“Making music for oneself, with oneself.”
I believe the most important aspect of music lessons is finding a “good fit” between student and teacher. I offer music lessons for adult beginners who wish to make music for personal fulfillment, teens who wish to cultivate artistry, and parent/child lessons for adults who wish to cultivate an artistic bond with their child. Free improvisation, composition, and making music for oneself with oneself, and for others with others is central to my approach. We do not perform in recitals or for gold medals, or any other endeavor towards using music for propping-up the ego. Rather, we enjoy making music expressively for personal fulfillment and wellbeing. In this way, we approach the study of music as a craft towards personal sense of fullness. The goal is having music as a path towards healthful wellbeing and lifelong enjoyment of making sound-art.
Until further notice all lessons will be taught virtually or in an outdoor setting.
Adult & teen beginner piano
I specialize in the older adult who wishes to PLAY for pleasure.
What you will learn…
I teach younger students music reading from the classic John Thompson piano series. For older students we use the Bela Bartok Mikrokosmos.
I teach jazz piano with the John Mehegan books.
We study beginner and intermediate works by J.S. Bach, Erik Satie, Frederic Chopin, Claude Debussy, Maurice Ravel, Aaron Copland, Philip Glass, & Arvo Pärt.
We study the jazz Real Books.
Parent & child conjoint piano studies
For students under sixteen years-old this is an excellent opportunity for parent & child bonding.
Wilderness music lessons
We take our instruments into the forest and make music.
Trombone studies
Beginner to pre-college levels of classical trombone and improvisational playing. College audition coaching available.
What you will learn…
The Remington studies
Arban’s Method for Trombone
Rochut Etudes
Standard orchestral excerpts
Kopprasch Etudes
Blazhevich Clef Studies
Blazhevich Sequences
Standard solo repertoire for college auditions
Jazz Real Books
Improvisation Techniques
Musicianship & Theory for all instrumentalists
Coaching in rhythm, harmony, melody, and interpretation of music. Solfeggio and practice.
You will lean…
Piston’s Harmony text
Persichetti’s Twentieth Century Harmony
How to read from a Real Book
Hindemith’s Elementary Training for Musicians
Solfeggio (fixed-do) & Ear-training
Composition
Learn instrumental & songwriting techniques.
Online Private Lessons
We meet weekly using Skype or FaceTime for virtual music lessons.
Trombone Lessons On-Demand
Visit the on-demand video trombone lesson series page here.