Yelena Grinberg

Teaching Philosophy | Location & Rates

Dr. Grinberg is a teacher’s teacher. While rigorous, our sessions together are an absolute delight – one of the real highlights of my week!! Time and again I’m amazed at how the smallest of her suggestions regarding my tempo, touch or use of the pedal, phrasing, etc. will completely transform a musical passage, infusing it with new vitality and freshness. Dr. Grinberg won me over from our very first lesson. Her criticisms are always offered with kindness and in the most positive of ways; never to tear down, always to build up and empower. It’s so obvious that her driving ambition is for me to learn, grow and shine. And while she expects a lot from her students and has a solid point of view regarding what’s tasteful, Dr. Grinberg isn’t quick to impose her own will. Instead, she’ll offer suggestions and make me aware of the unexplored possibilities in the music, encouraging me to seek out my own vision and grow as an artist. It’s also incredibly inspiring that she herself is a virtuoso concert pianist, as I can approach her with the technical aspects of more challenging works, confident that my pianistic pitfalls will be fully addressed and remedied. Even in today’s world of bravura pianists, her unique refinement, sureness, and sheer unabashed joy in the music – even in the most dizzying high-flying passages of Liszt and Alkan – is little short of breathtaking. It’s such a privilege having Dr. Grinberg as a teacher! When you add to all this a truly gracious and lovely human being who cares about her students beyond the confines of our lessons, it would indeed be difficult to find a more ideal instructor anywhere on the planet…

– Paul

I have been one of Dr. Grinberg’s pupils for almost four years. She is always reliable, punctual, and very professional. With an eye and enthusiasm for fine detail, Dr. Grinberg’s lessons encompass multifaceted aspects of the piece that we are working on, that range from pianistic issues to discussion of aesthetics and performance practice, in-depth analysis of theory and counterpoint, tone quality, and deeper philosophical issues. A highly competent professional in her field of expertise, Dr. Grinberg frequently demonstrates difficult passages during my lessons, revealing her impeccable technique, fresh insights and original ideas with me. Her ideas, however, are never imposed on me, but rather encourage me to explore the many interpretative possibilities for a given musical piece, to stimulate my creativity and deepen my musical intelligence and curiosity…”

– Christiany

Dr. Yelena Grinberg is not only a fantastic pianist, she is also a phenomenal teacher. For the past four years, she has taught me how to be a more sensitive and polished pianist. I have learned more with her than any other teacher I have ever had. She has also challenged me with complicated pieces and given me wonderful performance opportunities that I am not able to thank her enough for. It continues to be my pleasure to work with her as my teacher and I look forward to studying with her for as long as I can! ”

– Mary Grace

Studying with Yelena has been extremely enriching. She has helped me tremendously with ear training and has done far more. She has improved my skills at the piano and has also helped me to become an all around better cellist and person too. Working with her on a weekly basis has been and continues to be integral to my development as a musician…

– John

I have been studying with Dr. Yelena Grinberg since 2009. I have had several piano instructors in the past but Yelena is by far the best teacher I have ever met. There are several aspects of Yelena’s both personal and professional style that make her such an amazing teacher. She is persistent, never gives up on me, and always believes in me and my continual progress. She is also very kind while challenging me to do my very best. She is genuinely devoted to all her students, and will do everything she can to make me the best pianist and musician I can be. She teaches with a great passion and I really love my piano lessons with her!

– Noah

While my two daughters were taking piano lessons in Japan, they were taught to interpret their pieces and express their ideas about the music only after they have mastered the piece quite well on the technical level. Dr. Grinberg, however, in her dynamic and enthusiastic pedagogic approach, does not belabor the technical side of the piece but rather delves into the deeper – intellectual, emotional, and spiritual – dimensions of music from the start of their learning process. She encourages my daughters to engage their musical intelligence from the outset as she reveals to them the flexibility of phrasing, precision of rhythm, a wide spectrum of dynamics, and the variety of tonal colors, which is really inspiring and new to them. She is very unique that way as we don’t see a teacher like her often in Japan and I believe her teaching methodology is really precious and enlightening for the girls. They can’t wait for their next lesson each time!!

– Yumiko

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