Testimonials
What differentiates Margarita's teaching method from other Piano teachers is the depth of musical knowledge she instills in her students. Margarita teaches how to play piano at a professional level. After learning piano from Margarita, a child can pursue music as a career. Margarita teaches the technique, knowledge and skills for a student to pursue piano as a career in performance or teaching. As a former student pursuing violin at a professional level, I am very pleased to have Margarita teach my child piano. Although I do not envision my child pursuing a career in music, I know that she will get the best through Margarita's perseverance in improving every child's piano skills.
Margarita sees through our children's abilities. She knows how to get the best out of them. That is why during your child's recital you will be very proud of him/her. My child, during 1 year of Margarita's teaching progressed beyond our expectation. There is absolutely no comparison in her progress compared to the previous teachers she had in the course of 5 years before moving to Margarita.
Carmen Varga
When I was 13, I arrived at house I’ve never been to and met my second ever piano teacher. I was afraid, I didn’t know how to react and at the same time sceptical. Little did I know that this would be a life changing occurrence. From the moment I met Margarita I immediately felt a warm and nurturing aura. Margarita taught me how to make the piano sing with my heart and showed me the beauty of music. She wasn’t just my teacher, she was also like a mother who nurtured me in the music world, teaching me everything that she knew. Her passion for piano is incomparable and amazing. Her passion sparked the passion I also had for piano and music deep within myself. Slowly I learned to love as she loves it when it comes to playing piano. Today, I’m 19, and a piano teacher as well, all thanks to Margarita. With all my heart, I love you Margarita, and Thank You for all you’ve done for me.
Selinda Wong
I was 5 years old when I first began playing piano and from the very beginning it was a chore. I practiced sporadically and unwillingly and as a result I learned very little. I nearly quit altogether when I was 10 years old. My parents convinced me to continue playing, offering to let me switch teachers. I reluctantly agreed and I began lessons with Margarita. I noticed an immediate difference from my old teacher. Margarita teaches with encouragement, not reprimand and and one of her highest priorities is to make the student feel comfortable. She practices right beside you during lessons, and tries her best to help students learn not just to play notes, but to play music. I learned musically from Margarita, how to make a piano, and best of all, to love music for itself. I’ve improved rapidly over the last 3 years because I actually like piano.
Connie Gong
My music teacher is the best teacher in the world! She has taught me so well that when people hear me play they are absolutely amazed! She is very patient and understandable. She knows exactly what her students need to either improve or play at Carnegie Hall. If you have played before and were taught wrong she will make sure you can play everything correctly. She taught me not only to play music but to love music. In the beginning I begged my parents not to play, but once I met Margarita I wanted to play forever. I wish every teacher I had/have/will have is like her.
Elizabeth Reyzin
Margarita is an outstanding piano teacher!
The extraordinary scope of Margarita’s abilities as a piano teacher is well-illustrated by our personal experiences. My son has classical piano performance as his life goal. With Margarita as his teacher, he learned to play beautiful music at his own level and pace.
Rare is the teacher who has both the skill and aptitude to nurture the musicality in a student. Margarita Kotlyarova fosters sensitive musicality from the outset, teaching her students to appreciate the nuances of the sound, while paying close attention to the techniques and kinetics that are the essential building blocks for mastering advanced levels.
Margarita brings academic excellence, advanced qualifications as a teacher and performer, and a particular aptitude as a teacher. She has a special ability to nurture each student, while at the same time applying a rigorous structured curriculum approach to the selection of works and related exercises that ensures the logical mastery of each level, and ensures the successful progression for her students.
Erica L. James
When my daughter, Ally, turned 6, I started asking around for a piano teacher. I do not play piano and had no idea how and where to find a quality teacher. A friend of mine highly recommended their piano teacher, Margarita Kotlyarova, to us. When we went to our introduction lesson and listened to my friend’s daughters play, we were completely floored by the quality of the sound and the smooth and graceful hand movements the two girls exhibited. It was incredible to see these 7 and 8 year olds performing with such a level of maturity and music sense. Needless to say, we were very happy to have found such a wonderful teacher.
At Ally’s first lesson, Margarita pulled over a chair next to Ally and asked me to sit. She wanted me to watch her teach so I could help my daughter practice at home with what I learned. This turned out to be the most effective tactic for both Ally and me – I was able to reinforce what we learned in class at home, and quickly propelled my daughter to the next level of piano playing.
Even though, after a few years, Ally took off herself on piano playing, it was not without struggles. Many times she threatened to quit practicing, but, not once did she want to give up the lessons. She loves going to Margarita’s every week, and enjoys the personal attention, the kindness and the warmth Margarita exudes. Margarita has infinite amount of patience toward her students. She never gets frustrated, mad, or even raises her voice while teaching. I love watching her gently picking up the students’ little fingers and placed them onto the keys so that they learn the correct positioning and touch.
To Margarita, posture and hand movements are as important as playing the right notes. She teaches the students to sing with their fingers and to dance with their arms and upper body, as a way of expressing music. Her students are fastidiously coached to produce the best sound possible. To help her disciples understand the music they’re playing, she will describe it to them as a story: the different characters, the mood, the voices, the crescendo, and the dramatic finish. At recital time, the audience, then, has the pleasure to enjoy the fruit of her labor, all the while, gets transported by the beautiful music to a far away story land.
By now, Ally has been studying piano with Margarita for 10 years and my younger daughter, Casey, also joined the rank 6 years ago. The girls play duet together, which, thanks to Margarita, has added another dimension to their piano playing. Through our children’s piano lessons, the entire family learned to love and appreciate classical music. Margarita introduced us to so many superb musicians of a myriad of different genres. Glorious music by the great masters always fills the house whether at dinner time, on weekends, or at the poolside during the warm days. But, of course, our most favorite pieces are the ones performed by our girls. Our lives have forever been enriched and horizon expanded; and we know to whom we should be so thankful.
