Our Teachers

…have over 50 years combined experience.

Lenore Johnson

ABOUT LENORE

Lenore was born in Winnipeg, Canada and lived there until 2000. Her parents first noticed her musical gift when she was given a toy piano for Christmas at age three. Lenore was immediately picking out familiar tunes by ear - thus her parents enrolled her in group music classes at the age of 4.  By age 8, Lenore was training with private piano and theory teachers and taking piano examinations through the Royal Conservatory, University of Toronto. She also began teaching private piano lessons at the young age of 13. By the age of 20 (in 1986) Lenore had already completed her Piano Teacher’s Certification through the Toronto Royal Conservatory of Music.

Lenore holds a 2nd degree:  Bachelor of Music, University of Manitoba, Canada, in the year 2000 - a feat she accomplished while teaching 85 students who all attended both a private piano lesson and a group Orff lesson each week.  As part of her curriculum she took courses on how to teach “Group music classes for children” with an emphasis on the Orff Schulwerk approach. 

Lenore traveled across the Canadian/USA border 3 years in a row, to the University of St. Thomas, Minnesota and completed the Orff Masterworks program as well as an Apprenticeship program with top-notch Orff instructors which qualified her to instruct Orff teacher training courses.  Lenore continued to further her own growth when she moved to the USA by attending vocal lessons. Currently, Lenore is a member of the American Orff Schulwerk Association San Diego and National Chapters. She also actively attends workshops and conferences both locally and nationally throughout the year.

Emma Thompson

ABOUT EMMA

Emma grew up in Gig Harbor, Washington. On the day she was born, a family friend looked at her hands and said “She has piano fingers!” Thus began Emma’s love of music. She started taking piano lessons at the age of 7. Gig Harbor was home to a very active community of piano teachers, and as a result, Emma was able to participate in a wide variety of musical activities, including playing in ensembles and with a full orchestra. She also competed in Music Olympics (a local event coordinated by private teachers), performed for judges in adjudications, and played piano duets with her peers.

Emma continued her formal music training in college at Soka University of America, a small, private, liberal arts school in Orange County. Emma was fortunate in that she was able to take music classes every semester in performance, theory, composition, and music history - in addition to completing her formal concentration in psychology. At Soka, she studied classical piano under Dr. Wan-Chin Chang, an accomplished pianist/violinist  who also teaches at Mira Costa College in Oceanside. Emma also studied jazz piano, violin, and vocal technique. In her final year, Emma completed her senior thesis on the topic of encouraging young piano students to practice, based on research in psychology and interviews conducted with piano students, parents, and teachers.

After graduating college in 2012, Emma began taking Piano Pedagogy, the art of teaching piano, with Lenore. For several years, she spent two hours per week with Lenore refining her teaching methods, working through piano curriculum, and creatively solving problems she faced every week in lessons. Emma has been teaching in North County San Diego since 2013 and has worked with children and adults of all ages. After spending several years building her student base, she now works full time teaching piano. She continues to advance her professional growth by taking private vocal lessons, performing in a local a cappella group, and attending teaching conferences and workshops.