Nurturing Joyful Excellence
Together we can become a more musical and beautiful community.
About Us
Who was Dr. Suzuki?
Our mission: to create beautiful music with beautiful hearts.
Who was Dr. Suzuki?
Dr. Shinichi Suzuki was a revolutionary pedagogue who changed music education worldwide. People were astonished at how well so many of his students could play at such a young age.
The secret is what Dr. Suzuki called the Mother Tongue method. Children everywhere easily learn their mother tongue, no matter how complex. Similarly, he realize
Dr. Shinichi Suzuki was a revolutionary pedagogue who changed music education worldwide. People were astonished at how well so many of his students could play at such a young age.
The secret is what Dr. Suzuki called the Mother Tongue method. Children everywhere easily learn their mother tongue, no matter how complex. Similarly, he realized that children can learn music just as well, if we intentionally and lovingly create a Mother Tongue environment for them. He wrote about his discoveries in his books, "Nurtured By Love" and "Ability Development From Age Zero".
But his goal was not simply to create musicians, but to nuture noble, sensitive human souls to seek goodness, truth, and beauty, to the end of our lives.
At STEAM, we strive to follow Dr. Suzuki's philosophy as we seek the best educational methods to nuture joyful and sensitive musicianship in children and adults of all ages.
- Free consultations
- Certified Instructor
- Success Guaranteed!
Who is Alishan?
Our mission: to create beautiful music with beautiful hearts.
Who was Dr. Suzuki?
Alishan Merjanian has a Bachelor of Music degree in Music Performance (emphasis Classical Piano) from San Jose State University, and completed coursework for the Bachelor of Music in Music Education (choral/strings emphasis) at Portland State University. He is also a certified Suzuki teacher by the Suzuki Association of the Americas.
Ever
Alishan Merjanian has a Bachelor of Music degree in Music Performance (emphasis Classical Piano) from San Jose State University, and completed coursework for the Bachelor of Music in Music Education (choral/strings emphasis) at Portland State University. He is also a certified Suzuki teacher by the Suzuki Association of the Americas.
Ever since he was a small boy, he has been determined to become a better teacher than the teachers he had. This is what led him to discover the writings of Dr. Suzuki and then to pursue training to become a Suzuki teacher.
His musical education started from before his birth as he would listen to the music of his mother, a pianist and piano teacher. From the day he was born, he was surrounded by excellent recordings of the best music, so that music became his native language.
He was first instructed in piano playing by his mother, Christine, and later learned violin and viola from his father, Stepan. At age 14 he joined the San Jose Youth Symphony where he played viola 4 years, including going on tour to Spain with International Van Cliburn Competition winner Jon Nakamatsu.
During those years he was trained by Dr. Nataly Gingis to a very high level of pianism. With her patient coaching, he was able to accomplish the following:
- 3rd prize in the Intermediate category (age 14-17) in the 2003 International Russian Music Piano Competition
- Completed MTAC Certificate of Merit program to the Advanced Panel level, including being chosen for the all-state honors recital in 2004
- Performed Liszt 2nd Piano concerto with the Winchester Orchestra of San Jose in 2004
- Winner, SJYS Young Artist Competition - performing Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto #2 with SJYS in 2005
He then spent a year at the BIOLA University Conservatory of Music, studying piano with Dr. Li-Shan Hung as well as taking viola lessons, participating in chamber music and the Biola Symphony Orchestra.
Returning to San Jose, Alishan studied music intensely at SJSU. He participated 4 years in Concert Choir under Dr. Julie Yu, J.D. Burnett, and Dr. Amanda Quist, as well as 2 years in Symphony Orchestra as Principal Viola, and 2 years in chamber groups coached by the Cypress String Quartet. He studied collaborative piano with Sharon Brook, voice with Joseph Frank and Layna Chianakas, and piano performance with Dr. Gwendolyn Mok and Dr. Namiq Sultanov.
Alishan completed all 7 levels of Suzuki Piano teacher training at the Holy Names University Summer Suzuki Institute with Caroline Fraser. He has taken Violin level 1 with Judy Bossuat-Gallic and Pat D'Ercole, and levels 2-3 with Linda Fiore at the Intermountain Suzuki String Institute, Level 4 with Judy Bossuat-Gallic and Level 5 with Dr. Timothy Durbin at the Advanced Suzuki Institute at Stanford University, and he plans to return every summer until he is fully certified.
From 2019 - 2020 he studied at Portland State University, completing all music education courses in preparation for the Graduate Teacher Education Program (GTEP) with the intent of becoming a school teacher. However the COVID-19 pandemic made it impossible to complete the credential, so he returned to private teaching in Portland till 2023.
2023-2024 Alishan was a Senior Piano Teacher at Opus 1 Music Studio in Palo Alto and Mountain View, but as of May 2024 he is back in Portland.
For a more personal view of Alishan, see about.me/alishanmer
Our mission: to create beautiful music with beautiful hearts.
Our mission: to create beautiful music with beautiful hearts.
Our mission: to create beautiful music with beautiful hearts.
Do you want your child to make beautiful music as easily as she talks? Do you want your children to become an honorable, hard-working, noble, sensitive adults?
STEAM exists to help you nurture all these qualities in your child. Character first, ability second. Alishan's dream is to see your children play beautiful music with beautiful hear
Do you want your child to make beautiful music as easily as she talks? Do you want your children to become an honorable, hard-working, noble, sensitive adults?
STEAM exists to help you nurture all these qualities in your child. Character first, ability second. Alishan's dream is to see your children play beautiful music with beautiful hearts.
Please contact us anytime! We look forward to hearing from you.
By the way: You are never too old! We accept adult students too!