PALAKA Center for Music, Arts, Culture, & Healing

Inspiring Creativity. Creating Community. Cultivating Connection.

Class Schedules

“I wrote this book as a love letter to the immigrant parents, like my mom, who left their homeland in hopes of a better future and sending care and love back home. It represents both the blessings and sacrifices that families experienced on both sides of the story. It’s a story full of love.” - Faith Kazmi on what inspired her to write “Box of Dreams” ****REGISTRATION FOR FAHM EVENT now open! Link in bio!**** #SupportLocalAuthors

“My Inang (grandmother) used to sing ‘Bahay Kubo’ to me, and I found out that my Tatang had built her three bahay kubos! I also wanted to write about resilience and how a family’s bond can weather any storm.”
- Rachell Abalos on why she wrote her book “Our Nipa Hut”

****Registration for our Filipino-American History Month Book Signing Event open now! Link in bio!****

#FAHM

Happy #FAHM, PALAKA fam! It’s officially Filipino-American History Month, and I’m so psyched to host these amazing LOCAL Filipino-American authors later this month at our space. Cultural representation and diversity is so important for our young ones - for self-esteem and self-love, but also for embracing all those in our community. All proceeds from book sales will go directly to the authors. Your presence will support our local POC authors and build community at our growing healing arts center. Registration link coming 🔜 so you can get priority for book signings and our meryenda afternoon snack! 😋 Who’s looking forward to coming? ☺️ 📚 🇵🇭

PALAKA Center for Music, Arts, Culture, & Healing is excited to host its first Filipino American History month event on Sunday October 26. We’ll have some awesome authors joining us, music playing, games, and lumpia! Registration details coming soon. Save the date and tell your friends! @rachellabalos @lolaxkenneth @faithkaz @sarisaristorybooks @by.matanacio @arkipelagobooks @jeanniecelestial @bayaniart

A little about PALAKA’s Owner! What’s something about Ms. Heidi you didn’t know, or you’re still curious to know?

Part of being a small business owner is wearing so many hats. But I’m happy to share that we’re finally breaking even (at least moving forward) on the new space and are looking forward to hiring and delegating duties! Hiring teachers for music classes, dance fitness, drama/musical theater, yoga and Filipino language! (DM for more info) 👊🏽👋🏾

Sending gratitude to all those who have made music with us the past 3 years 🙏🏽 🎶 during a time in my life when I questioned whether I had something to offer this world after having health issues, you all helped me hold onto hope 🦋 and for that, I will forever be grateful ☺️

We sing musical theater songs in 2-3 part harmony!

PALAKA Saturday ReCap Preschool Classes (Part 2)

PALAKA 40-hr Flash Sale $100 OFF Group Music Classes

We’re learning songs sung by John Legend, Alicia Keys, Adele, Beyoncé, etc in our Adult Piano class on Monday evenings. Our new adult class cohort starts in mid-September. Check it out on out website www.palakamusic.com/calendar

Our healing music and arts center is finally moved in (7 months after I had my IVF rainbow baby 🌈).

Through my training (MPH in Maternal & Child
Health, DrPH in Community Health, and MA In Music Education), I have come to truly believe that the arts has the power to connect, hold space, and heal. Music also helps with emotional regulation, distress tolerance, mindfulness, collaboration, and listening skills.

I’m going back to my day job in public health but my hope is that at least 30 families will join our offerings to sustain the studio - honestly, just to cover the space’s rent. [Anything extra will help me go back to school to finish the degree that I left behind in 2020 to keep my pandemic baby safe.]

This Fall, join us for:
*Adult Piano - Mon 🎹
*Family Ukulele Circles - Wed 🎶
*Mama Dance Fitness - Tues/Sat 💃
*Musical Theater Community Choir - Thurs 🎤
*Preschool Music - Sat 🎵
*Youth Piano - Mon/Tues/Thurs 🎼
*Filipino Saturday School - Sat 🇵🇭

More here:
https://mailchi.mp/palakamusic/palakas-new-space-new-energy-new-offerings-join-the-community-today

***Email me at heidi@palakamusic.com to schedule a visit and I’ll give you a 20% coupon code to enroll when we meet!

Authors Aimee Suzara @aimeesuzara.artist and David Maduli @david.maduli are offering a free workshop/writing space for BIPOC Parent Writers next Sunday, August 17 at 10am in Oakland. This opportunity is funded by a generous grant we co-wrote.

