Drum Lessons in Downtown, MN

Instruments: Guitar Drums Bass Guitar

My main philosophy is that every student is different and should be treated accordingly. The methods I use are specifically tailored to each student and can be methods that I have learned or developed myself. I start students off by asking them collect ideas about their instrument and the music they enjoy. From that point, I begin to simultaneously teach technique and musicianship in relation to their expressed interests. The key to my teaching method is that I ask difficult questions and then I give the student time to think and develop an answer. Read More

Instruments: Piano Guitar Voice Drums

My final goal is how to enjoy singing. In my opinion, the most important thing is that singing should be comfortable to both a singer and an audience. For this reason, I generally help them to sing comfortably. Most of the students have a common problem to sing. I would say it is artificial voice which makes their voice tired and injured. When I taught students some of them struggled with development about their voice quality. Read More

Instruments: Piano Trumpet Trombone Saxophone Flute Clarinet Drums Piccolo

Music has always been my greatest passion. I became a teacher so I could spread that passion to my students and watch them succeed at something that they love. I believe it is important for all students to learn at their own pace and that is why I prefer the individual attention I can provide as a private lesson teacher over a classroom teacher. Each lesson will be centered around the student reaching realistic goals and learning essential music elements while playing music that inspires them to continue to include music in their daily lives. Read More

Instruments: Piano Guitar Drums Mallet Percussion Orchestral Percussion Conga Latin Percussion Music Keyboard Electric Guitar Djembe

Whatever type of music they are interested in playing, I find several examples to pull from that and use it as teaching material and relate it back to our foundational training. This keeps our lessons fun, engaging, and rewarding. For Drum set, I teach from Tommy Igoe's "Groove Essentials 1.0/2.0" and John Riley's "The Art of Bop Drumming". I encourage students to perform a recital but I like to stretch the definition of a "recital". Read More

Instruments: Drums Orchestral Percussion Latin Percussion

With a new student I always start by getting to know their abilities and experience with the drums or any other musical instrument up to this point and then go from there. With someone starting out with no experience I begin with basic match-grip technique, striking the drum, and some basic counting to get the fundamentals down. I generally use George Lawrence Stones Stick Control for the Snare Drummer to introduce various sticking patterns and the upstroke/downstroke concept. Read More

Instruments: Piano Trumpet Trombone Saxophone Flute Clarinet Drums Euphonium Mallet Percussion

One of my biggest strengths as a music teacher is figuring out students' learning styles and differentiating instruction accordingly. I absolutely do not use a cookie cutter approach. I am very good at personalizing lessons to fit students' interests and needs. I feel it is important to allow each student to learn at his or her own pace. I set goals that will challenge the student, but be easily attainable with regular practice. Read More