Looking into learning an instrument for yourself and/or your kids? Then check out Avloni Academy of…read moreMusic located in the beautiful and peaceful city of Saratoga! I started taking piano lesson with Marianna, a lovely lady who is cheerful and energetic! She is a talented and well-educated piano soloist and accompaniment. As a teacher, she is caring and know what it takes to guide students in the right direction to give them the utmost music education possible! Music is challenging in general, but Marianna makes every single lesson fun while productive. I am blessed to have her as my teacher! A few months of piano lesson, I learned of Avloni Academy of Music and decided to take violin lessons at the school. There, I met Mr. Alex who was once part of an orchestra performing in multiple countries in Europe. While having many years of experiences as a performer, Mr. Alex also specialized in educating students. While I could only take a few lessons with Mr. Alex until my work schedule changed, I can say Mr. Alex is a great teacher with a very calm and compose personality. He cares for his students and want to grow them, so if you want to learn violin, Mr. Alex is certainly the one! Did I not mention the couple owner of the school yet? How can we not include them in the review! Teachers and school location are important factors, but we cannot forget the folks that run the show! I'd like to give a shout-out to Kin and Tina, the couple who owns the school, a huge applause for their dedication and swift responses to students' needs and wants! So, give them a ring for any musical education, either for you or your child!

Ms Tina is a fantastic teacher. She started with our daughter when she was 6 and her playing has…read moreexceeded our expectations. Tina will push her students to get better but also make sure they are comfortable and enjoying their experience. Our daughter will often sit at the piano and just play for fun. Very good combination of playing and reading notes/technical as well. Ms Tina played a lot to inspire students to feel and understand music better.

I went to Starving Musician (Santa Clara) in search of an electric drum amplifier and an Epiphone…read moreSheraton. I was in luck this day as I found both a brand new e-drum amplifier and a used Sheraton at fair prices. Looking the guitar over I noticed the nut for the instrument jack was loose and asked that it be tightened prior to purchasing. On a semi-hollow & hollow body guitars this can be a tedious task, hence why I asked for assistance. The guitar tech, Dimitri, stopped what he was doing and went above and beyond my expectations to remedy the problem. It was not a quick fix and he kept me updated throughout the process. Starving Musician is my first stop when looking for music gear. They have been around as long as I can remember and offer the best trade-in value for your used gear. Always a great experience.

Basically a great place for nice condition used equipment at decent prices with sales people to…read morehelp you with your selection. You can also sell some of your stuff here. However, sometimes.... ? A few days ago, I got this... I came in to sell or consign an 8 track reel to reel Tascam 38 in hardly used, pristine condition, value $800-1,000+. I was told that they do not sell this kind of thing and to go to Rasputin or Street Light. ????

All my life, I have been fascinated with piano music and have always dreamed of playing someday…read more After many years of pushing off lessons, I finally found a highly skilled piano teacher who could teach me to play classical music. I have been taking lessons with Mrs. Emilia for the last 6 months and it's been amazing! She has been inspiring me to build good techniques while pushing my playing to the next level. I highly recommend Mrs. Emilia to anyone who would like to learn how to play the piano.

We have been feeling lucky and honored to have someone like Mrs. Emilia as our piano teacher. She…read moreis not only a master-level professional piano player/performer/artist herself, but also dedicated and patient to teach what she knows and has experienced to the young kids (and their parents), in high quality! Her classes are inspiring and joyful for both the kids and the parents. It has been absolutely a treasure for the kids and parents to hear the amazingly beautiful music produced by her in classes and to learn how she makes it. Importantly, she can always easily come up with concrete and vivid examples, stories, pictures, etc, to help kids (and parents) to understand piano playing techniques and the essence of the songs! In addition, she can provide and come up with tons of practice methods to make practicing piano a fun and exciting process! Sometimes I doubt but then am surprised that my daughter is able to produce the amazing sound and melody, by practicing as she suggests! Along the way, I have witnessed and experienced that my daughter's sense and perception of music and sound has been greatly improved. More importantly, her piano playing techniques have been skyrocketed under Mrs Emilia training! Thank you!"

My daughter has been taking piano lessons from Ms.Lin since 2021. We feel so grateful to have such…read morea great teacher. Ms. Lin is patient, kind and knowledgeable. She uses different ways to describe hand movements and different concepts so that a 6 year old is able to understand. She taught my daughter to count a half-beat as "pi-zza" so we pizza pizza through the whole song. She encourages my daughter to participate in recitals and competitions, but never pushes. Participating was a great motivator to practice. My daughter always feels proud when she finishes each recital and receives her trophy. Each of her accomplishments is celebrated by us and her most wonderful teacher. We also love Virtuoso Music Studio. The waiting area fulls of new books and the kids love getting HI-CHEW candies and stickers when they finish their lessons. The principal Ernest is a great violinist. He truely cares about the studio and is very attentive to details, such as the decor and making sure restroom is very clean.We love learning music here.

