Saideh Eftekhari, M.A.
​Founder, violin and piano

Saideh Eftekhari is a multi-instrumentalist (violin, setar, voice), performing and teaching artist based in San Francisco. Her work is inspired by the years she spent studying and living in Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East. She is trained in classical violin as well as the Persian setar and holds a certification in Sound Healing from the California Institute of Integral Studies. Since first offering lessons many years ago while in high school, Saideh delights in helping her students best express their unique musical voices as they develop their skill and confidence. Her students range in age from 4-18 and many are in local Bay Area youth orchestras and jazz and folkloric ensembles. Saideh has also established after-school group music enrichment programs at the French American International School of San Francisco  and Cielito Lindo Montessori. She is fluent in Farsi, Spanish, French, and English. 
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In addition to teaching, Saideh was awarded a 1Beat Fellowship in 2015, where she joined musicians from 17 different countries in both a residency and West Coast tour, creating collaborative, original music as a form of cultural diplomacy and educational outreach. She was also a 2016 Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Fellow and a 2017 Caldera Artist in Residence. Saideh's greatest joy is helping more children spread the love of music around the world. 

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​Hannah S.
Piano, guitar, ukulele, drums

Hannah is a multi-instrumentalist with a passion for music and neuroscience. She credits her late father for introducing her to the piano at an early age and instilling in her a love for many more instruments, including the drums, guitar, clarinet and violin. Hannah continued to deepen her musical involvement by playing in orchestra and in church, where she fell in love with the art of improvisation. By high school, Hannah was already mentoring young students on piano as an instructor at a local music school.  

Currently, Hannah is a senior at UCLA, majoring in neuroscience. Her choice of major was partly inspired by her fascination with the way the brain interprets and creates music. This fascination led her to volunteer for Music By the Bedside, a hospital program devoted to providing music therapy for patients. She is also co-president of SLAM, an organization devoted to providing children in the LA area access to music lessons. Hannah’s longer term goals are to blend the fields of health and music in a way that will allow her to make long lasting contributions to music pedagogy and music therapy. In her free time, she enjoys boxing, writing poetry and music, binge-watching Netflix shows, and trying out new recipes.

Jillian C.​
​Piano, Voice, Ukulele

Jillian is a versatile musician and teacher, specializing in piano, voice, choirs and world music. Her inspiration comes from getting to know her students’ unique personalities and tailoring lessons to fit their diverse learning styles and needs. Jillian’s degree in Music Education from Western Washington University, as well as her 14 years of experience, have equipped her with tools and expertise to create engaging lessons for all kinds of students, including preschool and elementary children, students with special needs, advanced college students, and adult beginners. ​

A world traveler, Jillian began her career teaching music and providing music therapy in Quito, Ecuador for 7 years. She also directed a cappella choirs who traveled internationally and brought music to unconventional venues, including hospitals, children’s homes and rehabilitation centers. Though she is now based in Portland, Oregon, Jillian maintains her Ecuadorian residency and sometimes teaches her online music students from Ecuador! Jillian’s international teaching experience formed in her a deep enthusiasm for music of other cultures. When her students ask to work on world music, Jillian relishes the opportunity to dive into learning the music along with them and is diligent to continue developing her expertise through attending frequent world music workshops. Her students are currently singing music in Spanish, French, German, Italian, Farsi, Hindi, Amharic, Korean, Japanese, Chinese and Russian! Finally, Jillian’s delight is creativity and she brings an open-minded, interactive approach to all of her teaching. She plans opportunities to create music games with her students, helps them write and produce their own music, and incorporates art, movement and literature in her lessons. In music lessons with Jillian, you can expect encouraging guidance, enthusiasm for your specific goals, a commitment to excellence and a healthy dose of creativity and fun!
 

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Vanity O.
Early Childhood Group Music, Piano, Musical Theatre,
​Guitar & Voice

​Vanity is a musician, performer, and teaching artist in the Bay Area specializing in musical theatre, guitar, piano and voice. She took every opportunity to infuse life experiences with music, playing the flute and piccolo in wind ensembles, singing in choirs and vocal jazz groups, and delighting in expression through dancing jazz and ballet. For the past five years, she could be seen in community theatre productions around the Bay Area. Singing has always been her favorite musical expression.

Early Childhood Education has been a devoted path for the past ten years, where she shared the love of music and performance with her preschool students. It ultimately led to her current pursuit of a second graduate degree in Music Therapy at University of the Pacific. As a helper in passion, an educator at heart, and a musician in soul, Vanity hopes to inspire growth, learning, as well as provide healing through the power of music. She believes music is a ubiquitously understood language that expresses so much more deeply than words can alone. She is eager to utilize her passion and aspirations for making music to enrich others’ lives as it has enriched her own.

Riley F.
Violin and Piano

Riley is a dynamic musician devoted to making emotions speak louder than words through musical interpretation. Riley has a passion for performing and collaborating with others. She has premiered pieces by composers Allison Galbraith and Julia Wolfe. Additionally, she has spent most of her musical life leading youth orchestras in Pittsburgh, including being concertmaster of the Pittsburgh Youth Philharmonic Orchestra and Pittsburgh Youth Symphony Orchestra. Riley has performed internationally, serving as concertmaster of PYPO in Germany, Switzerland, and France in 2018. Riley also has a passion for chamber music, working with the Youth Chamber Connection as an intern and musician for three years. Along with violin studies, she has a background in teaching and playing piano, studying with Alla Gladysheva. Riley studies with Professor Kay Stern at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, earning a Bachelor of Music in Violin Performance.

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