Darrell Leffler’s Academy of Music

I have been bringing my kids to Darrell’s school for over 3 years. First, there is no office or person that maybe able to answer questions, but Darrell always replies my emails promptly, this must help keep costs down. Since I work full time, my kids are 3 years apart and they have other after school activities, he works with me to find a time when they can both be there at the same time. Prices are very reasonable and teachers are excellent. I do not play piano nor I intend my kids become musicians (only if they choose so), but I want to give them the opportunity to learn music without pressure. Darrel and the instructors hold concerts a couple times a year. This is a wonderful experience for them and helps them overcome fears to perform in front of an audience.

We first met Darrell at Milpitas’ Rainbow Singers summer camp. Darrell is really great with kids and his enthusiasm is infectious. Following that summer camp, we joined his beginner class. It’s a 1 hour group class but shared with 3 other kids. A great way to learn and socialize. After he completed a few of the books we switched to Helen with another group class. My son is now in private classes (30 mins) with Michelle. In addition, we are also taking private vocal lessons with Greg. The teachers are very well credentialed and are very patient with the kids. There are also many recitals throughout the year. A great way for the kids to gain confidence in performing. The tuition is reasonable and everyone seems to enjoy learning and teaching.

I use to be a guitar instructor here for a 3.5 years teaching at Milpitas and San Jose. I also taught at the after school programs.
I want to say that Darrell does have something special here where the emphasis in group classes is to have fun while learning music. Playing games is an integrate part of the equation.
Often times kids are shy and are not use to the format of group piano/​voice/​guitar classes. What we often do is have a group lesson where we introduce new theory, technique, or fun musical activity and then we give students a little one-​on-​one time because students develop at their own pace.
For the keyboard classes, the student will learn to work on their own and pracise/​work on their work books.
If you are having difficulties reaching Darrell, it’s best to stop in and talk to him if email hasn’t gotten to him. It’s a very popular school with afterschool programs, his TV show, and two locations, so sometimes it takes time to get back to you.
The teachers are compassionate and everyone has been trained in music. Darrell is one of the best teachers and has a passion for teaching and playing piano. If you start playing a blues riff, you can expect to her him improvising to it!

Aside from being a wonderful music school with great and knowledgeable instructors there is a human element that deserves a highlight and a five stars review (too bad there are only five to give).
Darrell Leffler’s dedication and dependability along with knowledge and good character make him an exceptional person to deal with. I have two kids 12 and 10 who have been lucky enough to be thought by Darrell.
His competence, commitment and as I mentioned before his dedication to teaching and mentoring are commendable. He always displays a positive attitude which makes the kids feel at ease under his directions. The motivation and encouragement he has provided to my kids impacted them in such a way that they show confidence and pride on what they are doing.
Always welcome parents with the biggest smile along with a nice comment or recommendation to make things better. Always punctual, sensitive and respectful of families time. Thanks Maestro Darrell!

OK guys, this review is not for his ability to teach or his knowledge in music since I never got to enroll my kid for reasons I am about to write here.
My review is based on his commitment and reliability. First time I saw his flyers in my kids school for piano lessons I was like oh ok this is perfect since my kid can just attend right after class. So I emailed and called his number, left a message and a call back number to confirm the date. I get no response. I had to switch around my work schedule just so I could attend his music assembly to learn more about his program. Even though I never got a response I went to the said date and time of assembly anyway, and just as i suspected, no assembly happened, I was so upset because I had to go through a lot of begging from my work just so I could switch around my schedule. So I emailed him telling him how disappointed I was and that I would leave a bad review here for that. He replied that he was sorry and he had some personal reasons (family member ill) for cancelling the meeting and that he rescheduled it for another day. So I was like fine, but the rescheduled day was not good for me so I emailed him back to just give me the information I needed so I can skip the assembly and still enroll my kid. He does not reply again, days and days I waited. So this morning I started asking other parents from school if they heard about his program and one told me that she is not sending her kid because the day was switched from wednesday to tuesday. Another Parent told me that she also has been leaving voicemails to inquire but never got a call back. So I sent him another email informing him that I was giving him the benefit of the doubt and was holding off my review for a couple more days to give him a chance to reply and telling him what I heard from other parents and that if I do not hear from him in the next couple of days I will be leaving a review. He replies after 2 hours, detailing his accomplishments and awards and informing me that his family member is ill again and that is why he has not replied and also that he will not be accepting my kid because he does not respond to threats.
First off, giving a review is not a threat but an opinion for others doing some research on a business to read. And Yes he has a lot of accolades but what good is that if he does not show up or respond? how does that help a kid learn anything? It‘s a good thing there are other teachers out there, might not be as awarded or recognized, but at least they will show up and respond.
I‘m sure you are a great person and a teacher. But i have to give you a low rate for customer service.
P. S. I think he just gave himself a good review… wow… great way to do damage control. but as you readers can see, I was not the first one that has given a bad review. :)

