Grace Lee Studios

🏅🎹🎤 to when we held our first GLS music festival virtually a couple weekends ago! So proud of everyone who performed!!
📸 Special thanks to one of my wonderful students, Noah, who modelled his participation pin!
Can’t wait for next year’s music festival. In the meantime, we’re going to be busy preparing for year-end progress reports, year-end recital, and summer lessons!
👏Congratulations everyone! Onto the next...🎶

🙋🏻‍♀️Back from a long hiatus. I have to admit that one of the main reasons I hadn’t posted in a long time is because I wanted things to be perfect but like this post says, sometimes you just have to start by showing up and being okay with sucking in the process of getting better. I hope this encourages someone today!❤️

📣Repost from
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The other day my sister and I were going for a walk and we saw some children playing together on the sidewalk. One of them tripped and fell, and my knee-jerk reaction was wanting to help them up and somehow ease the pain of them falling. And this was a complete stranger!

I can’t imagine how difficult it is for parents to see their children get scraped and bruised, physically or emotionally, by this world. When we love someone, we often want to protect them from experiencing pain.

It is an inevitably that students will struggle at some point when learning a musical discipline. I also see how much it can grieve parents to see their child going through any struggle at all, sometimes so much so that they withdraw from lessons.

I think it is a wonderful thing that there are parents that are sensitive to their child’s struggles, but I also think it’s important to allow for certain types of struggling.

When we avoid experiencing pain at all costs, we could start to hold ourself or our loved ones back from experiencing something great for learning and character building because we fear it could also be difficult and painful.

So let’s invite the discomfort and the difficulties if it’s necessary for growth.

What is something difficult you face in your music journey that could also be an opportunity for something great? Comment or DM below!

You can make or break your child’s music learning experience.

Being a parent is hard. Trying to be a positive and supportive parent to a child taking music lessons (while dealing with work, a mortgage, child’s other activities etc.) can sometimes feel impossible.

This week, I’ve been highlighting different aspects of emotional safety and emotional literacy and how important it is to factor these into a child’s music learning experience.

Today, I wanted to share three game changers to support parents that are just trying to support their kids.

When I see parents implementing even just one of these three things, I see my student’s love for music learning soar. I also see family relationships being deepened and strengthened through learning music. Seeing that just means the world to me and is a big part of why I do what I do!💖

Dear parents, what is one positive parenting strategy you’d like to try for your child today? DM or comment below 👇🏼

When a student feels uncertain or unable to express themselves, it gets in the way of their learning and growth.

Asking students to describe the nuance of their emotions in lessons help them to develop their emotional literacy and communicate their thoughts and feelings.

So if they say they’re feeling mad, we delve into what types of anger they are feeling and what might be causing it. We also look into what they love and why they enjoy those things.

Understanding the nuance of their emotions help to bridge the gap between me as their teacher and who they are and what they really want - what they want to try, want to accomplish, want to pursue, etc.

If you like using a visual cue or tool, I highly recommend looking up an emotional colour wheel to use in lessons and to understand the nuance of their emotions.

Using a colour wheel can also help students to delve deeper into the music they are learning by asking them questions like, “Which one of these colours do you think represents the music in this section?”, “So the song is sad but what kind of sad are you trying to portray in these different sections? How does this ‘sadness’ develop within the song? Let’s look at the different variations and nuances of ‘sadness’ on this colour wheel.” Asking these types of questions also help to build their emotional literacy.

Let me know your thoughts on emotional literacy! Do you think it’s as high of a priority as the technical stuff like addressing bad habits like poor posture or wrong notes? DM or comment below!

I used to think the highest priority for anyone taking music lessons was to master their technical and performance skills, but what I’ve realized over a decade of teaching is that though learning music to the best of our ability is essential, connecting with every musician, making sure each individual is seen and heard, is a higher priority. There are a myriad of resources to improve technical and performance skills, but I realize there is only a few that has time or is willing to stop and listen.

Really hearing and seeing a client includes finding the right balance together of what’s fun and sparks my client’s joy, interests, and passions, while working to improve their technical and performance skills.

I always want to work towards that personal, authentic connection that creates a safe place to express their thoughts, emotions, and music. How we sound will reflect how we feel, so it’s just not something that can be overlooked.

