l’ve known Irina Pelman for over five years as my son’s cello and piano teacher, and recommend
her highly as an excellent cello teacher, piano teacher, and ensemble coach. Her impressive
background includes training at the finest Moscow conservatory, performance as a soloist, and
long teaching experience. She works well with both children and adults, encouraging them to
understand music and play expressively as well as with good technique. She provides solo and
ensemble performance opportunities for her students at recitals that are well organized and fun.
Irina really cares about her students personally and is very supportive and attentive to their needs.

      - Alfred Equitz

  l am over 30 years old and for most of my life l have believed l can teach myself anything and i am loath to attempt something l know that l cannot perform perfectly on the first try. 4 years ago on a whim, l typed "cello lessons” into Craigslist and found lrina living just 10 blocks from my apartment. ln my usual passive manner l emailed her rather than calling so as to avoid committing myself to anything. Well lrina called me immediately and pinned me down to a lesson. After these 4 years l can say with all certainty that i am a better person because of lrina’s influence in my life. l have received so much more than mere cello lessons from this amazing woman. She has taught me to he humble, to be imperfect, to have patience, to persist, to laugh, and to love. She emanates a contagious love for cello and love for music. Many times over the years l have been frustrated, once l even cried, but no matter what lrina has always appealed to me through her endless patience. She truly wants her students to succeed and you can feel that when you are with her. lrina commands excellence, she does not accept excuses and she doesn’t take no for an answer. You get what you give and if you give your all to her and to the cello she will give you her all back. She has an uncanny knack for truly seeing people and tailoring her lessons to them. Her enthusiasm can make even the most mundane circumstances fun. 4 years ago l didn’t even know how to hold a bow, but now l can play cello, l can even play with other cellists. l’m no pro, I have a long way to go, but l can do a decent job when l really try and it is all thanks to lrina. l adore her and appreciate more than I can ever say! She is the most fantastic instructor l have ever had in any subject.

      -Emily Haynes

  I have been enjoying taking weekly lessons from Irina for over 4-1/2 years. Previously, I studied classical music (piano & violin) for approximately 15 years and have been exposed to a variety of teaching methods. Irina far surpasses all of my experiences with previous instructors in her patience and attention to each individual student, a testament to her love of the cello. She is an effective teacher in that she caters to each particular student's way of learning and makes great effort to guide you according to your limits and potentials. While Irina is always understanding of one's busy schedule, I have particularly appreciated her encouragement to perform in front of an audience as a soloist and in an ensemble; you learn a great deal from the actual process of performance and you are challenged to learn and listen when performing collectively. I am looking forward to being a student of Irina's for many more years.

      -Anny Su

  I began playing cello at age 38, after many years of studying guitar and other instruments. I had taken music theory in college and had a rather eclectic musical background, but had never really achieved much in the way of instrumental performance or repertoire. I had decided however, that I wanted to become a competent performing musician.
My first cello teacher gave me a lot of material to learn, but I had decided to move from Seattle to the San Francisco Bay Area, and was looking for a new teacher, perhaps one that could work with my idiosyncratic ideas about music and my background. I found Irina through an Internet search, and went to her studio for a lesson just a few days after arriving in the Bay Area. I was amazed and intrigued from the very first lesson about her pedagogical style and her care and sensitivity in approaching music and the cello. I was especially enthusiastic about the way she began to build my trust and motivation to learn to really play music beautifully, both sonically and technically .
I had extensive experience with private music lessons, especially on guitar, but I had never experienced such thorough instruction on the movement and visualization techniques that make a musician really shine on their instrument, such as how Irina delivered her instruction.
From the beginning , we worked on music specific to my level of ability on the instrument, and she gently but persistently pushed me to improve my technical ability and understanding of the music. In two years of weekly lessons, I went from barely being able to hold the bow to performing Bach suites. Irina also helped me to choose the first, second and third cellos that I've purchased as I advanced in my ability.
She helped me to set goals and to progressively work towards more and more challenging music.
One conductor friend of mine even told me that I am very lucky to have such a teacher, because the Russian string instrument pedagogy is truly the best in the world. I certainly agree with him.
Beyond that, Irina truly and wholeheartedly cares about me as a person, and displays heartfelt empathy and care in guiding me along my path as a musician and a person.

Irina is helping me to fulfill my commitment to myself to become the musician I always wanted to be.

      -Trey Donovan

  I have been going to Irina for cello lessons since 2005 except for one year when I was living overseas. During that time Irina has been extremely accommodating to my needs. Recently I went back to school and started a new job, and Irina has worked with me and my schedule so that I can maintain the musical skills I have gained. With Irina I have played solo, duet and ensemble music pieces. These were all great experiences that have been beneficial to my cello playing. Her love of music and teaching is evident in the way she speaks and plays her cello. Her love of cello is contagious. Irina holds her students to high standards because of her love for music and the cello. She has a keen awareness of each student's potential and has a delicate way of helping her students achieve their potential. More than an outstanding teacher, Irina is a great person who has led an interesting life, and I've enjoyed getting to know her over the years.

      -Claire Fong

 

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