My daughter has been taking cello classes with Ms Zoe for about a month. My daughter didn't have…read moreprior experience with the instrument, but had two years of experience playing the viola at her school. Ms Zoe creatively adapts her teaching to help my daughter draw relationships between viola and cello. It really helped my daughter master the basics fairly quickly. Instead of being strict on sticking to one learning pathway, Ms Zoe encourages my daughter to bring her school pieces and ask questions. One thing that my daughter really likes about Ms Zoe is that she plays along with the student. It's very encouraging to my daughter, and it makes her feel that the teacher is in this with her. My daughter really enjoys Ms Zoe's classes. I also would to share my experience with the studio. The service was excellent! The studio was able to put me in touch with Ms Zoe pretty quickly. There are many classrooms in the studio, and they're well maintained. Virtuoso also has a strong team of teachers teaching various instruments. We're very happy to have such great music studio in our community. I highly recommend this place!

I fell in love with a tobacco sunburst guitar mounted on the wall so I'm going back too play it…read moretomorrow when the store opens!

What a find..... A unique, cozy guitar shop located in the quaint town of Saratoga…read more A bevy of beautiful (generally high end) instruments. I found the perfect Taylor acoustic for my daughter's Christmas/wedding/college graduation gift. Tyler is most helpful and a genuinely nice person. What he offers is basically a guarantee that will allow you to upgrade from your original purchase to something else and he will credit your original price towards your upgrade. Of course, your original purchase must be in the condition you bought it. A novel and intriguing offer. This shop gets 5 stars from me! And while you're in Saratoga, following your visit to Diamond Music, stop by a local coffee shop or diner to complete the afternoon.

Reviewing as a total music novice family. We needed to rent a violin for my 5th grader for…read moreorchestra. We could not have been more helpful, patient and kind helping us set up a rental. Similarly, when we made the return at the end of the school year, the process was seamless! Highly recommend!

I have tried coming to the store twice now looking for help with clarinets. First time was about…read morerenting one and the second was inspecting one we had donated. Both times we had very bad experiences. The first experience made me feel dumb like as if I should know more the process of renting an instrument. The second experience, the gentleman helping me and explaining to me about fixing the instrument, answered the phone mid explaining, seemed to put the person on hold and then literally mid sentence stopped talking and answered the phine again and walked away. Even my child said he was rude. The second person who took over again made me feel dumb as if I should know everything about this instrument. I will not be going back to this store again

I found this school after long search for my daughter. She had 2 years of experience with another…read moreteacher but our goal always was a music sheet reading skills. Michelle was really nice, during the trial class I explained her why we are here and what is our goal. She was really nice and patient. Finally my daughter started to look at the music sheet when she is playing , not just trying to remember. Recommend!

My 4 year old had been bugging me for months for a piano lesson. I am not convinced if he is…read moremature enough to learn piano at his age, he is super active and can barely sit down for more than 5 mins. After relentless "when can I go for a piano lesson", I started looking for a good school for him. Los Gatos School of Music is 5 minutes from my home. I am encouraged by the reviews here and I scheduled his first trial lesson. When we got there, I was so nervous, my son barely read, how in the earth he will be able to understand how to read music and all that intricacies? To my amazement, Ms Michelle managed to get my son to concentrate and learn very well. Today is our 4th lesson and my son is still excited and wants to learn more. The piano lesson is not only good for his soul, it also teaches him a great motor skills and brain coordination with his hand movement. I am so happy to find this place and Ms Michelle for my son. We are so looking forward every week to come to this place.

