About our Teachers
An (pronounced Ann)
is a classical pianist based in Chicago, Il. She has received awards from the Arizona Music Fest, Arizona Steinway Piano Competition and many others. She also performs frequently at such venues as: Walt Disney Concert Hall, Lied Center of Performing Arts, Thayer Hall, the San Jose Center of Performing Arts and Grant Park Music Festival. She has an Associates Degree in Fine Arts and is currently pursuing a Bachelor’s in Piano Performance. As a teacher, Ms An is passionate about creating accessible and positive learning experiences for her students. Using a holistic approach, Ms An incorporates study of theory, sight reading, aural skills, technique, and a wide range of repertoire. Her goal is to imbue her students with the confidence and ability to fully command the keyboard. In her spare time, Ms An has volunteered for Sharing Notes, bringing live music to patients in hospitals located in the Chicagoland area. She enjoys painting, drawing and exploring the city. 
Andres
is an acoustic and electric guitar and piano teacher with over 10 years teaching experience to students of all ages and experience levels. He currently teaches music in a private Montesoori school and guitar/piano at South Loop School of Music. He is an empathetic teacher who strives to instill empathy, independence, self-development and a love for music in all his students. Originally from Columbia, South America, Andres has toured internationally with pop, rock, and jazz bands and performed on studio recordings throughout Columbia, Central America and the United States. He loves playing live, songwriting and joining in on jam sessions and looks forward every week to showing his students some cool techniques with the guitar and piano. 
Erin
has taught piano and voice for over 30 years. She is a classically trained pianist who also plays and teaches other music styles, such as blues, jazz and rock. She performs solo, and with various groups, throughout Chicago. Her mentors have included legendary blues pianist, Erwin Helfer, and the late great, Barrelhouse Chuck. She is also an accomplished West African drummer and toured the United States and Ghana with renowned master drummer Gideon Foli Alorwoyie and his African and American Unity Ensemble. Her teaching philosophy is to enjoy the process, and to encourage the joy of music by creating a positive atmosphere. She believes in customizing music lessons to the learning style, musical goals, and abilities of her students. In her spare time Erin enjoys listening to many styles of music, cooking, and studying languages. She also tutors French and Italian. 
Héctor
is from Monterrey, Mexico and is currently obtaining his Master's Degree at the Chicago College of Performing Arts. He actively performs in Houston, where he lived for 5 years, and also Spain and France. In 2018, he obtained the first prize in the First International Piano Festival of Xalapa, where he played with the Xalapa Symphony Orchestra conducted by Philippe Entremont. Hector has never known a life without music. Born into a family of musicians, he received intense musical education from the age of 4. His own mother is a veteran piano teacher, expert in the Suzuki teaching method, and he saw and heard music lessons taking place every day in his own home. Under his mother’s mentorship, he started teaching at the age of 16. Since then, he has taught students of all ages in both English and Spanish. His main goal is to help his students to share the joy of music-making that he experiences every day. 
Jenny
is a classically-trained pianist and guitarist with several years of teaching experience in all genres of piano and guitar. A multi-disciplinary artist, she is also pursuing a degree in Neuroscience from the University of Illinois Jenny believes that learning is most successful when lessons are tailored to fit the student. She strives to build relationships with her students to ensure that they feel safe, open, and ready to learn at their own pace. Her primary focus is to give students the lasting skills they need to be able to achieve their personal musical goals both present and future. She is passionate about making sure each student's musical journey is a personally meaningful one to encourage students to develop their love for music even beyond the studio walls. In her spare time Jenny loves learning languages for fun and is currently working on six! She draws and paints in her free time, and will read everything she gets her hands on. She also likes spending time in nature and researching and taking care of plants. 
Jordan
Playing in the third-grade orchestra hooked Jordan into a lifelong journey with music, particularly classical music. His love for performance, composition, music theory, and the history of music is what he aims to give each of his students. He is currently a rising senior studying composition with Dr. Stuart Folse and piano with Dr. Jana Pavlovska at the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University. In his 5-plus years of teaching, he has delighted in seeing students grow from beginners to musicians capable of learning and playing music on their own. Jordan loves getting to know his students as people and musicians and believes this is key in creating an individualized approach to teaching. He is excited to share his enthusiasm for the piano with students and help them develop the skills they need to achieve their musical goals. 
Jordan P is a multi instrumentalist who holds a bachelor's degree in Music Technology. As a child Jordan took an early interest in music and has been performing, producing and writing music since he was in grade school. He has done everything from marching band and concert choir to musical theater and the New Technologies Ensemble at UCM. Before moving to Chicago in 2022, he performed regularly at St. Louis venues as a solo act and as part of his band, Big Step.
He has been teaching piano, voice and guitar to students of all ages for several years. Jordan believes that anyone can learn to write and/or perform music given the right tools, consistent practice, and tailored instruction. He strives to meet students where they are and use their favorite music as a foundation for learning. With Jordan, students can expect to learn theory, reading, technique, and how to accompany yourself and generate ideas at the piano. Lessons are driven by the students own goals and desires as a musician. In his spare time. Jordan likes to develop music videos and audio visualizations for live music through programming and 2d animation. While this is largely an avenue for exploration and expression, he has been commissioned by others to work on projects as well. He is passionate about the place where music, technology,and visual art meet. He also enjoys reading and is learning Spanish. 
