About
About Jensen’s Yamaha Music School
Owner/Teacher:Lois Jensen
Teacher:Noelle Jensen
Teacher:Aimee Jensen
Frequently Asked Questions
Student Awards
What Parents are Saying
Jensen’s Yamaha Music School has been creating musicians for life since 1976. We’re the only authorized Yamaha Music School in south central Texas and are proud to be a family business. Watch our video to see the many ways we create musicians for life!
It’s why we do what we do. We enjoy watching young musicians develop and grow. We’ve had students come back after graduating high school, thanking us for helping them reach new heights. We love teaching music the Yamaha way (the natural way), because it creates musicians for life. The key is starting a child between the ages 3-7. That’s what makes all the difference in your child’s brain development as well as reaching their full musical potential.
We know the courses we offer for young children are the best you can find in San Antonio. How do we know this? Because…
- Certified Yamaha teachers must pass rigorous qualifications and teacher training in order to teach the curriculum, which means your child will be taken through a process fit to meet their every musical need.
- Yamaha specifically designed the curriculum to be timely and highly effective, using activities such as listening, singing, intensive ear-training, keyboard playing, and music theory and analysis
- Children love our courses and become exceptional musicians (like Kara Rollins!)
- 2 National Merit Scholar Semi Finalists at Churchill Class of 2013 took Yamaha when they were young at JYMS and they are both outstanding musicians and scholars
- Early music training improves verbal and memory skills
- Music training increases children’s listening skills and their ability to recognize patterns
- Not to mention there are many social, physical and emotional benefits of music that last a lifetime
- Read more about the benefits of music here over at the Huffington Post.
Lois Jensen
A native of San Francisco, first studied piano with Bethel Melvin, a private piano teacher and composer.
She began studying organ in 6th grade and was the church organist beginning when she was 12 years old. She directed her first choir at 15 years old and has been a church musician for most of her life.
Ms. Jensen began teaching Yamaha in 1969. Yamaha Music Education System (YMES) recently presented an award to Lois in appreciation of 35 years of dedicated teaching. She has owned her own school in San Antonio, Texas since 1976 where she pilots new curriculum for YMES. In addition, Ms. Jensen currently trains teachers all over the US and is a Key Teacher for the Yamaha Corp. of America.
Her Students have performed their original compositions in the Yamaha Pan-American Concert in Boston, Massachusetts at the Berklee School of Music, National Concers in San Diego, Phoenix, Minnesota and Wisconsin. Several students have been admitted to NESA (North East School of the Arts). Graduates of her classes are music majors or graduates of the schools of music at the University of Texas at Austin, Rice University, Texas State University-San Marcos, SMU, and University of Houston.
In addition to working with Yamaha, she worked at University Presbyterian for 23 years as a youth choir director, organist, and adult choir director. Some of the major works she conducted were: Christ lag in Todesbanden by J.S. Bach, Faure’s Requiem, Resphigi’s Laud to the Nativity, Durufle’s Requiem, Shubert Mass in G, Gospel Mass by Robert Ray, The UPC youth choir toured with a musical each year in which Ms. Jensen directed and choreographed the shows. Some of the shows were: Godspell, Children of Eden, Joseph and His Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, and Cotton Patch Gospel. She also wrote several musical scripts Paul II, Buildin’, and In My Life, the Beatles Music from us to you.
Ms. Jensen participated in musical theatre throughout high school and college. In San Antonio she performed with Music Theatre, SALT, Offstage INC. She sang Aldonza in Man of La Mancha, Dolly Heart in Grass Harp, Laura in the vampire opera Carmilla, Cole, Promenade, Gallantry, Gertrude Stein’s First Reader. In California she performed Marian the Librarian in Music Man, South Pacific, Camelot, Brigadoon. She also sang with Mastersingers perfoming in the operas: Hansel and Gretel and Daughter of the Regiment with Beverly Sills.
Noelle Jensen
Noelle Jensen is a teacher and full-time administrator at Jensen’s Yamaha Music School in San Antonio,Texas. She began her music training at age 3 when she was enrolled in the Primary Course of the YMES. She has been playing the piano and singing since age 3 and added clarinet at age 11. She also plays the guitar, recorder, and the flute.
She is a native of San Antonio where she graduated from Jefferson High School. After Graduation, Noelle attended The University of Texas at Austin where she received a Bachelors of Music in Music Studies (Choral Emphasis) with All-Level Certification in the state of Texas.
