Sara Chasse

Sara Chasse-Phillips is a performer and music educator. She has performed in the music score for the Stan Lee documentary “With Great Power” recorded at Capital Records. She has performed under the baton of Skitch Henderson in New York. She started music very young at the age of 3. Beginning with piano gave her an advantage to learning more instruments throughout her childhood. Studying piano and harp at the Indiana University PreCollege Programs. Being on campus at Indiana University she had access to so many wonderful student teachers. She took private flute, clarinet, violin, voice, trumpet, jazz, theory lessons. She performed with many community ensembles while in Highschool including the Bloomington Youth Symphony, New World Youth Symphony, Indianapolis Youth Symphony, Terre Haute Youth Symphony, Bloomington Brass Band, and the Bloomington Community Band. Her dream was to conduct and so learning multiple instruments well was important to her. She took conducting classes in college, but soon found her niche in teaching. She graduated from Riverside City College with her A.A. in Music and was the first one to receive the Piano Performance Certificate paving the way for future pianists. Sara learned a great deal from her piano mentor and professor, Sylvia Ho. She joined the Piano Guild and has entered students for 13 consecutive years. Sara’s goal has always been to teach all levels and take them to the next level as top performers or hobbyists. Music is a worthwhile past time for all ages to enjoy. The benefits of studying music are numerous. Not only does it have the ability to increase children’s test scores, it also makes them better, more confident people ready to take on the challenges of today’s world. Sara successfully founded and ran the nonprofit Harp4all Music Conservatory in Riverside, California. She worked as a freelance harpist and provided therapeutic music for Kaiser Hospitals in Riverside and Moreno Valley. Now she volunteers and performs with the local community youth orchestra. Her local students perform at the downtown public library. She hosts online recitals for her virtual students. 

I teach with patience and compassion. I use motivation to achieve cooperation. When we need to ask a hard task or alot of a child, if we do it with reward we can expect easier cooperation. This can be as simple as a sticker. 

I will always stay positive during a lesson. Through my passion and experience working with individuals on the spectrum, I believe it's up to the teacher to teach in a way that encourages and supports the students natural excitement to learn. It’s important to setup reasonable expectations before you start. I will always tell them how the lesson will go and what they can expect. 

I like to get kids up and moving once or twice during their lessons. Use marching as they play a piece for example. Kids learn better when they are involved. There is a famous quote from Benjamin Franklin “Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn”.