What makes you feel the most seen and heard in the context of learning something new? DM or comment below.

Indecision. It can be one of the biggest barriers to practicing consistently, but there can be a few different reasons why we’re faced with indecision:

😐Sometimes we experience indecision because we’re not sure what to do or how to do it, which can usually be clarified by breaking down the process of what and how to practice.

😐Sometimes it comes from not knowing what you want to practice, which can usually be clarified by digging deeper into what innately sparks your passion for music.

😐Sometimes indecision doesn’t come from not knowing what to do or what you want, rather knowing what to do and what you want but being too afraid to go for it. In this case, it’s necessary to acknowledge and address the fear.

The way we most often experience indecision in our practicing is usually how we most often experience indecision in our daily lives. When faced with indecision, we can just try to leave the choice to someone else, run away, or “fake it til’ we make it”, but if we face it, we might just make it through the indecision into music making and musical choices, a voice, that is authentically ours.

How do you most often experience indecision in practicing or your daily life? DM or comment below 👇🏻

“No man is an island” - I’m sure you’ve heard that one before. As self sufficient as we think we can be, it’s a very lonely and tough existence without support.

I hope I can provide support to my students in a way they always feel safe and loved, and that in turn, they will also support their peers in this way. This is not about giving to get, but just to give because we want to.

On that note, this is also a reminder that we have a mini virtual recital tomorrow at 1:30pm. Parents/students, tune in and show your support!

What is one way you want to support or be supported by your music peers/colleagues?

Here’s a little Earth Day music humour for you all.

Do you know what this music symbol/accidental is? Comment below and share your music knowledge. 🤓

I hope we can all be better stewards of God’s beautiful earth. Happy Earth Day!

“It’s not working. Why can’t I get this?”

You can feel the frustration boiling up, about to blow.

We’ve all been there when practicing, and it can lead us to not want to practice intentionally or just give up. Here’s a reminder for my students to go through these steps when you’re feeling this way.

💕Take a step away from what you’re doing and take a deep breath. Think about releasing the frustration/stress/anxiety on the exhale. Repeat as needed.
💕It’s going to be okay. Remind yourself that there are no lives at stake here. There are things that happen and challenges that emerge but they do not define you.
💕Go back to the place that’s giving you trouble and break it down to what the issue is. Work on it one step at a time.

Here’s a gentle reminder to practice intentionally and mindfully. Be kind to yourself during the very vulnerable and often difficult process of practicing and working on your craft.

Which one of these steps is your favourite? DM or comment below!

When learning a musical instrument, we (teacher, parents, students) can get so caught up with intentional practicing and all the technical stuff that comes with preparing for exams/auditions/competitions. There’s definitely a time and place for setting concrete, measurable goals and practicing to meet a specific need or improve something in particular, but I also think it’s so important for every student to give room for flexible and creative interactions with their craft. This can include:

🎶 Learning a new musical skill that challenges one’s creativity like composing, improvising, and collaborating with other musicians
🎶 Fun song challenges where the focus is not on perfecting but on other important skills such as musicality and building sight reading skills
🎶 Interacting with music outside of the classroom by sharing music with friends and family, listening to new styles and genres of music, singing in the shower, incorporating visual art and/or movement to music, try learning another musical instrument/discipline, researching into the context and history of music that’s being learned etc.

There is so much emphasis on structure and schedules in order for things to run smoothly, but I truly believe incorporating “free play learning” into very structured and intentional practicing for a more balanced and blended approach helps children to develop a more long lasting relationship and enduring love for music.

What is something you do to help your child or yourself keep things balanced when working on their/your craft? DM or comment below!

Can I be honest? It takes more than copious amounts of caffeine to get going and teach with a joyful and thankful heart. Sometimes difficult things happen as a teacher and I think, “Why should I keep pouring so much love and care into this student/family when I feel so unappreciated and sometimes hurt and disrespected?”

But then I always remember, “Oh ya, I’m not doing this to be appreciated.” Of course, it’s nice to be appreciated, but if I can help any student, even just a little bit, for just a little while, it’s worth it. If a student can take something they’ve learned from our time together and it helps them enjoy music for the rest of their life...well, that’s my fuel.

What’s your fuel on this Monday? What’s helps you to get started and keep going?



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