While at UT, Noelle studied piano with Dr. Betty Mallard and was a member of the University of Texas Longhorn Band, University Singers, Concert Chorale (under the direction of Dr. Craig Hella Johnson), Tau Beta Sigma, Sigma Alpha Iota, and the Golden Key Honor Society.
Noelle was trained in the Yamaha Music Education System in 1995 in Toronto, Canada and became one of the first students of the Yamaha system to become a teacher in the US. She is certified to teach all of the courses by Yamaha Corp. of America and is a Piano Grade 5, Electone Grade 5, and Fundamentals Grade 4 in the International Yamaha Exam System.
Noelle and Lois have presented at the Texas Music Educators Association State Convetion and San Antonio Association of the Education of Young Children. She has also presented at a YMES Administrators’ Seminar in Phoenix, Arizona. Noelle is a Yamaha Music Education System Specialist where she assists with teacher training in the US. In the fall of 2014, she was selected to participate in a special Yamaha Music Foundation (Japan) teacher training with Ms. Takeuchi at the Yamaha Corporation of America headquarters in Los Angeles.
Aimee Jensen
A Yamaha Education System graduate, Aimee began her musical journey at age 3 in Yamaha Primary Course. She completed the Primary, Junior Extension Course, as well as Junior Advanced Course at Jensen’s Yamaha Music School. Growing up in a musical family and attending these weekly music classes, Aimee began composing at an early age. At age 8 she wrote her first composition, and won Honorable Mention in Yamaha’s I Can Compose Too Contest. She continued to compose music and performed her original pieces in Regional and National Yamaha Junior Original Concerts in Massachusetts, California, Minnesota, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Dallas, Texas. She’s so excited that Yamaha Education System has continued the tradition of featuring concerts of Yamaha students performing their own compositions, because now as a teacher she can continue with her work in composition by helping her own students compose their own original pieces.
Aimee attended graduated from Jefferson High School (Fine Arts and Music Academy) in 2001, and spent her four years singing in choir, playing trumpet in the marching band and performing in musicals. After high school she attended The University of Texas at Austin Butler School of Music. There she enjoyed playing in the Longhorn Band under the direction of Dr. Kevin Sedatole and Dr. Robert Carnochan, sang in Concert Chorale under the direction of Dr. Suzanne Pence. She also performed in numerous musicals including Godspell (1999), Joseph and His Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (1997), Cinderella (1999), Amahl and A Night’s Visitors (2000), Children of Eden (2001), and Pirates of Penzance (2001).
In May 2005 she graduated with honors with a Bachelor of Music Degree. Her studies included piano, composition and music education.
FAQ
The Yamaha curriculum is broad compared to traditional private piano lessons. Children sing solfège, play the keyboard, sing songs with lyrics, move to music, play rhythm and keyboard ensembles and participate in music appreciation activities.
The comprehensive multi-facet approach allows young students to develop diverse musical skills without prematurely focusing on one instrument or style. Students will be able to more aptly choose their future musical path when they are more physically and mentally mature. As a result, Yamaha students are often leaders in school orchestra, band, and choir programs.
Here are some facts that explain the importance of music lessons in your child’s life.
- Builds self-confidence
- Early music training improves verbal and memory skills
- Enhances memory
- Music training increases children’s listening skills and their ability to recognize patterns
- Teaches self-discipline
- Improves academics and SAT scores
- Reduce stress and improve focus
Most music programs share a common goal to introduce children to the joy of music making. YMES and Jensen’s Yamaha Music School is unique because:
Teachers Our faculty has a genuine commitment to teaching beginning musicians and are certified by Yamaha through extensive training and rigourous exams
Fun and Rewarding Children can have fun and achieve a high level of music proficiency
Play Performance opportunities are available in a wide variety of settings, from casual Saturday afternoon performance clubs and semester recitals to annual All-School Concerts and national or international concerts
Curriculum Materials include books, CD’s, DVD’s and other materials that combine decades of experience with the most recent research in music education.
International History We are part of a vibrant international network of Yamaha education centers in over 40 countries. More than 6 million students over 50 years have learned to play using the Yamaha method.
A large percentage of students quit before they realize their real potential in music. Nevertheless the truth is usually the parents giving up before their children do. Ask yourself: do you prefer practicing and drilling to shopping and playing?
Parents must remember that practice is not an option to students who learn to play music. There should be at-home rules and schedules, like time to go to bed and time for meals, dedicated to just practicing the instrument students are learning. A child’s success in music learning owes a big part to parents’ participation and support. Prioritize their activities. If you do not want to put music study on top of your child’s list, you had better rethink whether you want to take on this commitment to help your child maintain a healthy and productive learning habit so that the student can really enjoy the music and see the results.
