PianoLab

PianoLab at Paul Dunbar Elementary

When Paul Dunbar Elementary received an upright acoustic piano through Piano Cleveland’s Piano and Keyboard Donation Program in late 2021, music teacher Kimberly Papa couldn’t keep up with the growing demand to offer her students piano lessons. Piano Cleveland wanted to help.

Launched in January 2023, the PianoLab program offers after-school group keyboard instruction using a state-of-the-art keyboard lab for children enrolled at Paul Dunbar Elementary, a CMSD school on Cleveland’s near west side. For 10 weeks, students in grades K-8 are immersed in high-quality keyboard instruction. These students will have the option to continue their studies with the second semester of PianoLab when they return to school in the fall.

We are grateful to have an incredible staff managing our PianoLab program. Soo Ji Lee, a pianist and doctoral student at Cleveland Institute of Music, is the PianoLab Instructor. Richard Piazza is the PianoLab Coordinator and brings with him many years of experience in youth-focused nonprofit programming.