San Diego Area Piano Teachers

Stephanie Jones

My name is Stephanie Jones and I give private piano lessons throughout San Diego County. I was born and raised in Oceanside and moved to the San Francisco Bay to go to college at UC Berkeley. I fell in love with the Bay but was brought back down to San Diego to be near my family and to chase career opportunities. I am currently receiving my Master of Social Work at SDSU and plan to work in child welfare.

Through these moves, I have always maintained my passion for both practicing and teaching piano. I gave lessons all throughout college and when returning to San Diego. I have worked with beginners and intermediate levels ranging from child to adult age, as well as having experience teaching kids with disorders such as Autism and ADHD. I truly enjoy educating students about music theory and being able to use the instrument for an emotional and creative outlet!

I have been working on my own craft for almost 20 years! I was classically trained and have been exposed to many of the great composers. However, my favorites to play include Elton John, Paul McCartney, Adele, and movie music. I would love to help you explore your curiosities with the instrument or help you expand your potential. 

Nicholas Omary

Nicholas Omary has been studying and playing electric and classical guitar for over 10 years. His early influences include jazz musicians such as Charlie Christian, Wes Montgomery, Joe Pass, Pat Metheny, Pat Martino, and Django Reinhardt. Omary's musical range is impressive.  He has been consistently learning and playing jazz, rock, metal, and funk for his entire musical career and has also been playing classical music for over 5 years.

Omary graduated with a Bachelors of Music under the instruction of John Schneiderman, a world-renowned guitar and lute player at the University of California, Irvine. He has also studied with prominent jazz musicians and instructors Darek Oles, Kei Akagi and Bobby Rodriguez.

Koosha Hakimi

Koosha is a San Diego based drummer/composer/pianist who's been gigging and teaching in the San Diego and Orange County area for the past five years. Starting as early as six years old on the piano and picking up playing the drums in middle school. He recently graduated from UC Irvine with a Bachelor of Music in Jazz Drums Performance. 

Koosha studied under professional musicians such as Jason Harnell (Maynard Ferguson), Kei Akagi ( Miles Davis) and Darek Oles (Brad Mehldau) to name a few.

He is very versatile in playing a lot of different styles such as Jazz, Rock, Latin, Country, Funk etc. and has a clear vision on how to help students become great musicians. 

Rachael Foster

Rachael began playing piano at the age of seven and this foundation quickly led her to learn more and more instruments - first clarinet, saxophone and vibraphone, then acoustic and electric guitar, then drum kit and violin. 

In 2010 she was accepted into Berklee College of Music in Boston as a piano major where she furthered her instrumental studies and developed a passion for orchestral composition and film scoring. After graduating in 2012, her work with the Chicago Symphonietta led her to Chicago where she began writing music for short films and ad agencies. In 2016, the sunny weather drew her to San Diego where she currently teaches music to beginners through advanced students and hopes to inspire students to not only have a broad understanding of music but also to create and share their own works.

Nicki Ta

Nicki began playing piano at six. She had a passion for music and continued playing to play in the GMTA State Piano competition. After completing her degree at the University of Pennsylvania she continued to play and teach. 

Nicki has been an elementary school teacher for 10 years and loves working with children. She uses the Bastien method for her beginning students and enjoys working with children who are beginning to learn piano. She likes to make her lessons fun and engaging.

Nicki teaches to share her passion of music. She helps her students to develop their ear, sight-reading, comprehension and works to create well-rounded students, sharpening their theory and expanding their musical skills. She lives in beautiful Carmel Valley with her son who is in high school and is a talented artist.