I have been teaching private music lessons for twelve years, both freelance and as part of various organizations. My approach to teaching is highly dynamic—I don't use the same method with every student and I have no stylistic prejudices or an agenda to push. I approach each student as an individual, tailoring lesson plans to suit their personal goals and interests. I have experience playing and teaching an extensive range of styles including pop, rock, jazz, country, metal, and classical. One of my main goals is to foster a sense of musical understanding with every student so that they may learn to combine technical, theoretical, and aural skills into a unified whole.

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APPROACH

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Most students want to learn to play songs they know and love. To that end, I get students playing the music they want to play right from the beginning, often through personally crafted arrangements of songs/pieces of the student's choosing, specifically tailored to their current skill level. This way, technical and theoretical skills are learned through direct experience with actual music, and only very rarely through rote exercise. 

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For more advanced players, I offer an array of strategies designed to take your playing to the next level. I find that the most common shortcomings of advanced players are conceptual. The technical skills are there but the level of conceptual and theoretical understanding has hit a wall. Many players find themselves playing the same chord shapes, melodic patterns, and harmonic progressions over and over again. I've had much success over the years in getting advanced students out of this rut and helping open up new pathways for exploration in both improvisation and composition. 

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I love teaching both kids and adults. With younger kids (5-10), my approach is highly animated, engaging, and always in the spirit of having fun. Most of my young beginners start out by developing fundamental sight reading and performance skills (except in rare cases when this doesn't seem to be the most advantageous route to learning). After a few months, a repertoire of songs/pieces is developed, at which point I generally encourage a small recital for students to show their parents (and maybe a few friends) what they've learned. For pre-teens and teenagers, my approach is more varied, as older kids tend to have more defined musical tastes and interests. Guitar, ukulele, and songwriting students in this age range have the option to bypass sight-reading and choose a more "by-ear" approach. Most adults have very specific musical interests and a clear idea of the kinds of things they want to learn. I work closely with adult students during the first few lessons to design a strategy aimed at getting them where they want to be as quickly and comfortably as possible. 

Adult beginners tend to think they're too old to learn a new skill. This is simply not true! The most common hang-up for adult beginners is simply the belief that they can't do it. This is in essence a psychological issue and can be easily overcome with a little coaching. Over the years, I've developed an approach to getting over this initial stumbling block and have helped many adult beginners achieve their musical goals.