The Note START HERE CHORD THEORY SONG TUTORIALS THEORY TECHNIQUE MUSICIANSHIP CHORDS & SCALES LIBRARY

Introducing Summer Swee-Singh, Our Newest Pianote Coach

Summer Swee-Singh  /  Articles  /  UPDATED Mar 1, 2023

Pianote is proud to introduce our newest Coach, Summer Swee-Singh! Summer’s course is all about re-imagining your favorite songs for the piano, and it’s available now in the Members’ area. Not a Member yet? Give Pianote a try with a free trial.

Summer’s musical journey is an interesting one. She was put in piano lessons to help with social anxiety and was destined for law school before switching to music. Today, Summer is a pianist, composer, and arranger, and runs the AAPI Musicians Project.

  1. How It Started
  2. Choosing Music Over Law
  3. Supporting Under-represented Musicians
  4. Advice for Emerging Musicians

🎹 Your Go-To Place for All Things Piano

Subscribe to The Note for exclusive interviews, fascinating articles, and inspiring lessons delivered straight to your inbox. Unsubscribe at any time.

How It Started

Summer was a very shy child growing up. So shy that a teacher recommended she participate in a group extracurricular activity, which led her parents to sign her up for group keyboard lessons.

At first, Summer disliked having to read sheet music at these lessons. But she excelled at ear training, and at twelve years old, became the youngest person at the time to pass the Yamaha Music School’s Grade 5 examination. Which is no small feat, considering that the level allows her to teach at Yamaha music schools.

If there’s one takeaway from my career and life up to this point, it’s to trust your ear.

Summer Swee-Singh

Choosing Music Over Law

While Summer’s childhood achievements were impressive, it was never in her (and her parents’) plans to pursue music. After high school, she majored in legal studies at UC Berkeley and took a law firm job post-graduation with the goal of entering law school.

In her free time, Summer played and arranged music for fun. She uploaded covers to YouTube, and Skrillex (one of the artists she covered) started reposting her medleys. Summer’s success on YouTube and the encouragement of some select people in her life convinced her to quit her office job and pursue music professionally.

In 2017, Summer shared a four-song medley of two Thrice and two Circa Survive songs. Circa Survive discovered the video and invited her on tour. The following year, Summer toured with Anthony Green for his solo tour and later also Chon (an “incredibly virtuosic” math rock band).

Fast forward to today: Summer is currently on a U.S./Canadian stadium tour playing keyboard for Kings Elliot and opening for Macklemore and Imagine Dragons. She played and wrote the keys part for a recently-released Polyphia track called “Playing God (Acoustic)”, and has also accompanied Bebe Rexha on Ellen and performed for two TEDx events.

Supporting Under-represented Musicians

Early in her career, Summer recalls totally rocking an L.A. audition. The person in charge said she was “the best keys player that’s played here today.” However, she says, “I did not expect the next line: ‘Yeah…you don’t have the look. They want an all-white band.’”

This experience led Summer Swee-Singh to begin the AAPI Musicians Project. It’s a blog that highlights rising artists in the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community. “I knew there had to be tons of other Asian kids who were really freaking good at their instruments who were being overlooked. Whenever I would go to shows, I would rarely see Asian people on stage—unless the music genre was K-pop, J-pop, Bollywood, or specific ethnic music.”

AAPI musicians Summer has interviewed include Isabelle de Leon (left) and Brendan Liu (right).

Summer also reminds us: “‘AAPI’ is a very large encompassing term, and the Asian diaspora is huge. So it’s not like there’s any one person that’s representative of the entire community.”

You are not here to be “the best.” You are here to contribute what your brain—specifically, uniquely—has given you. No one else can be you.

Summer Swee-Singh

Advice for New and Emerging Musicians

Tips for Nervous Musicians

Summer admits that she still struggles with anxiety. But she credits having to deal with a constant baseline of anxiety for developing good coping skills. Summer has dealt with anxiety since a very young age and has had a lifetime of practice dealing with it. This doesn’t make the anxiety go away, but exposure therapy seems to help.

Summer credits fellow AAPI musician Yvette Young for connecting her with opportunities.

As for imposter syndrome, Summer has these words of wisdom: “You are not here to be ‘the best.’ You are here to contribute what your brain—specifically, uniquely—has given you. No one else can be you.”

Tips for Under-represented Musicians

“I really hope that you can find someone that looks like you, that can help you stay motivated to become whatever type of musician you want to be, whether the goal is to become a professional musician or if music is something you just want to pursue as a pastime. I think it’s very valuable—even if I hadn’t turned out to be a musician, it’s something I am so passionate about, I’m sure I would still play every day. 

“I hope that more AAPI parents will be willing to allow their kids to pursue creative pursuits…and I hope that even if the parents don’t allow for things like that, that [the kids] rebel just a little bit! If you’re really passionate about it, continue pursuing it regardless. That’s essentially what I had to do.”

More Tips

Summer is a big supporter of practice. This doesn’t necessarily mean practicing hours on end, however. She practices anywhere between 30 minutes to three hours a day, depending on her gig schedule. And as someone with anxiety, she notes that practice helps boost her confidence.

Her key is focused practice. It’s not enough to just put in the hours. As an arranger, Summer has to juggle many parts in her head and needs to be very present. 

Finally, Summer is a big proponent of ear training. According to her, 90-95% of what she does is done by ear. “If there’s one takeaway from my career and life up to this point . . . it’s [to] trust your ear.”

Learn more about Summer:


Charmaine Li is a Vancouver writer who has played piano for over 20 years. She holds an Associate diploma (ARCT) from the Royal Conservatory of Music and loves writing about the ways in which music—and music learning—affects the human experience. Charmaine manages The Note. Learn more about Charmaine here.

Headshot of woman with short platinum hair against a studio background.

The easiest way to learn beautiful piano chords.
Sign up for 5 FREE play-along lessons

By signing up you’ll also receive our ongoing free lessons and special offers. Don’t worry, we value your privacy and you can unsubscribe at any time.