Age 6

I feel happy because I love to play.

I feel awesome because my teacher is the best teacher ever and I have fun playing the piano with her

Age 16

From an early age, I developed a great admiration for music which I have been able to enjoy more since I acquired a passion for the piano. The piano allows me to be in contact with a special dimension and at the same time in contact with the great Maestros. 

I feel very grateful to have had the opportunity to meet Amarylli from an early age because she has taught me not only how to play the piano but also to know, appreciate and enjoy music. 

Age 11

When I play the piano sometimes I feel frustrated and sometimes I feel relaxed. My relationship with my teacher is excellent although sometimes we fight and so on! but she is the best teacher so far and I love her. She is the best.

Age 15

When I play the piano I become very relaxed and I begin to feel as one with the music. My body becomes nothing more than a fluid that’s flowing along with the beat and melody of the music. It brings me to a peaceful place.

My relationship with my teacher is very opened and relaxed. Her studio is very uplifting and void of anything that could cause intimidation or stress. She is so inviting and warm that I can be totally myself with her. With her it is more than just learning to play the piano, it is learning how to express yourself and your feelings through music. With her I’ve learned to do that.

Age 14

I feel pretty frustrated and stressful at first, but once I finally get it and am able to play a piece smoothly I get high on the melody that flows off my fingers.

Our different forms of “crazy” personality complement each other and although we drive each other crazy sometimes, I always enjoy class.

Age 10

I am happy and eager to learn when I get to the studio.

Amarylli is fun with me. She is family to my sisters and me.

Age 8

I feel when I play the piano, that this is my future.

My relationship with my teacher is marvelous. She is amazing.

Age 8

When I touch the piano I feel happy because I am playing new songs that are really interesting.

I like her instructions and she is nice.

Age 15

Sometimes when I play the piano I feel like the best 15 years old to play piano in the history of the world until my neighbors start complaining because it sounds like a dying animal & I wake everybody up with my “amazing” Rhapsody in Blue at 5:00am.

Other times I am frustrated, because if I do not understand something, I silently thank God for not having superhuman strength because I would throw my piano out the window.

Yet, I love the piano & in my opinion is the best instrument ever & it is a hobby I want to carry on forever.

My teacher is my 2nd mother. She is a 16 year old trapped inside a body of someone in their 40’s. I tell her absolutely everything, even more that I tell my best friends! In 3 years Amarylli has gone from a piano teacher to a best friend. She has helped me with all my problems & always gives me the best advice.

Age 5

I fell well because I feel that I am playing in a theater.

I think she is beautiful and nice.

Age 14

I feel confident when I play the piano and inspired by the beautiful sounds that it can create.

I love playing the piano with my teacher because she makes it fun and exciting each class and has a long history with piano so she has a lot to share (and she’s insane!) LOL

Age 11

I feel good; relaxed like if I was creating music.

She teaches very well and I love learn from her.

Age 16

While practicing? I feel annoyed but once I’ve learned a piece and can play it all the way through I feel satisfied and proud.

Amarylli is amazing. I can honestly say she is one of the craziest, funniest, understanding and generous people I know. She makes me want to come to class and without her I would probably not still be playing piano to this day. She is also a great life coach if anyone was wondering.

Age 11

When I play the piano I feel relaxed and that I play with my heart.

My relationship with my teacher is super good. She teaches very well and she is super nice. She understands my necessities and knows how to clarify my doubts. 

Age 12

I feel joy, freedom, that when I play I am being transported to another world that I had never seen before.

My relationship is strong with my teacher and I trust her to help me succeed in life.

Age 15

It is my way to take breaks throughout the day, especially on weekdays when homework can be a hassle.

Although Amarylli and me have moments when we are “at each other throats” she is one of the reasons I have stuck with piano for the past 3 and half years after leaving it previously.

Age 8

The piano is fun for me because my relation with Amarylli is “insane”.

(Adult)

I feel joy and pleasure. I love music so to play it it’s a dream come true!

 My "new” teacher is funny, challenging and she is “made of music” and I look forward every time I attend my piano lessons. 

(Adult)

I feel happy and proud when I play the piano. It is a very deep experience with myself.
Amarylli, my teacher, is like a sister. She makes me feel very comfortable which in turn, makes me open to learning.

(Adult)

I feel impatient, frustrated. Learning curve at my age is simply slipping. Would love to really play well. 

My teacher is more of a Master of her skill. She is not a "teacher" to me, more of an artist with amazing ability to be creative in her instruction. She exudes patience and kindness in every lesson.

(Adult)

Playing the piano is my therapy and escape; it transports me to my choice of place and mood. It is a challenging and gratifying pastime, where there is always a milestone to be reached.

