Pelzer Music Lessons

Awesome instructor! Patient with my inexperience, but pushing me to become better and better with each lesson.

Extremely helpful. Noticeable improvement after only three lessons.

Jonathon is knowledgeable and is able to translate that into concise instructions for improving ones piano skills. I used him as a 'surge' to speed up my learning and he provided me with several tips that have helped.

My son has been learning classical music from professor Shurajit from the tender age of 6 yrs. He is almost 11. We started with group lessons and now have moved onto to one on one. Shurajit is a patient, knowledgeable and excellent teacher. I highly recommend him.

Shurajit is an expert in the venerable tradition of Carnatic music. He takes care to make sure that I'm doing things correctly, whether it is sight reading, pronunciation, counting talam and, of course, vocal rendition. He will never cut corners! Yet all is done in a spirit of joy and respect for the student whatever their cultural background or level. As an adult student, born in the US, who had no prior experience with Carnatic vocals, I find that the challenge of learning this rich and complex music is exciting and fun. I have deep respect for the spiritual traditions with which it is infused. Shurajit is an excellent communicator, he cares about his students, and he enjoys teaching. I highly recommend Shurajit as your first call if you are thinking about lessons for your child or for yourself.

Shurajit Gopal is by far the best Carnatic vocalist and teacher in South Carolina, perhaps the best in the Southeast of US. I live in Columbia, SC but I drive to Greenville every weekend to learn Carnatic vocal music from him. Although he offers Skype lessons for remote learners, face 2 face lessons is invaluable and worth every bit of it. Shurajit gives his all to a dedicated, devoted student and takes a very personal interest in the student's technical development. He makes sure that the student never goes off key and that he/she maintains clockwork precision on Talam. Shurajit makes learning Sangathi-variations so much fun. Sometimes when the variations don't land on the beat as it is supposed to, he devices creative methods so students are able to pick it up. It's like the American Idiom "there are multiple ways to skin a cat". Furthermore, I admire Shurajit because he is very personable and approachable. If you desire to be an "authentic" carnatic singer, @shurajit is the place to go.

-Venkatesh

Priscilla was so sweet and very encouraging to my 6 yr old!

Morgan loves her new piano teacher! She's learning a lot and can't wait to go back every week.

My son is really enjoying learning from Priscilla. He has shown definite improvement.

Tania has been a great teacher for my son. He started learning violin with the Suzuki method and studied with a Suzuki teacher for about four years before stopping lessons. He became interested in violin again in middle school and decided he wanted to take private lessons while in 7th grade. Tania had no trouble getting him back on track, picking up with some Book 2 pieces and moving on to Book 3. She has helped him with his bowing, vibrato and shifting, and his sound has really improved. She also has helped him learn to read better and has introduced some basic music theory into lessons. My son really likes his lessons, and feels that he is learning what he needs. Overall, I like her approach, which I think works very well for this level. She is an excellent musician, and this comes through in her teaching.

My first lesson with Tania met my expectations. She did an assessment to determine where I am in my learning and what I know. She gave me great pointers and we worked on a short piece alone with a Major scale. I look forward to my next lesson and expect to progress tremendously under her instruction.

I had such a wonderful experience with Tania as my violin teacher. I minored in music at Florida State University and was lucky enough to be her violin student for two years (August 2013-May 2015). Tania was extremely patient and encouraging, and was very skilled in teaching me how to balance focus on technical details as well as on the "bigger picture" of emotion and musicality. In my opinion and experience, Tania's greatest strength as a teacher is being very adaptable to her students' needs. When I was preparing for an important audition, her expectations and demands were where they needed to be in order for me to succeed. Months later, when I was approaching exams and graduation, she recognized that practicing every day was not my priority at that time, and she adjusted her teaching style so that I could still improve and use music as a constructive and creative outlet during those stressful times so that I could excel in my examinations.

From lesson to lesson (and in-between!), she succeeded in her best efforts in connecting with me not only as my teacher and as a fellow musician, but also as a fellow human being, pushing me to fulfill my potential in each and all of these areas. I highly recommend her as a teacher!

Luke is awesome! My son John was prepping for his college auditions in New York and his voice teacher in San Francisco recommended having a few lessons in New York City with Luke while he was there for a week beforehand. Luke was able to make my John feel so comfortable in his singing. He ended up taking an hour lesson with Luke every day the week he was in NYC. Luke helped condition John's voice and gave him warmup a to do before each of his auditions for schools. By the end of the week, Luke had John singing up to a high C very comfortably without any straining. He just knows how to make the voice float. (If you've ever heard him sing, you know what floating sounds like). It's too bad he left New York. I would have loved to have been able to see him perform when he was on Broadway, but he's decided to take his knowledge and nurture other's with what he knows. Something tells me many of his students will go on to become famous singers.

My son took piano lessons from Luke in New York City. When he told me he was moving away to Las Vegas, my heart sunk. In the 2 years that my son took lessons from him (he was 5-7 years old), he learned so much from being a complete beginner to being capable of playing small classical works with 2 hands. There was a time when my son wanted to learn a song on the radio and the music hadn't been released yet. Luke was able to listen to it and transcribe it for piano so that my son could learn it. Luke goes over and beyond for each of his students. After 2 years with Luke, we will sorely miss him, but the city of Las Vegas has just received a gem of a teacher in Luke. I suspect his schedule will fill up quickly.

Very patient and extremely knowledgeable!!

Sarah is a great teacher for my two little ones! I always hear about the fun games and activities she has for them, and they always show off the stickers they earned. We are still fairly new, but I am pleased with her so far.

Thank You, Sarah you're Great!