Leanna Riberal

September 2018

January 2019

Julianna Riberal

2018-2019 Students of the Month

September 2018

Leanna Riberal

Congratulations to Trinity Hao, our August “Student of the Month”!  Trinity is 6 years old and begins 1st grade this year. She has two siblings that also take lessons; her sister, Tessa, and her brother, Thomas.  Trinity has been taking piano lessons for almost 1 year now and she says that she enjoys learning the different songs that she gets to play!

Last year, Trinity participated in two recitals; the December Holiday Recital and the Studio Awards Summer Recital. Trinity performed 2 pieces at each recital. In the Summer Awards Recital, we were able to hear her perform a duet with her sister, Tessa. Trinity is proving herself to be a great performer and looks confident and comfortable when she performs!  This year, we will consider adding the TVMTA Festival Auditions to her list of activities.

Trinity’s favorite subject in school is reading. She also likes to draw and play with her family and her friends! Trinity is always smiling and happy and loves to look for unicorns. She also plays soccer and takes swimming lessons, and she has a pet turtle by the name of “Turtle”!

Trinity’s favorite subject in school is reading. She also likes to draw and play with her family and her friends! Trinity is always smiling and happy and loves to look for unicorns. She also plays soccer and takes swimming lessons, and she has a pet turtle by the name of “Turtle”!

Trinity’s favorite foods are spaghetti, french fries, and vegetables. Her favorite TV show is “WordGirl”, and her favorite book is Unicorn Princesses. She also likes to play Minecraft. Trinity’s favorite colors are red, pink, white, blue, light purple, and green. She loves to take vacations with her family and says that her favorite place to visit is Oregon!

As her teacher, I love to see Trinity come in for her lessons. She has a great sense of humor and always comes in smiling and happy.  She is always prepared and so lessons with her are always positive and fun. She has learned so much this year, and I’m excited to see how she progresses this next year!

​​​Congratulations to Sofia Larrondo!  Sofia is 7 years old and in first grade this year.  She has studied piano for about 2 1/2 years.  Sofia has a 5 year old sister, Ella, who also takes piano lessons. Sofia and Ella joined our studio about 9 months ago when their previous teacher moved. We are so happy to have them as an addition to our group!

Sofia says she finds the many different types of music fun to play!  She has shown amazing progress this year. She has worked hard to improve her hand position and technique and it shows! She recently participated in her first assessment event, the Temecula Spring Music Festival, where she performed 2 pieces by memory before an adjudicator. She received a great evaluation and earned her first gold medal!  We hope to hear Sofia perform again at our Awards Recital in June!

Sofia says that her favorite subjects in school are science and math. She also enjoys drawing. Her favorite sports are skiing and soccer.  She also likes to dance and loves to go roller skating!  Sofia and her family have 2 dogs that are boxers. Their names are Hugo and Lola.

Sofia’s favorite food to eat is an artichoke. Her favorite movie is “Thumbelina”, and her favorite book is “Henry and Ribsy” by Beverly Cleary. She also loves horses!

As Sofia’s teacher, I enjoy every lesson with her!  She is a good student and always comes prepared with a positive attitude and great smile.  She has improved a lot this first year and I’m looking forward to to seeing how she continues to progress!

August 2018

Trinity Hao

Sofia Larrondo

April 2019

Trinity Hao

August 2018

Julianna Esparza

January 2019

Congratulations to Julianna Esparza, our January “Student of the Month”!  Julianna is 15 years old and in 9th grade. She has a brother, Peter, that also studies piano at our studio.  Julianna has been taking piano lessons now for about 3 years and she says that what she enjoys most about piano is learning new songs that are fun to play and that have interesting rhythms!

Last year, Julianna participated in our two studio recitals; the December Holiday Recital and the Studio Awards Summer Recital as well as earning very good marks in the GUILD assessments and a gold medal in the TVMTA Festival Auditions. Last month, we were able to hear her beautiful performance at the Christmas Recital as she performed the jazzy “New Orleans Nocturne” and “It’s Beginning to Look Like Christmas”!

Julianna’s favorite subjects in school are writing and art. Her current goal right now to to improve her math skills. Julianna's extracurricular activities include playing softball and dancing, and she also likes to bake and to hike!  Her family has one pet; a german shepherd dog named Jet.

Julianna’s favorite food is pizza. Her favorite movie is “The Avengers”, her favorite book is “Addison Cooke”, and her favorite places to go are New York and Oregon.

As her teacher, I always enjoy lessons with Julianna. She has a sweet disposition and always comes well prepared. I also love that she enjoys learning different and unique rhythms. This makes the lessons interesting and fun. She has made great improvements over the last year, and I’m so excited to see how she will continue to improve!

April 2019

Sofia Larrondo

Congratulations to Leanna Riberal, our September “Student of the Month”!  Leanna is 13 years old and is a high school freshman this year. Leanna has been studying piano now for about 2 1/2 years and she says that what she enjoys most is that music is fun to play and also soothing to listen to.

Last year, Leanna participated in the CAPMT Auditions and earned herself a superior score of ‘5’ which earned her an invitation to participate in our State’s CAPMT Southern Festival showcase recitals. She also participated in the TVMTA Festival Auditions where she earned a gold medal, the Royal Conservatory Performance Assessments where she received “First Class Honors”, and our studio’s Holiday Recital and the end of the year Award’s Recital. This year, because of the beautiful progress Leanna has shown, she has skipped a level and will be moving to level 5 in the Royal Conservatory Assessment program. This is a huge accomplishment in just 2 1/2 years!

Leanna is quite accomplished in Taekwondo where she holds a 1st degree black belt and does competitive sparring. Some of the competitions that she has competed in are the U.S. Open, the Nationals, and the President’s Cup. She also enjoys cross-country running.  In school, Leanna’s favorite subject is Language Arts, and in addition to all that, she also enjoys playing the clarinet in the high school band.

Her favorite foods are burgers, frozen yogurt, and Korean BBQ, and her favorite TV show is Stranger Things. Leanna says that someday she would like to visit Australia and Japan.

Her long-term goal is to get into a good ivy league college and become a lawyer or a judge. Her immediate goal is to make the U.S.A National Team for Taekwondo and, if she can accomplish that, her ultimate goal would be to make the U.S.A. Olympic Team.  I know we will all be rooting for her!!

As her teacher, I am amazed at the dedication and determination Leanna has shown in all of her endeavors. She gives her best effort to each and every one of her interests and this will take her so far! I enjoy our lessons together; she is always prepared with a great attitude. She takes instruction well and clearly enjoys her music which makes our time together enjoyable. She is a great student and I am looking forward to seeing how she progresses this year and in future years!