I first spoke with Darrell a couple of years ago to talk about piano lessons for my kids. He was very nice and informative about what kind of lessons his facility offered. He told me that it’s best to first enroll the kids in a group piano lesson to see if the kids were interested and if they were comfortable with the instructor. This is when we first met Miss Helen. My girls fell in love with her! A few months later, Miss Helen suggested that my daughter was ready with private piano lessons. My daughter practically begged me to sign her up. Since then, she has been taking private piano lessons with Miss Helen. I’m proud to say that after about a year of lessons, she started playing the piano at our church during mass! :)
My daughter also took voice lessons with Greg. She loved voice lessons and Greg was great, but she decided to stick with piano for now. I plan to enroll her again when she’s not so busy with school and all her activities.
My youngest daughter also took group lessons with Miss Helen. She liked learning the piano, but she wasn’t as interested with the piano as her sister was, so she switched to guitar. She took group guitar lessons from Paden. She loved the guitar and Paden was really nice, but we had to change lesson days. We then met Robert and my daughter also liked him.
I like how Darrell’s Academy accommodates our busy schedule, and I especially like how my kids interest with music grew so much from the friendly music teachers. My daughter is so passionate about music that I even had to upgrade from the keyboard to a real piano.
Try this place out for yourself and see how your child likes it =)

It’s all about the teaching and the students learning. If your child isn’t passionate about learning music, she or he won’t learn fast. You can’t just judge the book by it’s cover even the first time you came in. You will have to wait until you see the best result of how Darrell Leffler’s crew teaches their students.
My youngest son had Ms Sophia (for past 3 yrs) but they change the teacher to Ms Wendy. Eversince he got a new teacher, he started losing the interest of practicing piano and he told me that he doesn’t like his new teacher. Darrell decided to offer his class time to him so i said, let’s give it a try. He’s back on the track again. My son loves Darrell. He always enjoy going to his piano class and when i picked him up, you can tell from the smile on his face. My son’s been taking piano lessons from him for the last 1 yr/​s. Darrell Leffler’s academy is affordable and you pick the time and teacher (if you prefer a different one). One hour per week isn’t so bad. Eventhough once a week, my son has been learning a lot and he’s getting better everyday and can play just by reading notes by himself. He’s very passionate about it. Ms Sophia and Darrell are the best piano teacher he’s ever had.
You should listen to your kids. It’s them who will tell you if the music teachers are good or not. You won’t know until you see them practicing and enjoying it. They are the one learning not you. It’s what i did with my youngest son. He’s actually going into talent show from his school and of course, he will play piano and I can’t wait to watch him play. He’s been practicing but with his headphone. He wanted to surprise me on the day of his talent show and one more thing Darrell’s academy are going to have a recital next month so that’s another thing my son wanted to surprise me too. I can’t wait to watch and listen him play his new songs.
So before you judge Darrell’s academy, wait for a few months and you will be surprised how much your kids learn. Besides, Darrell is very very nice. You will love him.

Not sure how to rate this place just yet, so I’ll give it an average rating for now. My son has only been coming here for a month now and I can’t really go in and watch him play, so like I said, I can’t really rate something that I can’t see, yada yada. So far my son has been progressing, but like I said not much to rate on one month’s of work. I’ll be back to update my review when my son gets further into his lessons.

My little sister has been taking piano lessons from Ms. Helen for a couple of years now and has plateaued in skill. She continues to learn new songs but when I asked her to play a simple C major scale with both hands she had trouble with it. You’d think by now she would’ve learned most of the basic scales and techniques, not just a bunch of random songs.
Anyway, this place seems to be good for beginners but at higher levels the motivation seems to be lacking. The teachers are qualified because of their degrees and whatnot but their enthusiasm with my sister and courtesy towards my parents make me think otherwise.
I hope others have a better experience with this place…

I went to try this place out tonight due to Unilocal review, however was quite disappointed. My little sister and I have been looking to find a place who can teach an 8 years old and a 28 years old how to play piano. I put my little sister in the kid’s group class and it was going well at first. I saw that Ms. Hilary did a one on one with the kids but while shes on the one on one, the rest of the kids were left alone to work on their book. I looked in from afar, looking to see if my sister was OK while I was waiting for my instructor to come, but she just looked completely lost and was starring into space didn’t know what to do and pretended that she was pressing the keys. When my instructor didn’t show after 10 mins. I asked one of the other instructor there for his number and after calling him he indicated that he was driving from Evergreen and there’s no way he would get to me in time. Darell and I have been emailing back and forth. I had actually had not a so good feeling and decided to email him again today to confirm the appointments which he replied back and confirm. After my instructor wasn’t going to show up at all I decided to pull my sister out of the class and left. We decided that were not going to go with this place base on our experience tonight. If this is already happening on our first night, I don’t know what else to expect when we’re actually clients there. We’re better off to find another place. It was a waste of my night. =/

Great place for a child or adult to take lessons. My child practices here and really enjoys it, as well as coming home to practice. Prices are good and the teachers are quality. I see a lot of students coming and going, they have two locations one in Milpitas and one right on the border. Check out his site at

my daughter has been taking piano lessons from Ms Helen for about a yr and half, once a wk and half an hr each time. as she is brand new to piano lessons, Ms. Helen really is nice, patient and talented. my daughter practices all week long until the next time we see Ms. Helen. she looks forward to the lessons and always strive to play each strong to the best of her ability.
i really enjoyed this school and Ms. Helen’s abilities.
i also enjoyed that the kids are able to perform twice a year at a recital that the school and the teachers put together at San Jose State. there was some issues last time that we were standing outside for about half hr in the Dec. cold before we were let in to the facility. I advise that all these issues should be taken care of before the recitals so the parents and the students do not have to stand outside wondering as some people do travel far to see their child perform.