Kari holds a bachelor’s degree and MFA in music composition and has taught voice and piano in private studio, the Chicago High School for the Performing Arts and Columbia College for the past 12 years. Kari's teaching philosophy includes the belief that teachers should always be learning so they remember what it is like to be a student. She has also directed, composed music, and led rehearsals for performances at The Steppenwolf Theater Company and Storycatchers Theater and served as the music director and composer of Chicago Voices, a performance at Chicago’s Lyric Opera for the organization Harmony, Hope and Healing to raise awareness of homelessness in Chicago.
Kari is a versatile and highly experienced voice and piano teacher with extensive experience teaching students of all ages, including neurodivergent and learning-disabled students. She cares about her students as human beings as much as she cares about their artistry and treats everyone with warmth, empathy, and respect. Kari’s students say she has a rare balance of fun and relatability along with conservatory-level standards of technique and mastery for both voice and piano. She loves to customize her teaching style for an individual student’s needs. 
Seth
is a music educator and singer-songwriter based in Chicago, IL. Seth obtained a Bachelor of Music degree in Vocal Performance from Olivet Nazarene University and a Master of Music degree in Voice Pedagogy from the Shenandoah Conservatory. Seth has had the privilege to perform a wide variety of repertoire professionally including opera/classical, jazz, gospel, pop, R&B, rock, and others. Seth has taught students of all ages and experience levels in a variety of contexts, most recently as an Instructor of Commercial Music at Tiffin University, where Seth taught singing, piano/keyboard skills, basic theory and arranging, and ear training. Seth also has experience in the theatre as a performer, music director, and stage director. As a teacher, Seth's biggest goal is to help students grow in autonomy, so they can work together in a co-creative environment. Using elements of active learning and student-centered pedagogy, Seth helps students to learn to achieve by equipping them with tools to assist their growth. 
William came to Chicago, from Kansas City, in 2004 to study music composition at Columbia College. He is an active and sought after musician in the Chicago community.
William is a kind, caring teacher specializing in helping beginners of all ages (4 years - adult) play the piano and guitar. He focuses on building confidence through gentle encouragement and optimizing each student's strengths to find the smoothest path from passion to performance. He is currently recording and mixing a full-length album called Powerpup with plans to release it in the summer 2022. 
Our Founder, Holly, has been teaching piano for over 20 years. Her students have gone on to major in music, join performing groups and simply enjoy playing for themselves. She is the Owner of the Champaign School of Music which has had the privilege of helping thousands of students learn to play piano, guitar, voice, drums, woodwinds, brass and participate in early childhood music classes since its inception in 2003.
Holly now resides in the South Loop of Chicago and has opened South Loop Piano Lessons. South Loop Piano Lessons is for beginning through advanced students of all ages who love music and are passionate about achieving their potential in music and life. Her students say that she is: "fun, funny and energetic". She adds, "….especially after a double espresso! We work hard, but enjoy laughing together!" Her Certifications, Honors and Leadership include:
Influential teachers have included: Concert artist Pawel Chenchinski, Pedagoge Jane Tan, Technique specialist Seymour Fink and Chicago Blues teacher Erwin Helfer. Holly also had the opportunity to study with Seymour Bernstein in New York. Holly draws from a background in meditation, dance, body building and public speaking to give her students the edge in: developing a healthy, relaxed piano technique, developing expressiveness in music and preparing for performance. To begin learning to play the piano, call us or fill out our Request Info Form. Its never too late and, rarely too early! 
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Testimonials
"An institution with exceptional instructors!"
- Imran Khan, Attorney at Law "I wanted to let you know that I will be attending the University of Illinois-Urbana as a music major next fall. I know all of those piano lessons I had with you helped in my success so far!! My mom tells me that the strong music foundation and practice habits I learned when I worked with you is what has made it possible for me to develop my music to this point. I had very successful auditions at several different colleges and have been offered music talent scholarships, too." - Kate M. "I am a 7 year old girl and I am half Japanese and half ' American. I go to piano class once a week. I have been learning piano for about 10 months and can play over forty songs on the piano. I have had 2 piano recitals that were really fun and really crowded. My piano teacher is awesome. She is so nice and she always pushes me to become a better pianist. My favorite thing about piano school is learning new songs and then playing them for my mom and dad!" --Terra B. Age 7 "In my opinion, the quality of any school simply boils down to the quality of its instructors and my daughter's piano teacher is fantastic. It is clear her teacher's life revolves around music and her passion for teaching inspires all of us. I really don't want to have to force my children to practice - so the fact that her teacher both challenges and inspires her to learn - which results in her wanting to practice makes music in our home a joy rather than a struggle." --Kurt B. I thoroughly enjoyed taking lessons. I'd always wanted to learn how to play, even have a piano, so at 42 I decided it was time. My Grandmother had passed away and it would have meant a lot to her to know she helped pay for some classes for me. My teacher was wonderful. She was cheerful, very, very knowledgeable and full of enthusiasm for teaching the class. She wasn't afraid to make us play what we were learning, never scolded us for not learning quickly enough [like a younger student might have] and made it a truly enjoyable experience. I'm not going to be performing in public anytime soon, but I feel more confident sitting down at my piano now. She helped us with her encouragement and her endless enthusiasm. Mistakes were not a problem. She wanted us to play loudly and enjoy hitting the keys. - just like kids. That's a lot of why I wanted to take the class and stuck with the entire session. I wanted to come play and learn. --Janet M. Age 42 "Katie's progress in playing piano constantly amazes our family. She always looks forward to her lessons and what new things she can learn. Katie performed recently at a small talent show. Their were many other children playing piano, yet Katie's performance caught the attention of many of the parents. As we were leaving the talent show I had one parent congratulating Katie and asking where she took piano because they were so impressed with her performance." --Marilyn and Mike F. In the News
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