Thanks to my persistent and determined mother, Mojgan Moghadam, I started taking piano lessons at the age of 6 with an incredible teacher, Mr. Hamid Deihimi. Mr. Deihimi is a renowned music teacher in the Persian community who used to have a music school in Irvine, California. A truly passionate music teacher who lost his eyesight at an early age, Mr. Deihimi taught me everything I know about the piano and introduced me to music of my heritage. I continued to take lessons with Mr. Deihimi until I was 18 years old at which point he hired me as a part-time music teacher while I was attending college. I am forever thankful to Mr. Deihimi for not only sharing his expertise with me but also for giving me the opportunity to experience the joy of teaching.

With the passion that I had developed for music and teaching, I chose my higher education path at college to prepare me to form my own music school. To better understand my diverse students, I wanted to gain an awareness of the origins of human behavior as it develops across the life course and in various socio-cultural contexts.  I also wanted to learn about effective teaching strategies and techniques, especially in children education.  Additionally, I wanted to advance my knowledge of music theory and appreciation. I accomplished my educational goals at the University of California, Irvine (UCI) and earned a BA degree in Psychology and Social Behavior with a minor in Education Studies. While I achieved my formal education objectives in June 2013, I continue to study and learn new things every day as I believe education is a life-long learning process.

During the last year of college, in addition to my academic studies, I completed a series of training programs on entrepreneurship, business administration and education management under the guidance of my father and mentor, Dr. Amir Moghadam. My father is a Cambridge PhD whose successful academic career led him to create MaxKnowledge, the largest employee training network for career colleges and universities. I like to think that I have inherited my drive, energy and entrepreneurship mindset from my father. He encouraged me to develop my teaching philosophy and the technological framework for my education business before finishing college. This enabled me to found Piano Edutainment soon after I graduated from UCI.

In summary, Piano Edutainment has given me the opportunity to express my two passions in life: music and teaching. I feel like I have a real impact on my students’ lives through effective teaching of music and that gives me a great satisfaction.

Tarlon Moghadam
Founder/Teacher