Drum Lessons in Clarkston, MI

Instruments: Guitar Trumpet Drums Electric Guitar

I believe that students should explore all ways of learning, from traditional music notation to tablature to rote learning. Not all methods works for every student. I give all students experience in every teaching method in order to find the ways that work best for them. Read More

Instruments: Drums

When starting with a beginner student, I typically start by asking general questions about their interests and the music genres they enjoy. Then, we move on to the basics of maintaining proper form, understanding rhythm, and practicing simple exercises to ensure they start off with the right foundation. After that, we focus on learning the first few basic beats and ensuring they have a good understanding of how they are played. Read More

Instruments: Piano Guitar Drums

To me it is very important to balance the technical and creative aspects of development. No matter what age/skill level I split time during lessons into activities that develop technique and language, and compositional, creative activities that help each student explore their instrument and what they have to say with it. This balance can be altered depending on the interests of the student or parent. I also encourage students to bring in songs that they want to learn/play along with to keep the lessons relevant to their musical interests. Read More

Instruments: Drums

My teaching experience goes all the way back to college. I would do private lessons for people at church and also some required teaching lesson classes I took for my major. My biggest thing I emphasize with lessons is discovering and developing passion. If you're not passionate about something then you'll never fully invest yourself into something. My goal with every lesson is to develop that passion into something. To figure out how to make the next student better than where I'm currently at as a musician and even to spur me on to be better than where I'm at today. Read More

Instruments: Drums Latin Percussion

Typically, for students just starting out we would start on standard snare method, working out rudiments and gaining a sense of feel for drumming. This would eventually build up to working with the entire drum set, where we would explore several styles including Rock, Pop, Jazz, Swing, Latin and everything in between. Basically, I would try and find what the student is most interested in and build from there. Everyone wants something else, so it pays to be versatile. Read More

Instruments: Drums Mallet Percussion Orchestral Percussion Latin Percussion

For beginner students of any age, I would normally recommend Alfred's Drum Method Book 1, or Joel Rothman's Basic Drumming as they both cover a great intro to reading rythmic notation, proper grip forms, and snare drum method as they also start to incorporate rudiments. It often surprises people that the only purchases REQUIRED for starting to learn drums is: a practice pad, a book, and a pair of sticks (maybe a music stand). Read More

Instruments: Piano Drums Synthesizer Mallet Percussion Orchestral Percussion Conga Latin Percussion

I have been teaching music for more than 10 years. While living in New York City I taught group ensemble classes for students ages 10-16 which played everything from jazz standards to pop, rock, hip-hop and blues. I’ve taught private lessons in drums, guitar and piano for Third Street Music Settlement, the country’s oldest community music school. My students have went on to participate in Berklee School of Music and Jazz at Lincoln Center educational programs. Read More