TOMOKO MIZUNO HARADA
The goal of the Harada Piano Studio is to provide students with high quality piano lessons, and achieve a high level of piano performance. Students will be given every opportunity to perform, and will be encouraged to participate, as appropriate, in competitions, auditions, and student evaluation programs. Ms. Harada also prepares students for college entrance auditions and music examinations. She teaches serious students from beginners to advanced, as well as adult students. Piano lessons will take place at the studio in Warren, New Jersey. For the details about studio policy, please contact Ms. Harada directly.
Teaching Philosophy
Ms. Harada believes building good technical foundation is very important since it prepares to perform any pieces with high quality. To achieve high quality performances, she also focuses on how important for students to listen to their own playing and to organize wise practice methods so each student would eventually develop to understand how to practice independently. She also points out to students that the hard work would lead to a joy of accomplishments. By learning any instruments, students not only develop the appreciation of the arts but also develop discipline, perseverance and commitment which can be applied for any other field of studies.
BIOGRAPHY
Nationally Certified Teacher of Music in Piano from the Music Teachers National Association. As a distinguished teacher in New Jersey, her students have received numerous awards and become winners of state, national, and international competitions including the International Young Artists Piano Competition, the Music Teachers National Association, NJMTA Young Musicians Competition, Greater Princeton Steinway Society Scholarship Competition, the Goldblatt Piano Scholarship Competition, Bookstaber Scholarship Competition, AMTL Young Artists Competition, the Cecilian Music Club Young Artists Competition, National Young Virtuosi Recital Competition, Grand and Gold winners of the National Young Musicians Showcase Competition, 1st prize winners of the Rondo Vanguard International Competition, among others. As an adjudicator and clinician, she was invited to judge piano competitions for young artists as well as give lecture-recitals and master classes throughout USA and Japan.
Ms. Harada has received several pedagogy awards including the National Pedagogy Award, Genia Robinor Pedagogy Award of Excellence, and The Allison R. and Maria E. Drake Pedagogy Award for Excellence in Ensemble Teaching, all from the Piano Teachers Society of America, as well as the Laura Conover Pedagogy Award for Outstanding Teaching from the Cecilian Music Club. Most recently, she was named the 2020 Teacher of the Year from New Jersey Music Teachers Association and was named Foundation Fellow by the Music Teachers National Association for outstanding contribution to the music teaching profession. Other distinguished teacher awards include the Young Pianist Competition of NJ, International Concert Alliance, Piano Teachers Congress of NY, American Concert Alliance, Crescendo International Competition, and American Fine Arts Festival. As winners of international and national competitions, her students have performed at prestigious venues including Weill Recital Hall-Carnegie Hall, Merkin Concert Hall, Alice Tully Hall in Lincoln Center, Steinway Hall, DiMenna Center in NYC, Kimmel Center in Philadelphia, and in Washington, DC among others. Her students have graduated to pursue music at leading Universities and Conservatories and have excelled at various competitions.
Ms. Harada was also invited to join a panel of discussions at the NJMTA State Conference on pedagogy as well as served as a master class clinician in Princeton, NJ and Westport, CT. She was also a speaker at the South Jersey Music Teachers Association. She has been invited to serve as an adjudicator and a jury member at competitions and auditions for numerous music organizations in the Tri-State area including Connecticut State Music Teachers Association, NJ Music Teachers Association, Music Teachers National Association (State of NJ), Music Educators Association of NJ, and Piano Teachers Society of America. She was also one of jury members for the Young Artists Concerto Competitions for Livingston Symphony Orchestra, Bravura Philharmonic Orchestra, and Manalapan Battleground Symphony Orchestra.
In addition to maintaining a private studio in Warren, NJ, she has also served an adjunct professor of music at Seton Hall University in South Orange, NJ from 2003-2020. She has also taught at Rutgers University's pre-college Division.
In 2007, she and a group of musicians founded a non profit music education organization, the National League of Performing Arts, Inc. (www.nationalleagueofperformingarts.org), for the purpose of providing music education and performance opportunities to aspiring students and young artists. She has served as president of the organization for the past 15 years.
In addition, Ms. Harada has served as President of the NJ Music Teachers Association, an affiliate of the Music Teachers National Association from 2020-2021. She was also a former Board Member of the Music Educators Association of NJ, the Piano Teachers Society of America, the Bravura Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Piano Teachers Congress of New York.
Ms. Harada studied at Toho School Pre-College Division in Japan. After moving to the U.S., she received degrees from the Mannes School of Music in New York City under the tutelage of Nina Svetlanova, as a scholarship recipient. Ms. Harada furthered her studies in Paris, France, and received the highest rank of Le Diplome Superieur D’Execution Concertiste at L’Ecole Normale de Music de Cortot de Paris under the tutelage of France Clidat. She also studied with Adolph Baller from Stanford University. As a student at the Fontainbleau School of Arts, France and International Academy of Nice, France, she studied with Gaby Casadesus, and Jean-Marie Darre. She participated in Master Classes with Karl Ulrich Schnabel, Jeffrey Kahane, Joseph Kalichstein, and Jerome Lowenthal. Ms. Harada was awarded the First Prize at the Los Angeles Young Musicians Competition and Peninsula Music Competition, performing as a soloist with the Japanese Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of the late Maestro Takashi Asahina, and with the Palo Alto Chamber Orchestra. Her performances were broadcast on radio in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New York City.
