The sound of piano keys echoing down the music hallway is no longer just from practice rooms—for the 2025/2026 school year, Harlem High school added a brand-new piano class for students eager to learn. It’s a class not just for beginners, but also for experienced people who play.

There are all different songs and techniques that students can learn not just from the sheet music but also working together with classmates to learn from one another. Band director Tim Perian and Vocal Director Jeremy Toledo provide each student with feedback to help encourage their growth and learning of this instrument

For each person to be able to play a piano, the Harlem Music Boosters spent two years raising money to provide the new keyboards for this program. This fundraising allowed students who were in the Piano Lab at Harlem Middle school to continue to explore their passion for music.

“We were fundraising for the music department. I was already a part of the music department before we got the piano class. I was partly responsible for raising funds for the piano class,” said Sabrina Olson (12).

Even people who did not help fundraise are benefitting from this class. Many students who have played piano for years now have a place to help them continue to improve.

“I have been playing for like probably like six years of my life, and I would say I’m pretty good. Just reading the music that’s just been my biggest goal on the piano, and this class has really helped with that,” said Sierra Van Laeke (11).

The new piano class creates a sense of belonging and fosters passion for music in many ways for students to explore their options in the musical arts.  This new piano class helps shape and guide students down a path of discovery and down a journey through piano. Some students still may not know how they would use piano outside of school, or how they would use it after school, but it can help them in many ways.

“I would love to play recitals and like just play a concert while like having my sheet music in my hand. That’s my dream of just flowing through the music while like reading the music,” said Van Laeke.

Some people have dreams like Van Laeke to play for large crowds, taking the piano class will help with that. Some other people may even have bigger dreams like wanting to use piano in their career.

“I’m planning on doing music education in the future, so it’s going to really help me in my career and like give me a head start on things like being able to teach music and being able to read sheet music,” Olson said.