Will you need childcare? We have a great young adult volunteer available and there is a separate on-site space conducive to child play and activities! Sliding scale donations encouraged.

Use this form to register by Saturday: https://tinyurl.com/bipocparents and feel free to spread the word to parents and caregivers who might be interested!

New Space. New Energy. New Offerings. https://mailchi.mp/palakamusic/palakas-new-space-new-energy-new-offerings-join-the-community-today

Building the healing arts center is a day by day project. I remind myself to just take one step at a time, remembering the dream that was placed in my heart and the role models / mentors / inspirations that came before me. Hoping to create spaces that cultivate community and creativity including a dance & jamming room, a mama-cave, a backyard stage and playground, and a kids’ hideaway room. Did you know I love to use my tools and my drill? 🪛 🔧 🔨

Congrats to all the Tony Award Winners including two Filipino-Americans @darrencriss & @nicolescherzinger and two alumni from my high school @darrencriss & @francisjueactor. Video: my sister saw @maybehappyending in NY and namedropped me - the video’s proof that a Tony Award winner knows me (and our music school)! 🎶 🎭 🎹 👏🏽 ✊🏽🇵🇭��🤗

Piano by Ms Heidi. “May our actions and our deeds bring comfort to their needs. And they’ll know and sing.” 🎶 🎹 Join us this summer in playing the piano! www.palakamusic.com/calendar

Piano by Ms Heidi. “Look at where you are. Look at where you started. The fact that you’re alive is a miracle. Just stay alive, that would be enough.” 🎶 🎹 Join us this summer in playing the piano! www.palakamusic.com/calendar

Piano by Ms Heidi. “They can say, they can say it all sounds crazy. They can say, they can say I’ve lost my mind. I don’t care, I don’t care, so call me crazy. We can live in a world that we design.” 🎶 🎹 Join us this summer in playing the piano! www.palakamusic.com/calendar

Excited for what this makes possible! Open mics, performances, movie nights, outdoor dance fitness, outdoor yoga… the warm weather summer has arrived! ☀️

Additional vinyl signs are up! (With two kids in tow 😮‍💨) Though we don’t offer all of these services right at this moment (some we have done in the past or just once), I’m speaking it into truth and manifesting these visions into reality🤞🏾Grand opening date to be announced soon! #SmallBusinessOwner

Baby Mikha & Ukulele: I Lava You (with track)

The summer schedule is up! Piano camps (ages 5-12), preschool piano (ages 4-5), preschool prodigies (ages 2-3), and more! Tell a friend and have a blast making music this summer ☀️ 🎶

Did you know Miss Heidi and her pug @chowtzthepug used to ride around town and train for duathlons/triathlons? We’re celebrating Bike to Wherever Day with @BikeEastBay by hosting an Energizer Station! Visit us at our new spot (5549 Claremont Ave Oakland) TODAY Thursday May 15 between 3-6pm to pick up your free tote bag, get counted, and celebrate the joy of biking. We’ll have snacks, live music, and instruments for kids to play and art activities! Bikes encouraged (but swing by anyway even if you don’t have one)! #btwd2025 @bikeeastbay

Excited to be able to finally offer Filipino kids’ music and dance - a dream in the making. We’re starting with summer camps and will transition to Filipino Saturday School in the Fall. We certainly have drawn inspiration from @samasamacooperative @galingbata @kababayankids @tagalogkids @tagalogtime.pat @agosprogram_kularts @pepsanfrancisco @likhapilipino @parangaldance @kariktandance @filipinoculturalschool and hope to add to the growing plethora of Bay Area opportunities for youth to learn about Filipino culture! Hope you’ll join us for our inaugural summer camps - not just for Fil-Am kids but for all interested. Details and registration links forthcoming - comment below, tag a friend, and stay tuned! 🇵🇭 🎶