Our experiences tell us that perhaps your child has too many activities. Most parents tend to overwhelm their children with extra-curriculum activities that fill up every minute in their schedules. Prioritize their activities and drop some of those that are merely killing time.
Allocate regular practice time everyday as part of the daily routine and make practicing the instrument an obligation but not an option. Once the habit is formed, your child will be able to follow their schedules just like bedtimes and mealtimes. More importantly, they will thank you in the future for helping them persevere when they are all grown up.
Students who take leave for more than a month can request a “Student Vacation Request Form” from our front desk or download it from our website. Provide us with the information as instructed in the form and prepay the tuition of the month you will be returning. The deposit is for reserving the same lesson time as the student returns, for we cannot guarantee the availability of the class time if the reservation is not bounded by the deposit. Should you have paid in advance, a credit for the vacation month(s) will appear in the next month’s statement.
Group lessons have to follow the age-appropriate curriculum established by the system. All students in the group should learn at the same pace. Although some students may progress faster than the fellow students in one area, like playing at the piano for example, they may still need time for the others, like group playing and rhythm training.
When the teacher spots the special talent in individual students, they will be given special assignments in addition to the regular homework so that they can work more at home. Of course, the student can also take private lessons concurrently to further advance their instrumental skills.
Designed to meet the unique needs and developmental stages of each age group, Yamaha Music Education System develops each student’s comprehensive musical ability in an environment that inspires a love of music and a lifetime of active music participation.
Yamaha develops children’s musical skills with three fundamental principles that are often neglected in traditional music classes:
Timely Education: The internationally acclaimed curriculum is formulated based on the natural physiological development of a child.
Group Lessons: Students are able to experience the importance of group music activities like ensemble and to learn with discipline among fellow students
An Emphasis on Creativity: Improvisation and composition are core subjects in latter part of the curriculum. Students are encouraged to experiment with making their own music even at the beginning of the courses.
The amount of our monthly tuition is calculated based on the total classes per calendar year divided by 12 months. Hence, each monthly amount is an installment of the total yearly tuition. On one hand this simplifies our accounting process, one the other this method allows us to bill a fix amount to accounts which choose to automatically pay their bills with credit cards. Moreover, parents must realize that music study is a long-term investment of time and efforts. The result is not immediate. One to two years’ time is well worth spent to find out a student’s real interest and potential.
The debate between whether group or private music lessons are better for students has been always a big concern amongst parents. From the point of view as music educators, group lessons indeed are more beneficial especially to younger students because a classroom environment encourages and motivates students to participate in group activities that most private students do not have a privilege to experience.
Students also are able to learn from their fellow friends while attending to teacher’s commands. As great as solo piano music sounds, one of the biggest disadvantages of piano players is that hardly do they “make” music with others, which is an imperative part of music learning.
As the students grow and they begin to pay more attention to the instrument they like, private piano or other instrumental lessons will be a perfect complement to the group lessons because, firstly, group lessons have already laid a solid foundation for students’ continuing study on a solo instrument at a higher level. Secondly, since aural training has been such an important part in the group lesson training, the students’ hearing is now so sensitive and finely tuned to discern their own performances; hence, the music they make is much more musical and beautiful. However, this is often neglected in most traditional training methods where drilling is the only method and technical perfection is the only goal. Thirdly, students at an older age are more patient to sit down and focus on accomplishing tasks in a private lesson setting when the teacher can give 100% attention to what individual students need.
Because of the emphasis in singing and hearing in group lessons, solfege (do-re-mi) is easier to pronounce and more practical to sing in. Also, what the students learn is called “fixed-do” method, i.e. do=C, re=D, mi=E, etc, which is different from the “movable-do” method that is prevalent among pop music and singers.
The “fixed-do” method communicates the same name-to-note orientation as letter names. Students are actually learning the same thing with different syllables. In fact, letter names will be introduced later in the course as one of the subjects, which students must study and familiarize themselves with.
CONGRATULATIONS to our current and former students!
