DR CELESTE CHIAM
Liping G.
12/20/20
5.0 star rating
I attended my son's piano virtual recital today organized by his piano teacher Celeste Chiam. It was amazing to see the progress each of her students made over the years -- they all grew into better piano players in their own unique ways and pace.
Celeste has been teaching my son piano for about 6 years (since he was 4 and a half). I'm very grateful for her dedication to my son's music education and, even more, for being fortunate to have her on my son's learning journey.
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I didn't send my son to learn piano because I hope one day he could become a world renowned pianist. I sent him to get some exposure to music, instrument, and fundamentally the understanding of what it takes to acquire a skill. Throughout the piano learning journey with his teacher and his fellow students, he will experience wins, losses, rewards, peer-pressure, peer-support, and many other aspects of the real world challenges.
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In my opinion, a good piano teacher teaches piano techniques, and a great piano teacher harness all the opportunities in piano learning to teach students the tools to cope with these challenges -- how to embrace our own imperfections, how to overcome our own fear, how to push through the tough days, how to enjoy the process (not focus too much on the outcome), and how to evaluate the performance of our own and other's objectively.
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Celeste's way of teaching did just what I was hoping for. The value she brought to those kids, in addition to the piano playing techniques, is remarkable!
Hannah C.
1/4/2023
5.0 star rating
My 6-year-old daughter has been studying piano with Celeste for one year, after having a different teacher for 1.5 years. We have witnessed tremendous progress in all dimensions of piano playing, and I wish we had made the transition earlier. Celeste demands excellence from her students but she is eternally patient and always kind. She never lets an opportunity to teach yet another layer of technique / theory / musicality go by, but somehow it never feels onerous to either the student nor the observer (parent). She nurtures the creativity, passion, and curiosity of my daughter, while strengthening resilience, openness to feedback, and discipline. Celeste never makes my daughter feel judged by imperfections in her playing, but rather, encourages her to see them as opportunities to crack puzzles ("why did the pinky move too far?") and make improvements. Most importantly, my daughter never leaves a lesson without a smile on her face and lightness in her steps, even when she's worked very, very hard for the entire lesson. Can't get better than that!