With Amarylli I have learned that music has different layers and can be seen from different dimensions. In the same way is our relationship: student-teacher-mother-friend. In the same way as with music, Amarylli has helped me to distinguish life’s different layers, to enjoy them separately and to see them overlap in an harmonic way and enjoy them as a whole. She believed in me and has pushed me to levels I did not know I was capable of playing. Her lessons are challenging but also fun and relaxed. I am always looking forward to my lesson; it is my treat of the week!   It is very interesting to see how she understands my son from a different perspective than mine (almost like if she were a teenager herself!)

(Adult)

When I play the piano I feel pure happiness!! Each song is music for the soul. In conclusion it is therapeutic!

My relationship with my beloved teacher is like a permanent “playdate” with my best friend!!! I am absolutely thankful to Life for putting her in my way!!

(Adult)

When I play the piano I feel a kind of peace. I feel joy in being able to produce something beautiful, something that has the potential to move and inspire. I also enjoy it as something I do for myself, for my own betterment and growth.

I LOVE my piano teacher!  I have such a good time during my lessons and really look forward to that moment of my week.  We laugh together, we struggle together, and I learn from Amarylli tremendously. She’s such an inspiration, obviously as an incredible piano player, but, more importantly, as a mother, friend, and human being. I cannot imagine learning from anyone else.  She's simply amazing! 

(Adult)

The piano - The piano is the voice that truly reflects the universal colors of music.  It is the pianist's eternal quest to search, discover, nurture, suffer and forever respect the eternal music that is imprisoned within it. Suffering, heartbreak, joyfulness, rapture, peace and serenity are the gifts that it has forth to bare. The one who chooses to hew away at its rough marbly edges will eventually discover its endless and illuminating beauty. Don't miss out on the opportunity to live this wonderful experience.

My teacher - Through my own pianistic quest, I've come across many different schools and variety of technical approaches to the instrument. I was fortunate enough as a young child to be taught by the parents of world renowned pianist Bruno Leonardo Gelber. Unfortunately, their technique never progressed me as I wish it would have. In my quest, I wondered into other schools of playing this time in the hands of conservatory teachers that cared more for their academic progress than extracting the best out of each student. Fortunately for me, my passion was composition, so my search for technical perfection was tempered by my love to create and paint with music. Yet, the importance of the technique was vital for the quality and structure of my compositions. However hard I tried, I could not push my hand enough to develop the structure of my sounds. And one day, I suffered a tremendous blow to my musical aspirations. My hand became crippled by a syndrome called "focal dystonia". Although I was not aware at that time, I came to find out that this was a neurological disease that occurred to many musicians who have stressed their hands beyond limit and using the wrong technique. I wondered for years, convinced that my hand was gone forever and dead was my music.  I was seen by top neurologists at the National Institute of Health, whom also treated piano virtuoso Leon Fleischer for the same disease. I went as far as injecting botox in my hand to temper the crippling of my fingers. 

 "La comedia e finita"; I thought to myself. 

Then one day my young daughter came to me with a flyer of a local teacher who gave piano lessons. She told me that I should take Piano lessons from her. I really had almost given up on my piano playing and less did I think that a piano teacher could do anything about it. I was convinced from head to toe that there was nothing that could be done for my hand.  When I saw the resume and the accomplishments Amarylli had achieved as a pianist, I really thought this would be more of an opportunity for my daughter than for me.  When I walked into her studio, we conversed about Victoria taking lessons and by pass I mentioned to her about my condition. The first thing that Amarylli did was to have me sit down and relax my hand. I never really thought my hand was tense, until she showed me the real way to relax it. We begun working through pieces very slowly and she began to unveil a new technique which I had never experienced before.  To the point that my articulation was no longer a dependent factor in my playing.

For the last 6 months both Victoria and I have been taking lessons with Amarylli. What I can say is that, ever since, I have had no need to go back for any botox treatments and my playing capacity has increased substantially.  

I cannot explain the impact that this has done to my hand and how she has changed my life with her technique and approach to music. This is a first and it’s real. My daughter Victoria has been on the fence with playing the piano. She has seen my struggles and certainly voiced out her fears of approaching such a demanding instrument. Yet, ever since she has been with Amarylli, her love for the instrument has increased and she has developed a curiosity in developing further. She basically went from zero playing to now having a sound control of her hands and playing pieces of considerable difficulty. And all this has been achieved not only through her sound approach to teaching, but also by her passion to nurture my child both as a person and as an artist. 

As a pianist who once lost his ability to play, I can only attest that Amarylli has changed not only my way of playing , but also has increased my confidence, my ability and lost interest to go back and play piano literature.