Wondering what it’s been like the past couple of months? 🤔 💭 Here are some glimpses of the process of moving and settling into the new spot, which I started 3 weeks postpartum 🤰🏻 🤱🏻 Thanks for your patience as we get ramped back up! See the next post for pics of the progress we’ve made. 👀

Business planning and strategizing while at my 3x/week infusions ✊🏽🫶🏾 #EntrepreneurLife

We’re making our mark in our new location in Rockridge along Claremont Ave - the new vinyl signs are up! Looking forward to rolling out our healing spaces through music and arts 😊🎭 🎶 🖼️ 🇵🇭 ❤️‍🩹 🫶🏾✊🏽👊🏿👋🏾 #OaklandRockridge @rockridgeoakland

Tour of the new space after a trial lesson 🎹

A work in progress but the artwork is starting to go up! Soft opening date coming soon!

Still a work in progress but it’s coming together. Looking forward to welcoming all the kids, mamas, and families to our new space with 5 (!) rooms and a backyard outdoor area, and expand our services to fulfill our mission of being a healing center through music, arts, & culture. Kid-friendly and beginner-friendly mama hip hop dance fitness classes, writing groups, ukulele circles, book clubs, movie nights, healing retreats, vendor fairs, open mics, BIPOC storytimes, Filipino language classes, and more coming in addition to our music and piano classes! 🎶 🍿 📚 💃 ✍️ 🎥 ❤️‍🩹 🎹

We will have a new home soon! Stay tuned 😉

Today’s reads that will accompany the 3x/week infusions, 2 week pediatric appt, 2 week postpartum visit, and the Willow Go breast pump bag as I go explore potential new spots for PALAKA Center for Music, Arts, Culture, & Healing. #MamaLife #MamaPreneur

Bittersweet to pack up the studio and move everything into storage this past week. Over the past year, we’ve had the honor of serving over 300 families, mamas, and kids in this space on College Ave in Oakland Rockridge. This is a pause, but not farewell… As we search for a new home, we hope to expand our partnerships with community healers, organizations, and schools/educators. For now, send good energies during our lease negotiations process! We’ll be updating you soon. In the meantime, I am offering private lessons out of my home for a special few families - PM me 🎶

Just wrapped up a Prodigies class for our littlest students - 2-3 year olds!

Rockridge Holidaze was a blast! Thanks to everyone who dropped by to enjoy some hot chocolate, tea, and piano tunes :) and playing bells and other instruments! Surely will miss this place when we move out at the end of this month. It’s been a good run building community in Rockridge 🎹 🎄

Join us today for a free community event! RSVP at https://www.hisawyer.com/palaka-music-and-arts/schedules/activity-set/1149016?source=semesters

🎀 SAMPLE & SIP ❅ GREAT GIFTS ❅ POP-UPS 🎀
🎀 CAROLS ❅ HOLIDAY CHEER ❅ FAMILY FUN 🎀

Celebrate the Holidaze with fun and festive delights as Oakland’s College Avenue merchants invite you to shop and stroll with friends and family on Saturday, December 7. Businesses will host you with hot beverages and bubbly, cookies and treats, music and carols. Take advantage of special Holidaze offers, gift wrapping, pop-ups, and more!

Make your Holidaze bright with holiday lights and decorations along lovely College Avenue! Stay for a dinner with your family and friends, and share a truly joyful experience finding memorable gifts for everyone on your list.

RockridgeDistrict.com

Rockridge Holidaze is @bartable - take the train to the Rockridge station and you’re in the ♥ of the fun.

#oaklandholidayshopping #rockridgeholidaze #greatgifts #sipandshop #shoplocal #shopoakland

Sorry to announce that our FAHM celebration is cancelled for today and will be postponed to a future date. Ms Heidi has been having complications with her pregnancy and had to go to the ER (and had multiple hospital visits) this past week. All events and classes are on hold while we strategically plan for the future of the studio. Please send well wishes 🙏🏽

It is with great pleasure that our studio has been able to serve more than 250+ children and families in the Bay Area over the past two years. It is with great sadness that I share that we will no longer be able to stay in our current location beyond December 2024 (our landlord is not renewing our lease due to sound complaints). We thank you for your patronage and support, and hope we find a place which to relocate - else, we’ll be back to our garage, driveway, and living room, and hopefully partner with some local schools. 🎶 🎹 👦🏻 👧🏽

