About Elle Monnet

Elle started learning piano at the age of 5 in a private school for girls following European standards; since then, she never stopped. As a passionate lover of music, Elle has been teaching students of all ages for more than 20 years now. 

Elle, whose professional career as a CPA has brought her to several countries, strongly believes that “life is best travelled with music.”  Elle has often been asked what balances her mathematical and analytical work? Playing piano,” she responds with a smile. Beyond office hours, Elle has always been a private piano teacher. She teaches every student to read musical partitions from the start. Her teaching repertoire is rich with theory, techniques, and practice exercises, and is an interesting mélange of classical, romantic, contemporary, popular (all-time favorites), and free-style (avant-garde-self-expressions and improvisations). She has a preference toward “Musique de Chambre” (Chamber Music) which is an elegant rendition of soothing and relaxed repertoire of musical solo (one to a part) or a “petit ensemble” (small group) together with her students. 

Children (young learners) feel comfortable with her teaching style, which they often describe as professional, friendly, inspiring, and highly motivational. Adult learners feel at ease with her progressive method of teaching, which is an interesting blend of firmness, flexibility, innovation, understanding and compassion, with strong emphasis on “theory-technique-practice-performance” and considers mistakes as the spice of learning. The not-so-young learners feel relaxed and enjoy Elle’s ability to elevate the world of piano to the so-called “third dimension” –– “out-of-the- box” that is: “play as you please or play for fun!” “Innovate, improvise, express yourself––no limitations!" 

At a certain age, (considered more advanced), one does not really have to be a Beethoven or a Rachmaninoff, one is simply pleased to experience playing the piano as a form of self-entertainment or to give one a sense of accomplishment for having fulfilled a long-awaited dream. To many who do not have the liberty of time to practice for long hours due to the daily demands of life, just being able to play simple harmonious pieces and understanding basic theories and techniques are already considered as ultimate success. “What is the purpose of playing the piano without joy in it?” Elle often remarks with a smile as she teaches a group of retired piano learners. 

Elle believes that every student has a learning curve and specific needs to be addressed, and these are where she puts her focus on. CPA by profession, Elle balances her professional and personal life with her love of music. Her message, “no matter what you do for a living; a journey with piano is worth taking!” She teaches piano right after work to students of all ages, from the young, to the not-so-young, and helps in fulfilling the dreams of those who wanted to but never had the chance to play piano (for whatever reasons: financial, time, work, etc.). 

Elle also showcased musical start-up studios in countries where she worked and started teaching children to learn piano to develop interest in musical careers where they are naturally gifted and have true joy in what they do. She hosted student piano recitals and other musical performances to showcase the best in every student that she taught. Elle never failed to motivate, quick to spot and highlight strengths in her students and gentle in improving their weaknesses. Elle believes that perfection is taming one’s imperfections. A typical teaching day will often hear Elle say in the Studio the following cue: “Ready, Set, Posture,...GO!"