Years of teaching, adjudicating & leading music education (established 1987)
National Adjudicator/Evaluator · American College of Musicians & NFMC
Ventura County Chair, National Guild of Piano Teachers
President, Ventura County Federation of Music Clubs
"I teach the way I was taught — slowly, honestly, and as if the student will still be playing forty years from now. Because most of them will be."
-17 years of teaching neurodivergent musicians.
Burns Piano Studio has decades of documented experience teaching students with autism, ADHD, dyslexia, spina bifida, and auditory processing disorders. Strengths-based, dignified, and the same high musical expectations held for any student.
Read about adaptive piano lessons →"Use what talent you possess: the woods would be very silent if no birds sang except those that sang best."
A structured studio year
Certificate of Merit
California's most respected studio assessment — eleven progressive levels in repertoire, technique, theory, and ear training. Prepared by a former CM Adjudicator and Council Member.
Piano Guild Auditions
Memorized repertoire programs from Local to International — prepared by a National Piano Adjudicator with the American College of Musicians.
Festivals & Competitions
NFMC Junior Festivals, Southern California Junior Bach Festival, branch recitals, and competitions — the structured performance year.
Honest, first-party answers to every question a parent asks.
Written from inside the evaluator's chair and the adjudicator's bench — not from a marketing template.
Open the Answer Library →By wait-list and referral.
Burns Piano Studio accepts new students through a wait-list interview. Referrals from current and former students are highly recommended.
Request a Wait-List Interview