Welcome to my website!

Hello! I am Miss Elena. I am a classically trained pianist and piano teacher with over thirty years of teaching experience. I offer piano lessons for children and adults (ages 6 and up; beginning, intermediate and advanced levels).

Since 1980, I teach group music classes for children ages 2 to 6.

I taught music to thousands of children and adults in Los Angeles, Vermont, at the USA embassy in Moscow, Boca Raton and Bradenton (FL), and Washington D.C.

Among my students were children and grandchildren of many celebrities, including Gregory Peck, Lucille Ball, Shirley Jones, O.J. Simpson, John Candy, Nat King Cole.

Why I created this website

I created this website, Raising a Musical Child, to help parents, students, and music educators make the right music education choices. I base my advice on my personal experience teaching thousands and thousands of students in my group classes and private piano lessons.

Some parents do not realize that music lessons’ benefits go far beyond the ability to play a musical instrument. Mothers and fathers often wonder if music lessons are necessary for children who will not become professional musicians.

My music classes are designed to develop a child’s musical abilities and interest in classical music. Having a child rattle off the names of the great classical composers as effortlessly as the names of characters from Sesame Street may seem like a good reason to sign your child up for music lessons. But the benefits of teaching children music go beyond developing their musical abilities and expanding general knowledge of the arts.

The key to teaching children music is early exposure. The brain learns easiest and best during the first years of life. In other words, the earlier your child starts music education, the better.

Classical music is good for the brain. It is called the “Mozart Effect.” Studies have determined that classical music, especially music by Mozart, stimulates the connection between nerve cells in the brain.

4  reasons why your child
needs music lessons

1. Higher IQ

Several studies have been done with 3-year-olds who participated in music lessons and those who did not. In each study, the musically trained children scored much higher on spatial reasoning tests (the ability to comprehend how objects relate to each other). It is necessary for a variety of tasks, including higher math and engineering.

In one study, after eight months of music lessons, preschoolers showed a 46 percent boost in their spatial IQ. Music training “could have enormous significance for education,” said researcher Frances Rauscher of the University of California, Irvine.

2. Building self-esteem

When children can play music, it makes them feel better about themselves. They are proud to show their skills while performing for audiences.

3. Better performance in school and higher SAT 

Children who take music lessons perform better in school. Students of the arts continue to outperform their nonarts peers on the SAT, according to reports by the College Entrance Examination Board.

In another study, SAT takers with coursework in music appreciation scored 62 points higher on the verbal portion of the test, and 42 points higher on the math portion than students who did not take music lessons.

4. Music improves verbal memory

Children who learn music have stronger oral memory skills than those who don’t, says Agnes S. Chan, Ph.D. associate professor of psychology at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Her team tested how many words students could recall from a list. Those with music training retained nearly 20 percent more. Learning music stimulates the left temporal lobe, the brain region that controls verbal memory.

A Gallup Survey

A Gallup Survey on Americans’ attitudes towards music revealed the following:

• 93 percent of Gallup survey respondents agreed that music is part of a well-rounded education.
• 88 percent of Americans believe that music helps a child’s overall intellectual development.
• 70 percent agreed that school music program participation corresponds to better grades and test scores.