Mr. Kent C. Tchii

Kent C. Tchii, after graduating with a B. A. in Piano Performance Major and Vocal Minor from the prestigious Department of Music at National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU), Taipei, Taiwan, taught Piano and Theory at Music Department of the Catholic Hsiao-Min Girls Junior & High School in Tai-Chung. Before studying abroad, he served at the ROC Marine Corps and consequently transferred to the National Defense Department Demonstration Symphony Orchestra.

Having fulfilled his obligatory teaching responsibility as a graduate of NTNU, he went on to study with professor Horst Leichtfried at the Conservatory of Music and Drama Arts in Vienna, Austria. Later on, he continued his music studies in the San Francisco Bay Area, California. Besides Prof. Leichtfried, Kent studied with Kazue Ho-Hui Lin, Bobby Wong, Prof. Arlene Woehl, and famed Tchaikovsky Competition prize winning pianist Roy Bogas.

He holds a Teaching Certificate of the Suzuki Piano Method and three Masters Degrees in Music—Piano Performance, Piano Pedagogy, and Piano Pedagogy with Suzuki Method Emphasis from Holy Names University (HNU).

He has been teaching piano for nearly 40 years, since the early 1980s. Kent and his wife Mei-Ling Tchii run the Tchii’s Piano School of Music, Inc., Oakland and Alameda in the East Bay of Greater San Francisco Bay Area, California. In addition, he has been one of the faculty members at the Music and Preparatory Music Department of Holy Names University in Oakland since the late 1980s. During this time, Kent served as a Music Faculty at the Music Department and the Music Director of the Preparatory Music Department, HNU, between 1998 and 2007.

He has been actively involved in the branch musical activities and served on the Board of Directors at the Music Teachers’ Association of California (MTAC) Alameda County Branch since 1991. Kent has also been serving as the Branch President since 2013. In addition, Kent served on the State Board of Directors of the MTAC from 2005 to 2013 and the Artistic Director till 2017. He has been a long-time member of the Suzuki Association of Americas (SAA) and the Suzuki Music Association of California (SMAC) since the 1980s. He also served as co-president of the SMAC - Bay Area Piano Branch (BAPB) between 2011 and 2013. He remains on the Leadership Group of this professional Suzuki organization and the co-chair of the bi-annual Piano Graduation Concerts. Moreover, Kent is a member of the Chinese Music Teachers’ Association of Northern California which he also served as one of the Board of Directors between 2010 and 2015. At the MTAC’s State Convention in 2018, he received an award of appreciation of “Recognition of Selfless Service as Audio Visual & Creative Director” between 2005-2017 from the MTAC state Board of Directors.    

Kent’s philosophy in teaching music focuses on student’s performances with integrated solo and ensemble repertoires. His students routinely explored and performed Suzuki repertoire and standard classical masterpieces and branched out to wide genres, like Jazz, Ragtime, Blues, New Age, and Pop music. Furthermore, his extensive repertoires for the multiple-piano ensemble for 1p/4h to as many as 12p/44h have been constantly enjoyed by his students from the beginning level to the advanced college level. Their semi-annual Multiple Pianos Ensemble Concerts are held at Holy Names University and TPSM Amphitheater in January/February and April/June. The performances have been enthusiastically raved by the audiences for many years. In addition, he has been invited to present his lectures on multiple piano ensembles at various teachers’ associations and conventions. For example, He was invited to present “The Piano Ensemble Extravaganza!” at the MTAC State Conventions in 2016 & 2017. 

In 2002, his students performed an exuberant and memorable All Ten Grand Pianos Concert at the Regents’ Theatre, Valley Center for the Performing Arts, Holy Names University, Oakland, California. The Red and White Teams of their 5-piano ensembles debuted at the 2008 MTAC State Convention in Riverside, CA, and presented numerous sensational performances in every MTAC State Convention since then. TPSM’s Midsummer Night’s Concert was held at the end of each summer for the Suzuki’s Teachers’ Training Institute at Holy Names University for numerous years. You may also discover more of their performances on the YouTube Channel “Tchii’s Piano School of Music.”

Each year, Tchii’s students and families enjoyed their motto of “Play Hard and Play Harder” by engaging many sorts of extra-curriculum during their winter and summer breaks. Their frequent exciting activities include ATVing at the Pismo Beach, rafting in Sacramento River, jet skiing in Folsom Lake, singing “Do-Re-Mi” over Hohensalzburg Fortress in Salzburg, climbing medieval castle walls in Rothenburg, Germany, and skiing black-diamond slopes in Lake Tahoe Mountains. Like Schubert’s “Wanderer Fantasy,” Kent loves wandering in his yearly travels in Europe. He often takes his family, friends, and students to share his passion for traveling. In 2007, he took his Studio families of 17 members roaming Austria and Germany—“Tour de Music” for 17 days. He is considering recap that again soon.

