Paula Guerra Collar

Violin Teacher

Paula is a Spanish violinist based in London.

Starting her musical studies at the young age of 4, she completed her higher music education studies in Vila-Seca (Spain), where she was awarded the Honour Prize in classical violin and chamber music.

Her passion for music brought her all the way to London at the age of 19 where she was awarded a scholarship and completed her Undergraduate studies with professor Krzysztof Smietana at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and where she is currently finishing her Masters' degree (June 2024).

The violinist has played in ensembles since young, and in auditoriums such as the Barbican Hall, Cadogan Hall and the Pau Casals Auditorium, among others. Some of her recent collaborations include orchestras such as LSO “on track” and the London Mozart Players, as part of the Guildhall School of Music's outreach programme.

Her passion for teaching started in her hometown at the age of 18 when she had her first students at a local music school. Paula is a former violin teacher at Ealing Junior Music School and currently teaches for Pelican Music.

Robert Pennel

Drum TEACHER

Rob is an experienced teacher, having taught drums for 15 years. He studied music at Trinity College of Music, London and then at Middlesex University; where he studied Jazz with Nikki Ilses, Stuart Hall and Martin France. As a freelance musician Rob has performed at festivals across Europe; such as the London Hyde Park Calling, the Electric Picnic Festival in Dublin, and the Seixial Jazz Festival in Portugal, most notably with Australian folk duo "Angus and Julia Stone''. He has experience recording drums in some London's top studios such as Rak and Angel studios and gigs regularly with a number of Professional bands across the UK. The Union Chapel, Ronnie Scotts, Pizza Express Dean Street, the Vortex and Cafe Oto are to name but a few of the London venues he has performed in.

Rob is passionate about teaching the Drums and as well as teaching for Pelican and has a successful private teaching practice across west London where he teaches at schools, students homes and online from his home studio. Rob's approach to learning the drums focuses heavily on getting students to read rhythms from musical notation straight away from their first lesson. He treats reading rhythms the same as learning your phonics as you would learning any other language. Children quickly remember what the basic rhythms sound like by singing them and carefully over time become fluent in singing the rhythms straight off the page. The great thing about this approach is you don't even need a pair of sticks to get started let alone a drum kit. He is experienced in teaching children who don't have access to drums at home and has gotten some of his students up to grade 1 standard who do not own a set. Rob also plays guitar, bass, and piano and will often accompany students in their lessons to give them a musical context and develop their musicianship skills further.