Drum Lessons in Penn Valley, PA

Instruments: Drums

I teach my students to read music as well as to play by ear. I host 2 recitals each year. We learn one song start to finish and I hire a professional band to learn and perform the songs with my students at a local establishment or at my studio. I encourage all of my students to perform with our recital band. As far as books, I prefer to use the "new Breed", by Gary Chester, the ''Art of Bop Drumming'', by John Riley , and the ''encyclopedia of reading rhythms'', by Garry Hess, but there are many other books I recommend for specific needs. Read More

Instruments: Drums

One of the cool things about teaching is that every student is different and learns differently! I am usually able to assess each students level and pace within the first couple lessons. At the end of each lesson I will give them a realistic goal to achieve for the next lesson. Any improvement is improvement and I try and always recognize that. I try to inspire by example as well, showing the student where their practicing and hard work can take them if they keep working at it diligently. Read More

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

I've been teaching private instrumental and general classroom music for over 30 years. As a child, I received many music lessons on piano and drums and percussion. I decided to focus more on drums and percussion because it offered more in terms of opportunities to perform in school bands and orchestras. In high school, my friends and I formed our own band. Having this experience proved invaluable in my professional life, as I continue to form and promote bands to this day. Read More

Instruments: Guitar Drums Orchestral Percussion Electric Guitar Classical Guitar Acoustic Guitar

For Beginner students I would start with the Frederick Noad Classical Guitar book. This book is a great book to hold interest in the Students. This Book teaches Basics, but gets right down and dirty in to learning music. The Music in the book starts with simple Melody for the student, with some advanced part underneith to give the allusion to a young beginning student they are achieving greatly. This tactic helps harness the musical drive in a student. Read More

Instruments: Drums Latin Percussion

My teaching experience began in 1980 while still in high school teaching private lessons. Since then Ive taught at Westminster Choir College, Rutgers University, NJ State and County Teen Arts Programs as well as private and group lessons in my own studio. My casual approach allows students the relaxation and freedom necessary to learn at their own pace. With a strong focus on fundamentals and using those fundamentals as building blocks, my goal is to help students become musical and creative and find their own unique voice on their instrument. Read More

Instruments: Drums Mallet Percussion Orchestral Percussion Djembe

For all students, I start off with the basic fundamentals. Proper setup, posture, stick position, and technique. I then will hand write some examples and assess the student. From there I usually will use Alfred's Beginning Drum Set Method. Once the student has a grasp on that, I will focus on rudimental drumming and snare rhythms to accompany the drum fill portion of the Alfred's book. From there we move into more advanced books that include jazz drumming and complex rock beats as well as learning popular songs of the student's choice. Read More

Instruments: Piano Guitar Drums Bass Guitar Synthesizer Orchestral Percussion Keyboard Electric Guitar Acoustic Guitar

For beginning piano students, I often get them started with the Faber piano series, then incorporate music theory along with their song requests. For beginning fretted string students (guitar/bass/ukelele), I like to start with the Hal Leonard method book to get started with reading notation, so that we cover more than just tabs and chords. For drum/percussion students, I'll have them start with a combination of Syncopation by Ted Reed and Peter Erksine's Drumset Essentials Volume 1. Read More