I was referred by a close friend when I was looking for a piano teach for my girls couple years ago. Until, Dina has been my kids' piano teach about 5 years. She is a patient teacher. My kids love her. For piano lessons, she is the one who is able to push student for bigger potential. We love Dina. read more

Ms. Dina is super! My daughter has been taking piano lessons from Ms. Dina for 10 years. Over the past 10 years, my daughter has developed a deep love of classic music. She enjoys playing the piano very much and sees it as a mind refresher and stress reliever. Thanks to Ms. Dina for her great taste of music selections, her personalized lessons tailored for each child and most of all, her caring and responsible personalities. The bonding with Ms. Dina is also amazing. Ms. Dina loves children and treats them as her own family members. She has definitely been part of our family through our journey of music. We love Ms. Dina! Highly recommend to any one who would like to learn piano! read more

After I tried many different teachers for over 2 years, I found Dina, she is exactly what I have been looking for. She is a perfect teacher, you can easily see she cares about the quality of her teaching and she always remain energetic in her class. She is very nice, and warm hearted, yet strict. sweet and firm:) She cares about the students' progress as much as the parents. Before I found her, even though I did not know anything about piano, I had to follow my daughter's class material so I can help her at home. I always thought that was because teacher did not have enough time to go through everything, and it was necessary for parents to be so involved. With Dina, I realized with a good teacher, parents did not have to struggle at all. Dina set very clear expectations, and she does not hurry things, and she never have the kids play many pieces. With her, both my daughter and I are super comfortable with the amount of work/practice we have to do at home. Dina stays on top of everything. With Dina, We learn theory/sight reading/ear training. She also makes sure the students do not get bored playing one pieces too much. she carefully alternate different songs and different activities. She is also strict. My daughter had very bad finger positions, for over a year, Dina keep trying to correct her, and literally hand in hand, hold her fingers to help her. After A WHOLE year of effort, my daughter now have perfect finger positions thanks Dina's persistence. Dina teaches students music as a whole, and she really focuses on dynamics, The music from my daughter now sound so much better. Dina also requires her students to take CA level test. I initially thought that might be too much a work for us. But Dina not at all added any more stress, she is only using exams to keep track of students progress. I can not believe my daughter not only passed the exams easily, the result were good/excellent. A year ago, this would be unthinkable. From personal side, Since we have Dina, I fought with my daughter much less :) the homework and practice were comfortable amount, in classes, my daughter already practiced to a level that was comfortable for her, I do not need to struggle with learning the new pieces at all. (Strange, with all my past teachers, I had to sit down to learn every new pieces with her). I also enjoy the level of books/music Dina picked for my daughter. One of my previous teachers were either too hard for too easy. Dina has a good suggestion on where my daughter's level is. It has been a year, now my daughter plays like a real musician:) I will stay with Dina as long as I can, I am so lucky to find her. I only wish I found her from the beginning, that would save lots of work and pain. When my son reaches the age, I will start him with Dina for sure. read more

Ms. Dina taught my 4 year old to read notes and play piano. What can I ask for more? :) Both my daughters (9yr-old and 5yr-old now) learned Piano from Ms. Dina and loved her. Ms. Dina is a kind, patient, and experienced piano teacher. read more

Ms. Dina teaches piano very well. Watching a class with her, you immediately realize that piano and teaching are her passion. She sets a high standard and teaches meticulously, but at the same time is warm and sincere in her approach. Both my children enjoy piano and respect her enormously. My daughter has been learning with Ms. Dina for almost 7 years now. Clearly, learning piano, as with any instrument, is a labor of love. Ms. Dina tries to motivate her students and help them on this sometimes challenging path. Certainly the CM certificates give the students a sense of accomplishment. It is great that Ms. Dina really guides the children through this process. But the real reward for me as a parent has been listening to the beautiful music in my home! read more

My daughter has been learning piano from Dina for the past 5 years. Dina is a very dedicated Music teacher. My daughter regularly takes the Piano Certificate of Merit exams and gets selected for Convention recital with exceptional scores. Dina is very professional and teaches with affection and sincerity, my daughter is progressed so much under her. I highly recommend her. read more

Now at 18 years old, I can confidently say that music lessons has been one of the greatest gifts I had growing up. That being said, it wasn't any breezy piece of cake. Ms. Dina shows tough love, but only because she wants to push you to your highest potential.  My siblings, age 15 and 6, are currently beginning students of hers. I started lessons with Ms. Dina when I was 10 years old, and stopped before I entered high school so that I could focus on my studies. Discontinuation after 4 years however, didn't mean I ever stopped playing music - infact it was just the beginning. I only continued to grow as a musician over the years, from competitive mallet percussion (marimba, xylophone, vibraphone) in marching band to jazz to the accordion, music has even taken me across the country to perform. Music has been my passion, my destressor, my superpower, my entertainment. However, I didn't get there alone by any means. I can only ascribe my success to the preparation of Ms. Dina during my formative years.  While I loathed practice when I was younger, I need to stress how important this is to young aspiring musicians - you will not get better unless you maintain a certain grit to improve. That being said, practice makes perfect, but the greatest catalyst to improvement is passion. Play music because you love it, because it's beautiful, because it's fun. To parents, I advise fostering an environment where your child is not afraid to make mistakes (because they will), listening to classical music (for inspiration and motivation), and encourage a love for music (maybe learn a pop song for fun on the side). Piano practice is just as important, if not more, than the lessons themselves. Practice is where you are honing your abilities, lessons are where you're getting feedback and challenges for further improvement. If you aren't practicing, you aren't improving. You're only wasting time and money.  While I didn't realize until years later, Ms. Dina's classes taught more than just piano, but life-long lessons too. When I was young I hated doing music theory homework, but now I'm SO incredibly thankful I did. Music theory is understanding the mechanics of a song, like a clock. Your child learns to dissect and analyze songs, recognize and appreciate the genius works of classic artists, and have the tools ready to creatively improvise. Music teaches you concentration and discipline - the mindset of working hard to completing anything with your best work, pattern recognition - being able to see the big picture and take things apart. I can't conceive my life without music, and I doubt I would be the person I am today without it. I probably wouldn't be going to UCLA this fall without the mentality being a musician has given me. I can only thank Ms. Dina for always pushing me as a young musician as my first instructor. If you want an easy teacher, look elsewhere. Ms. Dina will challenge you to reach high levels of performance, and if you put in as much effort as she does in your success, you will meet her expectations and succeed. A little stress and strictness will make you stronger, but like I said earlier, remember to enjoy and have fun playing music. read more

Our son takes piano from Ms. Dina for 2 years, we saw great advance in his piano skills and most of all, the confidence he gained through piano classes! Ms. Dina showed her great influence on my son's music knowledge and skills, more importantly, his maturing process. Very professional and loving teacher, we are pleased to have Ms. Dina to be my son's piano teacher and mentor! read more

As a student of Ms. Dina for over 10 years, I've had quite the experience learning piano and music from her. Looking back now in retrospect, the end goal is ultimately not reaching the highest Certificate of Merit level or participating in convention recitals. The end goal of taking these music lessons is to learn how to enrich oneself and how to keep learning and practicing music, even after having finished 10 or so years of piano lessons. In this regard, Ms. Dina gives you all the tools necessary to succeed, by making music something you can always have readily accessible. As a teacher, Ms. Dina opens up within her students an inherent capability for music and piano, a capability that was always there within them and just needed to be properly nurtured to grow and develop. If there's one thing I can say now for certain, it's that I truly believe Ms. Dina is the only one you can trust to provide the perfect nourishing environment to nurture to the fullest extent one's innate musical capability. read more