I have a 4 year old and 6 year old currently with Eric, who we pursued after my older daughter…read moredesperately wanted to be ahead of a friend of hers who was slightly ahead of her after a year at big-box studio. Most studios do the same Faber set of books, page by page, and most of the studios we went to had piano teachers who were mid to good, but overly rely on this structure to get the kids to a certain point. It is a drudge and I felt like if my daughter's friend was ahead there was literally no way we would ever get ahead which deeply demotivated my daughter. Eric is a passionate, energetic and driven teacher and I think there is some self selection that happens with those that go with him. He is what I would call highly attuned: he sees potential in my children that even I am unaware of. But if there is one thing I believe as a parent, if you see a spark, throw gasoline on it. When it comes to piano (and I'm assuming violin / voice, we haven't gotten there yet ;)), Eric is a tankful of kerosene. He is engaging, knowledgeable and a true role model for my children. One thing my husband and I both love in his teaching is on his website of what he teaches, I've attached here. In a period rife with AI anxiety, we are confident of the positive effects of his teaching that have made my daughter more industrious, better at chores, better at practicing and discipline, and being a better citizen and human. I will also comment on a moment where Eric was pretty stern with my daughter that she had to practice more. I personally never achieved anything in music so I thought 5-10 min a couple times a week was fine but she plateaued. After this lesson, she cried about the feedback for days and I asked her what her goal was. For her, it took remembering her competitive side and then leaning into getting better. I also told Eric about what was happening and he was sensitive to her mental state and worked with her to regain psychological safety. In truth, piano is a hard skill! Young children will be uncomfortable if they want to achieve greatness (my 4 year old has no such interest and therefore her lessons and her approach is much more chill. Given her personality, also am pleased that Eric has inspired her to sit and try vs. other studios where she would just cry and tantrum). I also think most piano teachers we had my daughter work with took a very passive approach about her plateauing and I'm thankful he pushed her in this way. His talents don't come free and I will say Eric is a single person managing like 70 students or something crazy like that. So there have been some logistical difficulties when people get sick or scheduling changes. I've learned to lower my expectations there -- because truly, to give my daughter a chance to achieve true excellence with someone so warm and engaging is worth it. I don't know of anyone who can compete with Eric in terms of pushing progress in a way that is effective and instills both a love of music and strong work ethic; the inconveniences of working with this single individual is worth absolutely worth it.

I have studied piano with Eric for two years now, and I wholeheartedly recommend him to students no…read morematter the age or level. He not only has exceptional musical ability and knowledge but is also genuinely kind, caring, and motivating toward his students. Under his teaching, I have succeeded at international competitions, gotten the opportunity to perform at Carnegie Hall, and been accepted into well-regarded summer programs such as the Peabody Institute at John Hopkins University. He is deeply invested in the success of his students both as musicians and as individuals. I appreciate that he challenges students to grow technically and artistically while building a positive and supportive learning environment. He is incredibly thoughtful in his teaching and adapts according to the personality and needs of each student. With his guidance, my love for music and my abilities as a pianist have truly grown so much. I consider myself and other students very fortunate to learn from him.

My kiddo has been going to Mrs. Julie's weekly group piano class for about a year and a half, and…read moreit has been such a positive experience. The class starts at a slower, steady pace, with a strong focus on fundamentals instead of rushing through songs. This approach has really helped my child feel confident and comfortable as they learn. Even though it's a group class, Mrs. Julie truly pays attention to each student. She makes sure everyone understands, helps correct technique, and never moves on until the kids are ready. I also love that every class begins with listening to different chords, which helps build musical awareness early on. The class always ends with a sweet goodbye song that includes the line "we say goodbye to our friends," and it's such a thoughtful way to wrap things up. One thing I especially appreciate is that Mrs. Julie encourages students to look beyond just the class material. She shows them how what they learn in class can help them explore and understand other pieces they like, which makes learning feel more meaningful and empowering. Mrs. Julie truly wants music to be fun for the kids, and her teaching philosophy is centered around the idea that music is a journey--not just one song, one test, or one recital. She acknowledges that there are ups and downs along the way and encourages students to be confident and learn how to figure things out on their own. Throughout the year, the school hosts winter and summer recitals, giving the kids something fun to work toward. Students get to choose songs they're excited about, and Mrs. Julie reviews them to make sure they're appropriate for each child's skill level. It keeps kids motivated without pressure. The overall vibe is warm, supportive, and encouraging, and learning piano feels fun rather than stressful. This class has been a wonderful introduction to piano and music in general. Highly recommend for families looking for a caring, well-structured group class for beginners.

Very concerning experience at Canon Music with our 4-year-old in a group piano class. About 10…read moreminutes before class, several young children arrived early and were waiting in the classroom with their parents. There was no reminder about noise, no guidance on where families should wait, and no staff present to supervise the pre-class environment. A male teacher from a neighboring classroom suddenly rushed in, visibly upset, and loudly scolded the waiting children and parents, saying they were disturbing his class. The children and parents had no prior awareness that they were causing any issue, and the situation could have been easily handled through calm communication. Instead, the teacher's reaction immediately frightened the children--one child began crying on the spot, and my daughter froze in fear. The situation then escalated further when the teacher became involved in a heated confrontation with a parent that nearly turned physical, all in front of several 4-5-year-old children. After returning home, my child showed clear stress reactions and repeatedly expressed that she no longer felt safe returning to this location. For a children's learning environment--especially for preschool-aged kids--this lack of emotional safety was deeply troubling. Parents of younger or more sensitive children may want to consider this carefully. Update: Following this incident, Canon Music reached out, apologized, and refunded the unused portion of our tuition, which I appreciate. I also want to share that Ms. Julie, our group piano teacher, was very caring and dedicated, and our child really liked her. It's unfortunate that we won't be able to continue learning with her. My original review reflects the experience that led to our decision to withdraw.