Celebrating FilAm History Month at @undiscoveredsf - Enjoying supporting Filipino-owned small businesses: shopping for @shop_farols Warriors Parol, @sunkissed_pinay jewelry, eating Ube Halo Halo by @street.stix, and listening to @mangokingz perform 🇵🇭

.pro-gallery-wix-wrapper {display: block !important;} .pro-gallery-wix-wrapper .gallery-item-container {opacity: 1 !important; display: block !important;}

Follow us on Instagram

@palakamusic

Be the first to know

Subscribe to our newsletter to receive news and updates.

In 2024, we moved to our own space in Rockridge! And then in 2025, we moved to a bigger space!

As of Feb 1, 2025, we are now at 5549 Claremont Ave!

More details to come!

Kickstart Our Move!

Goodbye Laurel!

We expanded to 4148 MacArthur Blvd, Oakland Laurel in May 2023 and will miss it dearly, but we're in a new space now!

Our Studio Instruments

Deskbell Sets

Xylophones

Full-Sized Keyboards

Floor Pianos

Featured Group Classes

Detailed information can be found on our services page

Preschool Prodigies (10-month program)

Perfect for curious toddlers and pre-schoolers wanting to play pitched instruments!

More information here!

Enroll Now

Preschool Piano

Does your little one already know their Left from their Right Hand and count to 5? They can start learning the piano!

More information here!

Enroll Now

Youth & Teen Piano

Has your child or teen been wanting to learn how to play the piano? Join our group beginner classes!

More information here!

Enroll Now

Figuring out where your child would fit?

Check out this infographic below.

Or schedule a time to meet with Miss Heidi to discuss what you're looking for!

Chat with Miss Heidi

Glimpses of Our Original Garage Studio

Dance

Ring

Draw

Play

Additional Offerings:
Piano Lessons & Camps

Detailed information can be found on our services page

Private Piano Lessons for Youth and Teens

Adult Piano Lessons

Piano Camps

About PALAKA Music & Arts Studio

PALAKA Music and Arts Studio offers group music classes for toddlers and preschoolers, group piano classes for preschoolers, and piano classes and lessons for youth, teens, and adults in Oakland and the East Bay Areas

We envision healing, restoring, and transforming the world

through music & arts, one child at a time

via public health prevention models

with youth and families in the East Bay Area and beyond

We strive to engage in, develop, and deliver programs

with a decolonial, anti-racist lens, to revolutionize music and arts education for our communities, this generation and beyond.

PALAKA Founder, Owner, and Educator Heidi Kelly-Tuason birthed the idea of the studio during the COVID-19 pandemic, integrating 15+ years of community health experiences with 20+ years of musical theater and church musician experiences, combining her education and training: BA Ethnic Studies + BS Biology (UCSD), MPH Maternal & Child Health (UC Berkeley), DrPH-PhD Community Health (UCLA), Postpartum Mental Health Peer Support Specialist Certificate (PSI), Pastoral Music & Liturgy Certificates (LMU), Early Childhood Education & Music (Santa Monica), Piano Teaching (Las Positas), and MA Music Education (San Jose State).

Contact Us

General Information: info@palakamusic.com

Group Classes: groups@palakamusic.com

Join our listserve!

PALAKA at 5549 Claremont

https://maps.app.goo.gl/aci2uWKz7pnCad649

PALAKA Center for Music, Arts, Culture, & Healing

​

Follow us on Instagram

Be the first to know

In 2024, we moved to our own space in Rockridge! And then in 2025, we moved to a bigger space!

Goodbye Laurel!

Our Studio Instruments

Featured Group Classes

Preschool Prodigies (10-month program)

Preschool Piano

Youth & Teen Piano

Figuring out where your child would fit?

Glimpses of Our Original Garage Studio

Additional Offerings: Piano Lessons & Camps

About PALAKA Music & Arts Studio

Contact Us

Additional Offerings:
Piano Lessons & Camps