Kent C. Tchii, after graduating with a B. A. in Piano Performance Major and Vocal minor from the prestigious Department of Music at National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU), Taipei, Taiwan. He taught Piano and Theory at Catholic Hsiao-Min Girls Junior & High School in Tai-Chung. He also served at the ROC Marine Corp and consequently transferred to National Defense Department Symphony Orchestra before studying abroad.

Having fulfilled his obligatory teaching responsibility as a graduate of NTNU, he went on to study with professor Horst Leichtfried at the Conservatory of Music and Drama Arts in Vienna, Austria. Later on, he moved to the San Francisco Bay Area, California. In addition to Leichtfried, Kent also studied with Ho-Hui Lin, En Wang, Bobby Wong, Arlene Woehl, and Roy Bogas.

He holds a Teaching Certificate of Suzuki Piano Method and three Masters Degrees of Music in Piano Performance, Piano Pedagogy, and Piano Pedagogy with Suzuki Method Emphasis from Holy Names University (HNU).

He has been teaching piano since the early 1980s. Kent and his wife Mei-Ling Tchii run the Tchii’s Piano School of Music in Alameda by the East Bay of the Greater San Francisco Bay Area, California. He is also on the faculty at the Preparatory Music Department of Holy Names University in Oakland. During this time, Kent served as the Music Director of the Preparatory Music Department, HNU, between 1998 and 2007.

He has been actively involved in the branch musical activities and served on the Board of Directors in the Music Teachers’ Association of California (MTAC) Alameda County Branch since 1991. Kent has been serving as the Branch President since 2013. In addition, Kent also served on the State Board of Directors in MTAC from 2005 to 2013. He also served as co-president of the Suzuki Music Association of California—Bay Area Piano Branch between 2011 and 2013. He remains on the Leadership Group of this branch and the co-chair of the bi-annual Piano Graduation Concerts. Moreover, Kent is a member of the Chinese Music Teachers’ Association of Northern California which he also served as one of the Board of Directors between 2010 and 2015.

Kent’s philosophy in teaching music focuses on student’s performances with integrated solo and ensemble repertoire. His students routinely explored and performed Suzuki repertoire and standard classical masterpieces and branched out to wide varieties of genres, like Jazz, Ragtime, Blues, New Age, and Pop music. Furthermore, his extensive repertoires for the multiple-piano ensemble for 1p/4h to as many as 12p/44h have been constantly enjoyed by his students from the beginning level to the advanced college level. Their semi-annual Multiple Piano Ensemble Concerts are held at Holy Names University and TPSM Amphitheater in February and June. The performances have been enthusiastically raved frequently by the audiences. In addition, he has been invited to present his lectures on multiple piano ensembles at various teachers’ associations and conventions. For example, two “The Piano Ensemble Extravaganza!” presentations were showcased at the MTAC State Conventions in 2016 & 2017, respectively.

In 2002, his students performed an exuberant and memorable All Ten Grand Pianos Concert at the Regents’ Theatre, Valley Center for the Performing Arts, Holy Names University, Oakland, California. The Red and White Teams of their 5-piano ensembles debuted at the 2008 MTAC State Convention in Riverside, CA, and presented numerous sensational performances in every MTAC State Convention since then. TPSM’s Midsummer Night’s Concert was held at the end of each summer for the Suzuki’s Teachers’ Training Institute at Holy Names University for many years. You may discover more of their performances on the YouTube Channel “Tchii’s Piano School of Music” by clicking https://www.youtube.com/c/pnoenstchiispianoschoolofmusic

Each year, Tchii’s students and families enjoyed their motto of “Play Hard and Play Harder” by engaging many sorts of extra-curriculum during their winter and summer breaks. Their frequent exciting activities include ATVing at the Pismo Beach, rafting in Sacramento River, jet skiing in Folsom Lake, singing “Do-Re-Mi” over Hohensalzburg Fortress in Salzburg, climbing medieval castle walls in Rothenburg, Germany, and skiing black-diamond slopes in Lake Tahoe Mountains. Like Schubert’s “Wanderer Fantasy,” Kent loves wandering in his yearly travels in Europe. He often takes his family, friends, and students to share his passion for traveling. In 2007, he took his Studio families of 17 members roaming Austria and Germany—“Tour de Music” for 17 days. He is considering recap that again soon.