CUBAN TRES/GUITAR lessons taught by a reputed active musician. Learn all you need to know about latin genres and syncopation while playing along to your favourite songs

Pablosky is a gifted teacher who inspires his students to engage deeply and learn through the love of music. We've worked with him for many years at our arts centre (Lula Music and Arts Centre in Toronto) offering workshops for youth and adults on a variety of topics.

His enthusiasm and friendly teaching style encourages even the shyest students to take part. I would definitely recommend Pablosky for one-on-one or group lessons!

I am writing to support Pablosky Rosales’ application to join the roster of musicians who teach at Superprof and I am very happy to do so. I had the pleasure of coming to know Pablosky in 2008 when, having heard his guitar and tres work on various recordings by acclaimed Cuban musicians, I asked him to join my new salsa band, Conjunto Lacalu. In time, Pablosky would become not only a pivotal musician in Toronto’s Latin music scene, but also one of my most important musical mentors.

Pablosky is what many of my fellow musicians refer to as a “musician’s musician”; a title that is not conferred on just anyone. He earned his reputation as a master musician, for example, by his capacity to sing everything he could play—a technique that he learned as a matter of course in Cuba’s famously rigorous music education system, which is where Pablosky received his training. Pablosky is also in high demand as a singer, a songwriter, and an arranger skilled in a very broad span of styles.

Perhaps more than his musical abilities, it is Pablosky’s skill and, above all, patience as a mentor that I value most. Even as I was completing my PhD studies in the University of Toronto’s Ethnomusicology Program, I would frequently turn to Pablosky when presented with a musical “mystery” to unravel. For example, as I combed through the musical archives of Panamanian cumbia—a topic that would become the subject of my first book—I was continually confounded by the fact that rural Panamanian musicians had come to adopt a nearly-obsolete Cuban drum called bongo de palo, which I suspected to be of historical significance. It was with Pablosky that I had some of the fullest conversations about the nuances of Cuban traditional music, which eventually proved instrumental in helping me untangle the knot of how this drum had come to be played in a corner of the Americas that seemed beyond the reach of Cuban influence.

As our friendship developed, Pablosky came to be essential to my development as a pianist specialized in Latin American genres. For example, he was exceedingly patient and encouraging in his mentorship as I worked my way through the complex piano ostinati or “tumboas” that form part of the bedrock of Afro-Cuban dance music known as son and salsa. Pablosky, I noticed, brought this patience and care to the students who came to him for guidance in their quest to play a surprisingly wide range of styles that, in addition to Latin American genres of all kinds, included rock guitar, blues, gospel, jazz and straight-ahead pop.

Given Pablosky’s huge musical capacities, mentoring capabilities, and genuine eagerness to teach, I believe that he would be tremendously valuable addition to your teaching staff. Indeed, any music program would be very lucky to have him.

Sincerely yours,
Dr. Sean Bellaviti

Pablosky is an incredible musician and a beautiful human being. His love for music comes through in his playing and his enthusiasm in helping others. Pablosky worked with me as both a musician and as musical director and I highly recommend him as a teacher. Whoever works with him will be a lucky student!