisco, who was nominated for a Grammy in 2009 for their album "QSF plays Brubeck".
Alisa has performed at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, Blue Highway Festival in Utrecht, Netherlands, on PBS "Song of the Mountains", and in Carnegie Hall. With 49 Special she won the 2009 Rockygrass Band Competition.