Drum Lessons in South River, NJ

Instruments: Drums Bass Guitar

For beginning students I begin by talking to them about music and what songs they like. We start clapping along and picking out what the drums are doing and eventually begin playing along. A wonderfully laid out book for beginners that are interested in pop music is "The Funky Primer." I also like to teach the reading of rhythms out of a book by Ted Reed called "Syncopation for the Modern Drummer." This is a great book that you can work out of for many many years to come. 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

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: Piano Clarinet Drums Mallet Percussion Orchestral Percussion Conga Latin Percussion Djembe

Nothing is more rewarding than seeing my students develop their own style in music and art. This progress happens at his or her own pace. Therefore, it is important that I set realistic goals per student. This leads to a positive teaching and learning environment. I truly believe that art, in this case music, is connected with life and therefore life is connected with art; What I am trying to say is that no matter what the level of the student is, when you teach and learn the right way, it goes way beyond music itself. Read More

Instruments: Drums

Based on each individual student, Areas covered include: Technique, Rudiments, Ear Training, Improvisation, Performance Training, Reading/Writing Music       Read More

Instruments: Piano Drums Synthesizer Latin Percussion Keyboard

I have used all of the store brand version of piano books, and find a preference in the ones I was taught in from the 70's which are too many to mention; but depending on the student, I will find a book that is age appropriate and go on from there. I also do different ear training activities using apps on my phone. I start with nursery rhyme type music for children because that is what is ingrained in their mental ear. Read More

Instruments: Drums

Will doesn't believe to just pointing to a page in a drum book and telling a student to 'play this'. Instead, the 'page in the book' is a tool utilized to springboard into other topics, and vise versa. All students will learn basic music theory as it applies to the drumset, basic rudiments, stickings, hand technique/grip, foot technique, improvisation, etc. Ultimately, Will enjoys seeing the student taking any sort of interest in general, and while there's a lot one can learn, it's more important to him that the student is enjoying the time spent at the instrument, discovering their own interests with the instrument, and tapping into their creative side via the instrument! Read More