Gloria Liu and David Costello
Not every talented individual can become a skillful teacher, and not every skillful teacher can nurture a student to high achievement. My children studied piano for 8 and 9 years under Margarita. My comment to hear when we first met was that they would never be stars at her recital. They would be the recreational learners, doing it for fun, maybe never playing in a recital. To my surprise she accepted them, and to my further surprise, my children were playing melodies, pleasant to the ear nearly from the start. Over the years, my children trained, practiced and enriched our household with beautiful classical compositions. It was the best part of my day, when they practiced their pieces. Margarita trained my daughter to develop her own expression through classical music. I believe it was the antidote to her attention deficit. She switched over to rock when my son reached middle-school-age to keep his interest and increase his repertoire. Margarita is a kind and patient teacher, classically trained, yet able to adapt her methods to suit today’s new generation. Through her diligence, my children achieved beyond my expectations, and they even starred in many of her recitals. At her recitals, each student’s performance was a testament of her great skill as a teacher.
Helen Chin
Margarita Kotlyarova is a very nice and very talented piano teacher who puts in great effort in all her students. My oldest child has been taking piano lessons with Margarita for more than three years. My second child has been with Margarita for more than two years and my youngest child has recently started lessons with Margarita. Margarita is absolutely knowledgeable about her work and makes sure that her students learn the correct techniques and play to the best of their potential. Margarita holds at least two piano recitals for her students every year. I am amazed at how outstanding some of her students are. I’m extremely pleased with Margarita and would definitely recommend her to anyone who is looking for a piano teacher.
Madeline Lee
I have been playing piano for about eight years now, and have taken lessons with multiple teachers for different periods of time. However, since I first started studying with Margarita in 9th grade I feel like I have progressed immensely – there is no comparison to the preceding four years. I am definitely more fluent technically, and I feel like my overall musicianship has increased greatly; I am a lot more able to understand and feel the pieces that I am playing.
Margarita’s teaching style is very attentive and personal. She always remembers what each student is working on, what everyone’s individual strengths and weaknesses are; she pays attention to personal problems and is always very understanding. When selecting new pieces, she is always able to perfectly match my inclinations and abilities, while also challenging me and broadening the scope of my musical knowledge.
During the course of every lesson, I feel like I become a better pianist, even after spending only an hour with her. Margarita pays a lot of attention to technical training with many different kinds of exercises for each type of challenge, specifically tailored for each passage. But in addition, she works with her students to establish a personal connection with each piece: to understand it and present in with the perfect mood and intonation.
I graduated from high school last year and am currently attending Harvard University. Nevertheless, I have made it a priority to continue my studies with Margarita despite transportation difficulties and an extremely busy schedule. Each of her lessons is always enjoyable and rewarding and I recommend Margarita with all my heart; she is an excellent and experienced teacher for all levels of study, from kids’ first lessons to training national award winners.
Masha Baryakhtar
Margarita Kotlyarova is a great piano teacher. She not only trained many State and National competitions but also never let any students leave behind. My son Alexander Hu has been studying with her for two years. He learns a lot from hr and likes her a lot.
Miaofen Hu
My daughter Sydney Kantoff has had the true privilege of preparing with Margarita Kotlyarova for the past 2.5 years. As a parent as well as a former piano student it is so important that a child is encouraged to fall in love with the breadth of music that playing the piano offers as well as perfecting technique. Sydney having initially lessons elsewhere had to restart her piano training with Margarita. Margarita’s passion and patience was a perfect combination and allowed Sydney to relook with new enthusiasm at lessons – not easy for an adolescent.
Margarita draws on each student’s skills and gently captures them into striving for their best.
The lessons are refreshing – not the usual note of John Thompson music books. Margarita embodies the true spirit of the European musician and her students, even those that do not play at Carnegie Hall, dream that with practice they can.
Rochelle Scheib, MD
I am now in my 8th year of piano lessons with Margarita. She has always been a good teacher. Taking lessons with her, I have not only learned good technique; I have learned to play musically. Margarita knows how to get the best out of the student without being too demanding. She is the only piano teacher I’ve had, which I think is a good thing. Even from early on, she has taught me to play as musically as I can. With piano, technique isn’t everything, even though some teachers may say it is . I have noticed when listening to other teachers’ students that they play differently than Margarita’s students. Taking from Margarita, a student will learn all they need to about piano.
Sophie Kohn
My daughter started to learn piano at her twelve years old. To most people, it is really too late to begin the piano study. It might be quite hard to play well for her age. Another hard thing for her is that she learned about one year of keyboard before we moved to this country. Actually, we found this was not a good experience, since a lot of bad habits were formed at that time. So I told myself she could not do well in piano, just gave her an opportunity to try. However, I still believe a good piano teacher can help her to do better.
In July of 2005, my daughter started to learn piano with Margarita, recommended by a friend of mine. Week by week, I found Margarita is really a great piano teacher. She not only can teach the playing skills, but also encourage my daughter to feel the music, and also encourage her to try to express her feeling by playing those pieces of music. I am really amazed by her teaching. By now my daughter can even play some complicated music.
Margarita is not only a great piano teacher but also a very nice teacher. She always try to help you. Whenever we found that we could not keep the schedule, she helped us to adjust her schedule and solved our problem. By her way, my daughter likes to practice. Attending several times of recital, I found all of her students play so well. And all of them like her very much. If you try to find a skillful and nice piano teacher for your kid, I am sure Margarita is the one that you are looking for.
Weiyuan Ma