Piano Lessons in Summerlin — Real Training, Close to Home

Families from across Summerlin — The Ridges, Summerlin South, the Red Rock side and Sun City Summerlin — come to my private studio on West Tompkins Avenue in Spring Valley, a short drive down the 215. I’m Dr. Maria “Masha” Pisarenko, a concert pianist and university piano professor, and I teach children from age three, teens, adults and seniors.

Why drive past a closer teacher? Because the first years decide everything that follows. A child taught with the right hand position, reading and listening from the start does not have to unlearn anything later — and an adult gets real progress instead of years of guessing.

The question that arrives in the second year

Almost every Summerlin family that stays with lessons reaches the same moment, usually somewhere in the second year. The child is no longer a beginner. Something is clearly there — a good ear, a memory for melody, a willingness to practise a hard bar twenty times. And the parents start to wonder what this could actually become, and whether the teacher they chose for convenience can take it there.

It is an uncomfortable question because the honest answer is often no. Plenty of teachers are excellent for the first two years and genuinely finished after that. The repertoire stops growing, the hand habits that were tolerable at seven start to limit speed at eleven, and nobody says anything until a festival adjudicator does. The fix is not more practice. It is a teacher whose own ceiling is far above the student’s.

That is the one thing I can promise a Summerlin family without hedging. I perform, I sit on competition juries, and I teach piano at the university level, so there is no point at which your child outgrows this studio. Whether that matters to you depends on what you want from the next ten years — and if the answer is that you simply want a happy half hour a week, I will say so and we will keep it exactly that.

If the goal is love of music

Then repertoire the student actually likes, a recital twice a year, and no competitive pressure. This is a legitimate goal and most of my students start here.

If the goal is a graded path

ABRSM and RCM examinations give a child an external standard, a certificate and a reason to finish things. My students have taken Distinctions in 2025 and 2026.

If the goal is competitions

NFMC, MTNA and local festivals. I know what adjudicators listen for because I have been the one listening, and preparation starts months rather than weeks ahead.

If the goal is a college audition

Then the work begins around age fourteen, with repertoire built to show range, and an honest assessment of where the student stands against applicants nationally.

Who will teach you

• Doctor of Musical Arts in piano performance (UNLV); international prizewinner in Paris and Rome
• Piano faculty at the College of Southern Nevada and Southern Utah University
• Steinway & Sons Top Music Teacher, 2018; students with ABRSM Distinctions in 2025 and 2026
• Trained in the Russian piano school — the Central Music School of the Moscow Conservatory and the Gnessin Academy
• Teaching in Las Vegas since 2006 — letters and press

Lessons for every age

Young children

From age three: rhythm, listening and the first pieces. Ages 3–5 → · Ages 6–8 →

Children and teens

Reading, technique, recitals, exams and competitions. Ages 9–12 → · Teens →

Adults and seniors

Beginners, returning players and retirees, at your own pace. Adults → · Seniors →

Exams and auditions

ABRSM, RCM, NFMC, MTNA and college auditions. Exam preparation →

Four questions worth asking before you commit a second year

Summerlin has no shortage of music teachers, and the good ones are not hard to recognise if you know what to ask. These four questions take two minutes and tell you most of what matters. Ask them of me as well.

What is your own playing level today?

Not what it was at college. A teacher who still performs hears things a teacher who stopped twenty years ago no longer hears.

What did your students play last season?

Ask for the actual pieces and the actual events. Titles and venues are concrete; promises are not.

How do you fix a bad hand habit?

Every child develops one. The answer should be specific and physical, not a vague assurance that it will settle on its own.

At what point would you tell us to find someone else?

A teacher who has an answer to this has thought about the student’s interest rather than the monthly invoice.

Made for a Summerlin week

Lessons run from 9 am to 9 pm by appointment, so a lesson can fit after school, after work or in the middle of a retired weekday. In a busy week the same lesson can move online, so nothing is lost. Every student performs in our recitals, beginners included.

I have performed and taught in Las Vegas for twenty years, and the Las Vegas Review-Journal’s Summerlin section has written about my work: “Las Vegas musician began playing piano at 5 — in Siberia”. I am also a member of the Sun City Classical Music Club.

What Summerlin parents ask me first

How far is the studio from Summerlin?

The studio is on West Tompkins Avenue in Spring Valley, roughly fifteen to twenty minutes from most of Summerlin down the 215. Families from The Ridges, The Paseos, Queensridge and Sun City Summerlin come weekly, and the later appointment slots are there so the drive does not collide with the school run.

My child already takes lessons. Is switching teachers disruptive?

Less than parents fear. I spend the first two lessons finding out what is solid and what was never properly built, then keep what works. Students almost always arrive with real strengths; the point of switching is to stop the gaps from hardening.

How much practice are we talking about?

For a young beginner, ten to fifteen minutes on most days beats an hour on Sunday. For a student preparing an exam or a competition, closer to an hour, broken into sections. I will tell you what the next few weeks need rather than give you a number for the year.

Do you teach adults in Summerlin too?

Yes, and a good number of them are parents who sat through their child’s lessons and decided they wanted their own. Adult lessons are built differently and the repertoire is chosen for an adult.

What if we travel a lot?

Then we use online lessons for the weeks you are away, at the same standard and with the same teacher. Travelling families are the main reason the online option exists at all.

All of Summerlin and the west side: The Ridges, Red Rock, Desert Shores, The Lakes, Peccole Ranch

The studio is open to families from every part of Summerlin, north and south of the parkway: The Trails, The Hills, The Arbors, The Willows, The Canyons, Sun City Summerlin, Stonebridge, Redpoint, The Ridges, Red Rock Country Club, The Paseos, Reverence and Summerlin West. Just outside Summerlin, Desert Shores, The Lakes, Peccole Ranch, Queensridge, Canyon Gate and the West Sahara neighbourhoods are closer still. The studio is in Spring Valley, south of Summerlin, a short drive down the 215.

Children can have lessons straight after school; retirees in Sun City Summerlin and adults who work from home often prefer the daytime. Both are possible by appointment, in the studio or by Zoom, for every age: kids 3–5, ages 6–8, ages 9–12, teens, adults and seniors.

The Ridges, The Paseos, Sun City — the practical part

The studio is at 9862 West Tompkins Avenue, Las Vegas, NV 89147. If you are weighing up neighbourhoods, these pages cover the rest of the valley: Spring Valley · Northwest Las Vegas · Southwest Las Vegas · Henderson.

Tell me the student’s age and what you are hoping for, and I will tell you plainly what the first year would look like. If a teacher five minutes from your house is the better choice for your family, I will say that too.

Book your first lesson

WhatsApp (702) 809-7576

Lessons are by appointment, 9 am to 9 pm. Call or text (702) 809-7576.