AboutKaii

Kaii was born in Taipei, Taiwan where she began her musical training on the piano, French horn and cello. Her Catholic school choir had provided the experience for singing in many different languages. Since elementary school, she had traveled throughout Asia and the United States to perform. She earned her B.A. degree in Piano Performance from UCLA, where she served as the A Capella choir president under Roger Wagner. She earned her M.A. degree from Cal State Northridge in Piano Performance and studied under world renowned pianist, Jacob Gimpel. While at CSUN, Kaii also completed her K-12 Single Subject and Community College Teaching Credentials. Before joining the Irvine Unified School District, she taught piano courses at College of the Canyon, K-12 vocal and general music for the Las Virgenes School District, and high school vocal and musical theatre classes for the Oak Park Unified School District. She also taught ear training and music theory classes at the Grove School of Music while becoming a MIDI musician to work with musicians such as David Foster.

Kaii owned a music studio in Woodland Hills for 12 years and has been writing method books for piano and voice since 1991. Her latest vocal books, "Singing Basics", were composed for and used at elementary schools in Irvine. She has been the Irvine Elementary School Honor Chorus music arranger, accompanist, director, and Honors Concert Stage Manager, from 1999 to 2012, the Irvine Middle School Honor Chorus accompanist and director for 2006, and served as an accompanist for Irvine Valley College. After earning the title as the Irvine Unified Fine Arts Teacher of the Year in 2003, Kaii was awarded by the Orange County Music and Arts Administrators (OCMAA) to be the Orange County Elementary School Vocal Music Teacher of the Year in 2004. She was selected to be one of the 24 teacher-attendees nationwide in the "Dvorak Institute", hosted by the Pittsburgh University and funded by the Department of National Endowment for the Humanities in July, 2010. Check her work from Pittsburgh here.

Ms. Lee put together "Dvorak Assemblies" for Alderwood Elementary School in March 2012, funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities, by writing a script about Dvorak, teaching Dvorak's songs to her classes and rearranging Dvorak music for Mrs. Kroesen's string students to perform in the same assemblies. This project also involved American Music Scholar, Joseph Horowitz, Bass-Bariton, Terry Cook, and the Pacific Symphony Orchestra.

During spring 2014, Kaii was selected to be one of the 24 U.S. teachers to receive another NEH grant. For four weeks, Ms. Lee studied the details of "The Star-Spangled Banner" at University of Maryland, College Park, and Washington D.C. She had the opportunities to visit the vaults of Library of Congress, National Museum of American History, Maryland Historical Society, U.S. Marine Corps, State Capital, and many other historical buildings and offices. With the support of Star-Spangled Music Foundation and Hempsong Foundation, all 24 teachers had created school projects and lesson plans related to "The Star-Spangled Banner". As promised, Ms. Lee would weave many patriotic songs into her school concert programs in the 2014-15 school year. Check her work from Maryland here.

In February 2015, Japan Business Association of Southern California selected Ms. Lee to be one of the seven educators to represent Southern California for a FREE educational/cultural exchange. There were 30 teachers and administrators chosen from seven regions and four countries for this trip. Ms. Lee was the only music teacher chosen to give two demonstration music lessons to Japanese schools in Tokyo and Ikaruga.

After teaching 20 years at IUSD, Kaii has taught in Alderwood, Brywood, Canyon View, College Park, Culverdale, Eastshore, Eastwood, Greentree, Los Naranjos, Meadow Park, Oak Creek, Vista Verde, and Turtle Rock Schools. She also enjoys being a private piano teacher, and singing with the Pacific Chorale for the 15th year. Ms. Lee participated in the Pacific Chorale's Paris Tour 2012 performances in Paris, France, and Budapest/Vienna Tour 2016.

During the 2017-18 school year, Ms. Lee performed Phillip Glass' music with Pacific Symphony and Pacific Chorale in Carnegie Hall, in New York City. Following that performance, the Heritage Performance Series in New York selected Ms. Lee to be a chaperon for the High School Honor Performances at Sydney Opera House, in Australia. For one summer week (winter in Australia), Ms. Lee assisted high school students to and from rehearsals and performance, and made sure their families were in great spirits too! Click here to see her Sydney photos.

After receiving a grant from Japanese Business Association of Southern California to support the IUSD Honor Chorus 2018, Ms. Lee received another grant from the same organization for the 2018-2019 school year to promote Japanese culture and music in the Irvine schools.

Kaii retired from the Irvine Unified School District in June, 2022, after 24 years of being a Vocal Music Specialist at IUSD. She promptly purchased a cello and started practicing and joined the Irvine College Orchestra in the Fall semester on 2022. The IVC Orchestra performed Debussy's "Le Petite Suite" and Beethoven's Symphony No.5 in that first semester. In the second semester of 23-24 school year, Kaii was chosen to be the first chair player in the cello section in the IVC orchestra.

In the meantime, Ms. Lee has joined the Pacific Symphony Orchestra's Education Department, in the Class Act Program, to be the Teacher Workshop Presenter and to teach Orange County's public school teachers and staff in Fall 2022. So far, she has presented her programs of Johann Sebastien Bach and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. After her successful workshops for teachers, Kaii was asked to be one of the speakers in the Pacific Symphony Orchestra's Speakers Bureau. She was the first speaker of the 24-25 concert year and gave a wonderful presentation to the Rotary Club of Placentia on July 31, 2024.

As this page is being written, Ms. Lee has signed on to her next teaching position at the Samueli Academy, located in Santa Ana, California. She will be teaching "Music Fundamentals" during the zero-period, four days a week. Yes, she still plays the cello and piano!

See Ms. Lee's past travels below:

Toronto, Motreal, and Quebec City, Canada 2024

Taos, and Santa Fe, New Mexico 2024

Northern and Southern California 2023

London, Edinburgh, & Paris 2019

Australia, Sydney & Melbourne

China, Beijing, Guilin, & Shanghai

Greece, Athens & Paros Island

Japan, Tokyo, Nara, Ikaruga, Kyoto, & Hiroshima

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