Please note: While we invite you to work with our long-tenured piano instructor Masako, she has limited availability, usually on two weekday afternoons only. She is available for online lessons only, for the foreseeable future. If you’re seeking lessons At Our Studio or if you’d like more scheduling options, please consider other members of our talented piano staff.

Masako – who often goes by Jasmine – earned her Diploma in Jazz Piano Performance at Berklee College of Music where she studied with renowned jazz pianist, Ray Santisi.

Having acquired an extensive classical background since the age of four, her experience at teaching piano technique and theory both privately and in the classroom is unsurpassed, as reflected in her recruitment as a faculty member at the Boston Center for Adult Education and the Newton Community Center.

Methods used in her teaching often include: left hand activity, right hand harmonization of melody, voicing techniques, improvisation, re-harmonization, accompaniment for vocal or instrumental. All of the above material will create a fullness of sound necessary for solo jazz piano. You’ll hear all listed topics displayed in the following artist references: Oscar Peterson, Fats Waller, Dave McKenna, Bill Evans, Keith Jarrett. This comprehensive approach can be applied to any style such as jazz, pop, contemporary rock, and more.

Jasmine was a resident pianist at the Boston Harbor Hotel from 2004 to 2009 and at a well-known restaurant, Joe Tecce’s in Boston’s North End from 2007 to 2009. In these venues, she entertained guests with her broad knowledge of the American Song Book as well as more contemporary, popular music. Her history of performances includes: Boston Symphony Hall, Ritz-Carlton Boston, Copley Marriott Hotel, TK’s Jazz Cafe in Faneuil Hall Boston.

In addition to performing and teaching, she has, with her gift of innate perfect pitch, developed a remarkable skill in transcribing recorded music. This skill has been placed in demand by a variety of well-known artists in need of accurately notated musical scores essential to their recordings, books, and publishing projects. She also played a strategic role as a personal proofreader/performer for the book Berklee Jazz Piano by Ray Santisi, published by Berklee Press/Hal Leonard (January 2009).

“Jasmine is a gifted and versatile musician. She also has extraordinary musical transcription and notation skills that helped for the studio recording of my latest solo CD.” – Peter Wolf, (J. Geils Band)