Spring 2018
Texas State Solo and Ensemble Contest : Brynn Owen (Churchill HS), Makayla Johnson (Churchill HS)
Fall 2017
All-Region Choir Mixed : Brynn Owen (Churchill HS), Makayla Johnson (Churchill HS)
Fall 2016
All-Region Treble Choir – Brynn Owen (Churchill HS), Makayla Johnson (Churchill HS)
All-Region Boys Choir – Steven Owen (Eisenhower MS)
All-Region Band – Jacob Guerra, Trombone, Middle School
Fall 2015
All-Region Mixed Choir – Brynn Owen (Churchill HS)
All-Region Treble Choir – Makayla Johnson (Churchill HS)
May 2015
We have three graduating seniors! They will be performing in a Senior Recital on Friday, May 15th at JYMS. Congratulations to Kegan Murphy, John Anthony Pick, and Adrienne Smith. They have been a part of our school since they were very young!
Joey Flathman and Michael Gerick were received Honorable Mention Awards in the Yamaha Junior Original Concert (students’ own compositions). Michael was selected to perform in the National JOC Highlights Concert this summer in Cerritos, California. Congrats!!
Brynn Owen was selected as a member of the Texas Choral Directors Association Honor Choir. They will perform at the convention this summer. She was one of 12 selected from San Antonio.
April 2015
Congrats to the following students who earned their Yamaha Grade 9 Examination Certificates.
Spring 2015 – Congrats to the following students for earning I Ratings on their Solo and Ensemble
What Parents are Saying
Since we opened Jensen’s Yamaha Music School in 1976, we have welcomed hundreds of families into our musical family, and many lifelong musicians have been created. It’s amazing to look back over the years and see the consistency in what parents have been saying about our music school and curriculum for the last 37 years. Even parents whose children graduated from our curriculum years ago still have stories to share with us about how our music classes and instruction helped and continues to benefit their son or daughter to this day. What parents are saying about music classes at Jensen’s Yamaha is that they really work and that we have given their children a lifelong gift of music. We also pride ourselves in creating a nurturing and happy environment for both the students and their parents to enjoy music together.
But of course, it’s best to hear it from them:
“Just wanted to let you know that Makayla recently submitted a song that she wrote, and composed with Aimee, and submitted it to the “Reflections” program through her middle school, and I just learned that her entry moved to the state level! There are about 60,000 entries and less than 3% move to state, so this is a great accomplishment! We of course know that her talent was discovered and groomed at the Jensen’s music school! Thank you again for all your help!”
– Peggy J.
“THANK YOU for the fabulous foundation that your ‘team” gave to Mariah, now almost 15 yrs old. She loves playing music, and she knows the gift came from you guys!! ”
– Stacy
“I’m so thankful that he was able to be apart of your program. Exposing him to music and piano at a very young age has really made an impact in his academics. He’s an excellent scholar -excelling in math and the sciences. Thanks to your dedication to teaching children! Tell your mom we said Hello! Nice hearing from you. I pray your babies are well too! Giovanni will be leaving to West Point in July.”
– Leti
“Thank you for sharing the gift of music with my children. The beautiful seeds you and your mom planted are bearing much fruit. Thanking God for each of you.” – Denise W.
“Yamaha Music teaches musicians for life. The Jensen family has been expertly, passionately, and lovingly doing this for generations. They have turned a countless number of eager students into true musicians with trained ears now enabled to learn any new instrument with ease. Our eldest child looks forward to our weekly lesson and our younger child is anxious to be enrolled when she reachers the age minimum. Listening to, singing and playing the songs in each course has become part of our daily lives that we enjoy as a family. We look forward to continuing to see our children’s progression as musicians throughout the years as they attend Jensen’s Yamaha Music.” – Lindsey P.
“The Music Wonderland class for 3 year olds is very age appropriate. Miss Noelle is patient and flexible, and she is also very encouraging. The kids have fun with the music, have the opportunity to see, hear and play with a variety of different instruments, and they are kept engaged throughout the class by colorful music books and stickers that go along with each page/song. The “fairy bucks” reward system is also great, and keeps the kids motivated to come every week and participate. It’s also great how they have different events such as family fun night, etc. My 3 year old loves music class and even when he is reluctant to go (as little ones can be unpredictable sometimes), he always ends up happy to be there in the end.” – Nikki S.
“My kids love coming here. The teachers are great. And I like the family atmosphere.” – Melissa F.
“Jensen’s Yamaha Music School is the best! Hands down! My daughter has such a love for music and this school is the best thing we have done for her. I love how it is a family environment and all the teachers are related. It just makes you feel right at home.” – Kristen D.
“I would highly recommend Jensen’s Yamaha Music School to all friends and parents. The school has provided my son with a wonderful foundation for music appreciation. He has already developed a more acute “musical ear” than both parents. The school has enriched our family with music education; and the parties, concerts, and special events have been fun.” – Susan H.