Teaching Philosophy
Ms. Harada believes building good technical foundation is very important since it prepares to perform any pieces with high quality. To achieve high quality performances, she also focuses on how important for students to listen to their own playing and to organize wise practice methods so each student would eventually develop to understand how to practice independently. She also points out to students that the hard work would lead to a joy of accomplishments. By learning any instruments, students not only develop the appreciation of the arts but also develop discipline, perseverance and commitment which can be applied for any other field of studies.
BIOGRAPHY
Nationally Certified Teacher of Music in Piano from the Music Teachers National Association. As a distinguished teacher in New Jersey, her students have received numerous awards and become winners of state, national, and international competitions including the International Young Artists Piano Competition, the Music Teachers National Association, NJMTA Young Musicians Competition, Greater Princeton Steinway Society Scholarship Competition, the Goldblatt Piano Scholarship Competition, Bookstaber Scholarship Competition, AMTL Young Artists Competition, the Cecilian Music Club Young Artists Competition, National Young Virtuosi Recital Competition, Grand and Gold winners of the National Young Musicians Showcase Competition, 1st prize winners of the Rondo Vanguard International Competition, among others. As an adjudicator and clinician, she was invited to judge piano competitions for young artists as well as give lecture-recitals and master classes throughout USA and Japan.
Ms. Harada has received several pedagogy awards including the National Pedagogy Award, Genia Robinor Pedagogy Award of Excellence, and The Allison R. and Maria E. Drake Pedagogy Award for Excellence in Ensemble Teaching, all from the Piano Teachers Society of America, as well as the Laura Conover Pedagogy Award for Outstanding Teaching from the Cecilian Music Club. Most recently, she was named the 2020 Teacher of the Year from New Jersey Music Teachers Association and was named Foundation Fellow by the Music Teachers National Association for outstanding contribution to the music teaching profession. Other distinguished teacher awards include the Young Pianist Competition of NJ, International Concert Alliance, Piano Teachers Congress of NY, American Concert Alliance, Crescendo International Competition, and American Fine Arts Festival. As winners of international and national competitions, her students have performed at prestigious venues including Weill Recital Hall-Carnegie Hall, Merkin Concert Hall, Alice Tully Hall in Lincoln Center, Steinway Hall, DiMenna Center in NYC, Kimmel Center in Philadelphia, and in Washington, DC among others. Her students have graduated to pursue music at leading Universities and Conservatories and have excelled at various competitions.
Ms. Harada was also invited to join a panel of discussions at the NJMTA State Conference on pedagogy as well as served as a master class clinician in Princeton, NJ and Westport, CT. She was also a speaker at the South Jersey Music Teachers Association. She has been invited to serve as an adjudicator and a jury member at competitions and auditions for numerous music organizations in the Tri-State area including Connecticut State Music Teachers Association, NJ Music Teachers Association, Music Teachers National Association (State of NJ), Music Educators Association of NJ, and Piano Teachers Society of America. She was also one of jury members for the Young Artists Concerto Competitions for Livingston Symphony Orchestra, Bravura Philharmonic Orchestra, and Manalapan Battleground Symphony Orchestra.
In addition to maintaining a private studio in Warren, NJ, she has also served an adjunct professor of music at Seton Hall University in South Orange, NJ from 2003-2020. She has also taught at Rutgers University's pre-college Division.
In 2007, she and a group of musicians founded a non profit music education organization, the National League of Performing Arts, Inc. (www.nationalleagueofperformingarts.org), for the purpose of providing music education and performance opportunities to aspiring students and young artists. She has served as president of the organization for the past 15 years.
In addition, Ms. Harada has served as President of the NJ Music Teachers Association, an affiliate of the Music Teachers National Association from 2020-2021. She was also a former Board Member of the Music Educators Association of NJ, the Piano Teachers Society of America, the Bravura Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Piano Teachers Congress of New York.
Ms. Harada studied at Toho School Pre-College Division in Japan. After moving to the U.S., she received degrees from the Mannes School of Music in New York City under the tutelage of Nina Svetlanova, as a scholarship recipient. Ms. Harada furthered her studies in Paris, France, and received the highest rank of Le Diplome Superieur D’Execution Concertiste at L’Ecole Normale de Music de Cortot de Paris under the tutelage of France Clidat. She also studied with Adolph Baller from Stanford University. As a student at the Fontainbleau School of Arts, France and International Academy of Nice, France, she studied with Gaby Casadesus, and Jean-Marie Darre. She participated in Master Classes with Karl Ulrich Schnabel, Jeffrey Kahane, Joseph Kalichstein, and Jerome Lowenthal. Ms. Harada was awarded the First Prize at the Los Angeles Young Musicians Competition and Peninsula Music Competition, performing as a soloist with the Japanese Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of the late Maestro Takashi Asahina, and with the Palo Alto Chamber Orchestra. Her performances were broadcast on radio in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New York City.
Piano Teacher Piano Lesson Warren NJ