“Sweet Trouble at the Castle”: The Castle Where Children Learn to Be Artists

Miami Piano Studio celebrated its 15th anniversary with a Recital-Show that is much more than a recital

By Ismael Requejo

There are recitals… and then there is this. On Saturday, October 17, the castle of Queen Regina Maria opened its doors for her birthday party, and through them walked a sweet-toothed count — Count Vladushky, out of shape from all the candy cooked up by Turmelina the witch — a strongman, a circus mistress of ceremonies, a piñata fairy, and dozens of little pianists in costume who, one by one, played their pieces as part of the story. At the end, as every real party demands, there was a piñata.

It is called Sweet Trouble at the Castle, and it is the latest creation of Miami Piano Studio, the Pinecrest academy celebrating its 15th anniversary this fall. But anyone who stays only with the story misses what matters most, and I write this with the conviction of having seen it up close: what happens on that stage is not merely an aesthetic event. It is a cultural gesture — didactic, pedagogical, and academic.

Here, children are taught much more than piano. They are taught even how to greet an audience. They are taught to connect with the piece, to step inside the story and, within it, to show the skills they have learned in class. They are being taught — and this is the phrase I cannot get out of my head — to be artists, and to feel like artists. That is not studied in any academy: it is a special kind of militancy. And watching it on stage is a tremendous pleasure.

The Method Behind the Story

Miami Piano Studio was founded in 2011 by Mihai Preda and Leidys Monascal. It began in Miami Beach, moved through Coconut Grove, and today makes its home in Pinecrest; in 15 years it has trained some 700 students. It is a founding school member of the Royal Conservatory Music Development Program and received the Steinway & Sons Top Studio Award in 2012.

Faced with the coldness of traditional recitals — which for a child who is just beginning can be an experience of stress and fear — Leidys created the Recital-Shows: original musical stories where every child becomes part of the work, with theater, costumes, and their piano piece woven into the plot. Every child plays, even the three-year-old who has just started. And the parents perform too: community is built.

The method behind it is the Brain-Based Piano Method, created by both of them: teaching music the way children learn language — first listening, singing, moving, and playing; then reading and creating. Their motto sums it all up: “To learn happily is to learn easily.”

The Teachers

Mihai Preda, PhD. Scientist and pianist with nearly 20 years of teaching experience. Born in Bucharest, Romania, he studied Physics (Ph.D., University of Miami) and Music (B.M. in Piano and Organ Performance, Florida International University). He taught university-level mathematics and science before devoting himself to teaching piano, in 2011. He grew up learning the piano in the rigid tradition that demanded perfection at the cost of creativity; from that experience comes his conviction that true understanding — in science as in art — is born not of fear, but of curiosity. His scientific and musical training lets him see what science, mathematics, and music have in common, and that vision shapes the method he co-created.

Leidys Monascal, M.S. Accredited music teacher and early-childhood educator; she has been teaching since 2007. Born in Venezuela, she grew up in the National System of Youth Orchestras (El Sistema), where she studied clarinet — there she discovered the social power of music: to build character, unity, and hope. She holds a degree in International Relations from the Universidad Central de Venezuela; in Miami she studied performance at the New World School of the Arts and completed a master’s degree in Music Education at Florida International University. She founded TheSmARTsCOOL, a cooperative arts-based school, and she writes the original musical stories of the Recital-Shows, teaching also with puppetry.

What Comes Next

The studio announces its upcoming productions: How Music Saved the Holidays, in December, and A Story of Songs, in May. Fifteen years after its founding, Mihai and Leidys’s academy keeps doing what its motto promised: making learning — and stepping onto a stage — an act of happiness.

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Miami Piano Studio · Pinecrest, Florida
Official websites: brainbasedpianomethod.com · MiamiPianoStudio.com
Phone: (786) 797-1662
Visits by appointment only

Coverage and photographs: Ismael Requejo — Blog Magazine · Community of Artists of South Florida (CASF). Institutional information: Miami Piano Studio.