Drum Lessons in Ho Ho Kus, NJ

Instruments: Drums Bass Guitar Mallet Percussion Orchestral Percussion Conga Latin Percussion Djembe

For beginning students of any age, I focus a lot on technique and building good habits. I will always use Stick Control by G.L. Stone, which has great material for a beginner drummer/percussionist. This is a stage where I will lightly introduce concepts of beat, tempo and rhythm, to help establish a musical vocabulary. Once I've determined that they have a good grasp of time and rhythm, I slowly begin to introduce rudiments and reinforce them lesson by lesson. Read More

Instruments: Drums

My teaching methods always vary to suit the aspirations and needs of a certain student. I start off by finding out what my students like to listen to and what they want to learn from their lessons. For example, if my student was a twelve year old beginner student who wants to learn to play drums to start a rock band, then I would teach him drum grooves to his favorite songs, in order for him to be able to play it with others. Read More

Instruments: Piano Drums

With multi-stylistic performance experience, I have had the pleasure of working with artists including Wheatus (UK No. 2 Billboard with "Teenage Dirtbag"), Mike Doughty (Soul Coughing), Andrew W.K., Viktor Kirly (NBC The Voice 2015 - Top 24), and Kate Nauta (Hollywood actress in Transporter 2 and the Game Plan). I have performed throughout the United States, Europe, and Brazil and was a member of the 42 date 2015 Wheatus 15th anniversary European tour. With the band, I also appeared on the Ray D'Arcy show, featured live on Ireland's premiere TV network RT One, and headlined the Trebur Open Air Festival (Germany) and Sligo Summer Festival (Ireland), playing for up to 10,000 people. Read More

Instruments: Drums

I teach basic stick technique using George Lawrence Stone's Stick Control, and I have numerous hand exercises based on patterns from that book that I warm up with every lesson. Starting with snare drum and basic hand technique also will incorporate rhythm reading, and basic limb independence. When my students start behind the kit, they will start by applying some of those hand exercises to the drumset, and also learn how to orchestrate and play basic grooves. Read More

Instruments: Drums Conga Djembe

Teaching from basics to advance concepts, academically, hand on hand with self-awareness and focused on the state of mind and how it affects to our bodies and the sound we create. Introducing my method with meditation through the drums based on Qi-Gong discipline (Chinese art of movement) looking to solve modern problems such as stress, fear, or pain affecting not only to musicians but to anyone in general. Reading, Recording, Composing Grooves and styles such as Rock, Funk, Hip Hop, Jazz, Metal and Techno focused lessons. Read More

Instruments: Drums

For beginners I start with basic drum technique, and then go into what ever style of music you might want to learn. For more intermediate and advanced players I create lessons around what you are interested in, plus I have you play for me and listen for any bad habits that may be holding you back. I also tailor lessons to undergraduate degree auditions, for those considering studying music in school. Read More

Instruments: Drums

'Relaxed' and 'Musical' are the most important words to explain my teaching style. I enjoy the hang and I enjoy the music. Nothing we do will be purely technique based. Everything will involve music. We will never just read notes on a piece of paper! We'll listen to music, we'll always tie exercises back to things you already know and we will get to know one another's musical personalities. Wherever you are on your musical journey is the only possible place to be. Read More