When Payam Khastkhodaei began teaching piano to a family friend’s daughter in his Bothell home at 16, he relied on the same method he had been taught as a kid—classical songbooks, rigid practice, and ...

I grew up in very musical household. From the kitchen, my mother (a voice teacher) would sing. From the music room, my sister would practice classical violin–Bach or Tchaikovsky or Vivaldi. From the ...