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.

What a pleasant experience I had while getting my daughter's trumpet repaired! Raleigh, the brass…read morerepair specialist, saw me right away and, after diagnosing the issue as a simple fix, completed it while I waited. Not only that, he chatted with me as he worked--I really enjoyed learning about his passion for brass instruments and the band he's part of. He even went the extra mile, fixing a few dents and adjusting a key that wasn't quite up to his standards. It was a great experience, and I will definitely be back for all of my family's instrument needs.

I have been buying from this shop for over 30 years. I've…read moreseen Vern there forever and he is still there. I like the variety and set up of the shop. My Excalibur guitar was purchased from the old shop in 1993. Good place for used gear and have always been treated well. I've only been yelled at once for playing too loud.....lol

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!

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.

All I gotta say is that the interaction/dealing with Tyler the past few days has been literally the…read morebest customer service experience in my whole life of buying/selling/trading guitars. (Bought and sold 75 guitars in 25 years.)

I brought in a used violin, after purchasing it with no prior experience. Wasn't sure what I needed…read moreto do before playing with it. The young lady was very helpful - no sales pressure. But I bought a couple of accessories anyways because she made the experience pleasant. Would definitely go back with any music related needs.

Just bought a ukelele from here to keep practicing as a beginner, they have good intro/beginner…read morepieces up to more expensive and studier pieces. The range I saw was from sale items at 49.99 up to 200+, they have a good, moderate amount of choices at each level, with different brands and accompanying acessories! My ukelele is a soprano, a great beginner ukelele I was practicing with, got it for $75 with tax and a carrying bag included in my purchase, if I remember correctly, tag price was $69.99 I did ask if there was something similar to a brand/type of ukelele I started my practice with but I was then getting sold onto the more expensive pieces that I didn't have experience with and didn't ask for so that was a miss for me. Wish I got more of a relevant recommendation but the workers were sweet, they let us browse by ourselves for a good amount of time before stepping in (which good for me because I needed time to think, compare, and browse). When we went, there were a handful of other customers inside the store, it's located in a small shopping center but the store is bigger inside than it appears on the outside. The parking situation was just okay, not bad, could use a tad bit more space, we went ~1p the parking lot was full minus 2-3 spots but I noticed cars came and went from the time we got there until we left so it seems like there's a couple spots free at any given time due to the traffic coming in and out for small errands. Lots of instruments and accessories to be found inside and the workers seem to be happy to help find what is needed! Pretty well organized inside to find what you need on your own though, I was able to find the ukeleles quickly.

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 first came to Eric after a 4-year break from piano, barely remembering how to do a C major scale…read more. Now, just a year later, we're working on so many pieces of insanely beautiful and difficult repertoire that I never imagined I could even touch. His approach to working through these pieces (both technically & musically) has truly helped me so much. Eric is an exceptional player and the best teacher I've ever had. He's a big part of the reason I'm pursuing a career in music, and I admire him as an artist and a person.

For a beginning 5-year-old: Frustrating interactions around…read morebilling, communication, and overall professionalism, with mixed feelings about teaching quality. Communication and Professionalism I felt that some of Eric's communications with parents did not meet our expectations for professionalism. Early on, he was communicative and polite, but more than six months into lessons he would send texts like: "Come [a different time never discussed] today, my flight is delayed," sent only a few hours before the lesson. Typically, these messages informed us of changes rather than asking whether the change worked for our schedule, leaving us to respond that it didn't. When we drove to the lesson last week, we were told Eric could not teach because he had a fever. He said: "I texted you this morning. You didn't get it? Oh, it's confusing for me because I have so many students with similar names." It appeared the text had been sent to a different student's family. There was no acknowledgment or apology for the inconvenience. Last month, he asked us to provide an itemized payment history for accounting purposes. After I sent screenshots of our payment records and asked him to review his own records, he replied asking me to still generate the list: "I have about 70 students to go through. It will be easier for me than to go through every single history." Over time, these interactions felt dismissive and one-sided, which was unexpected in a paid professional relationship. Billing and Policy Before the holidays, we notified Eric that we would be away for three weeks. His policy posted online at the time stated that with two weeks' notice, missed lessons would not be charged. Although we notified him three weeks prior to the trip, he said we had misinterpreted the policy and initially declined to offer a credit or make-up sessions. When I checked his website, that policy language was no longer visible and later reappeared with revised wording, which created confusion. After extensive texting and a phone call over an hour, he ultimately agreed to provide make-up lessons. Instruction Instructionally, the experience was mixed. Our child learned to read music quickly and played pieces that seemed advanced for his age, but other teachers later noted gaps in fundamentals. Early on, Eric provided practice guidance by text, but this stopped after a few weeks unless a parent was present and asked. We had also agreed on 30 minutes of piano and 15 minutes of voice, but at some point the voice portion was no longer included, and this change was not discussed with us. After about a year, our child began crying whenever we asked him to practice piano. This cannot be fully attributed to Eric, but it was part of our experience. In my opinion, Eric seems to place a strong emphasis on preparing students for piano competitions. Other Details * With advance notice, Eric almost always accommodated make-up sessions for a single missed lesson (except in the billing issue discussed above) * There were no recital or performance opportunities offered after more than 15 months of instruction * Lessons are held "every day," meaning families are expected to attend even on major holidays such as Christmas or New Year's Overall Overall, while there were aspects of the instruction that worked well, the repeated challenges with communication, scheduling, and billing made this arrangement difficult for our family over time. For a young beginner who requires consistent coordination with parents, this was not the right fit. Other families may have a different experience, especially with older or competition-focused students.

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.