Thomas & Jieun Yee Professional Violin & Piano Teaching Studio

I had several violin tutors since high school. Two of them are music school students at University of Michigan. They told me that I need to work on my bowing techniques. They showed how they pull their bows, but they were not able to teach me. I struggled a lot with the sound I produced, which discouraged me from practicing. After moving to California, I searched on Unilocal and found Thomas. During the first few classes, he was able to gradually help me loose my hand, and improve my sound quality. I can see improvement for real and I am excited to study with him more!

I have taken adult piano lessons from Jieun for over a year and I my skills have greatly improved. I started as an advanced beginner. I enjoy using the metronome and lessons on note cadence. Jieun is very professional and she knows her music. She gives detailed instructions on musical pieces and I learned classical, jazz, and pop. The class is flexible for busy adults. Make-​ups are no problem and very accommodating. Most importantly, Jieun wants to help you play piano. Yes, it is an individual journey, but, it is nice to have a skilled instructor guide you along.

After many years away from the piano, I decided to resume my training through Green Octave. I started taking lessons from Jieun as an advanced adult student. Jieun is an enthusiastic, talented musician. Her dedication to teaching is superb as shown through her seriousness about sharing her passion for classical music with me. She introduced me to her broad repertoire, her solid musicianship, and her music phrasing. In addition, she made effective use of analogies to help me improve my technique. Through this she encouraged me to learn the nuances of each piece. These are some of the things I will always cherish. I was sad to see Jieun leave the school as I developed a great connection with her over the course of our lessons. I highly recommend Jieun as both a teacher and a musician.

Thomas is a unique violin teacher who is capable of guiding and teaching students of a broad range of levels and talent. Being an active performer in solo, ensemble and orchestra settings, Thomas also has 1^st hand and up-​to-​date performance experiences that help to prepare students in meeting their varied musical goals and challenges. Thomas also prepares violin students in theory and CM examinations, which is rare among string instructors. My son is an advance student at middle school age (CM level 9 – 10), yet his interest in advancing his violin techniques and musical appreciation continues to progress dynamically. My son also appreciates collaborating with Thomas’ spouse Ji-​eun on piano from time to time for his solo performances. I would highly recommend Thomas and Ji-​eun for students of all ages with genuine and long term musical interest.

I am very happy and grateful to have my 6.5 years old daughter to be a student of Thomas, the violinist. Thomas found an approach to teach my first-​grader in a fun, nurturing, and yet professional manner. My daughter is having fun while working hard. By using a low key approach, his dedication to inspire his student to appreciate music to enrich their life can be seen every step of his way.

Thomas is a very patient and nice teacher. My son enjoys taking his class, he won’t make kids bored and always adjusts his way of teaching based on kids’ progress. He even video tapes the whole teaching class for kids and parents to review at home. This is rare for other teachers class. I definitely recommend him to any one who’s interested in learning violin.
Betty

As an adult beginner on the violin who studied another instrument at an university as a child, my challenges are unique. I’ve studied with Thomas for nearly a year and he’s been able to navigate through neither dumbing down material nor pushing me too far too soon, which my previous teachers had done. When explaining concepts, he runs through various methods which appeals to the different learning styles (visual, auditory, kinesthetic) to see which produces the best result. His high expectations helps push my drive to learn even more.
From participating in his bi-​annual recital and hearing other students play, I believe he’s able to meet students at their own pace and desires whether it’s to play the latest pop tune or becoming an accomplished classical musician.

My 9-​year-​old son has been «violining» since he was 5. We switched to Thomas after finding that his previous teacher wasn’t able to come across clearly to him in their lessons. Thomas has been very patient with my young son, and tries to explain lessons in a way that my son identifies with. My son enjoys his lessons more and practices have been much easier now.
I feel my son has increased his repertoire and is able to tackle more challenging pieces having taken lessons from Thomas for a few months now.

I’ve been taking lessons since the beginning of the year and I couldn’t be more happy with my progress. I knew right away that I had made a great decision to hire Jieun as my piano teacher. I had spent a month trying to learn on my own, but in my first meeting with Jieun it was immediately apparent that she could provide the insight that I could only acquire from a professional pianist. Jieun has been really good about teaching me at my own pace. With work full-​time, gym, and other activities, I don’t always have the time to put in as much practice as I would like to. I trust that if I put in enough time outside of our tutoring sessions, Jieun will prepare me with the proper knowledge to recognize my dreams of playing the piano.

Thomas is great. I started violin with him about 3 months ago and I’m making a ton of really good progression.
I think one of the most important aspects of being a good teacher is finding the metaphors to make different aspects of the training click with the student. He is great at this.
He’s also great at keeping me on track with some of the issues a new violin student has on a regular basis… i.e. shoulder moving too much, bow bouncing, intonation.
Highly recommend Thomas as a teacher for all ages.

Tom and Jieun are excellent teachers– dedicated and professional, and great musicians too!

I have been taking violin lessons off and on since high school and have been studying with Thomas for the past 5 years or so. Thomas gives very constructive feedback that helps me develop my technical skills. During my lesson, he makes sure to encourage me where I am doing well, and also provide detailed and precise feedback so I am aware of aspects I can improve upon. While guiding me with technical skills, his teaching is also balanced with the understanding and playing of the repertoire musically.
When he explains difficult concepts, he gives examples from real life, such as sports (how to use certain muscles) and examples that relate to me personally (the way I think at work).
Continuing lessons while I work full-​time is sometimes challenging, but Thomas is incredibly understanding of my busy schedules at times, and I appreciate that he helps me keep music in my life.
He’s also a great performer and I enjoy getting inspiration through his performances.

My 17 year old daughter had taken violin lessons from the same teacher for the past 11 years. When her teacher decided to relocate out of the area we were faced with the decision of either discontinuing lessons or trying to find a teacher for her last year of high school.
Although my daughter had achieved a fairly high degree of proficiency on violin and plays at the most elite level of her high school orchestra, she strongly leaned towards discontinuing lessons due to the practice time necessary to continue making progress and the anticipation of the time constraints she would be facing in her senior year of high school.
However, through some fellow students of my daughter’s former teacher, we were referred to Thomas Yee. His location at Jou Music Institute in San Jose is very convenient to our home in Saratoga and my daughter and I met with him for an initial interview.
My daughter was immediately taken with Thomas’ low key (encouraging and supportive) approach and I liked that his observations of my daughter’s playing style led to suggested exercises and music literature to help her continue to improve and advance her technique and musicality.
Though initially reluctant, my daughter now willingly attends lessons with Thomas and his high expectations for her playing motivates her to meet them.
Though we were initially devastated by the departure of my daughter’s teacher with whom she had a great relationship, her experience with Thomas has significantly benefited her playing.
On the administrative side, Thomas is always prompt in responding to phone calls and e-​mails and has been extremely helpful in trying to accommodate my daughter’s busy summer schedule. Although Thomas is only at Jou Music Institute once a week, I understand he has more flexibility at his studio in Daly City. It’s been a pleasure working with him.

Tom and his wife, Jieun are fabulous musicians /​teachers in the bay area.

Thomas Yee is an amazing young virtuoso with an edge… he’s not just some violin geek, he’s got chops in everything from jazz to flamenco to improv as well as being a member of the «freeway philharmonic». He’s a genuine guy who really loves performing and teaching others to bring out the best in their performances. Go hear him!