Music Lessons in Baltimore, MD

Instruments: Guitar Bass Guitar Ukulele Electric Guitar Classical Guitar Acoustic Guitar

What advice do you have about practicing effectively?
First of all, practicing out of a sense of obligation is a dead end. The internet is filled with articles and interviews of some of the greatest musicians of our time and virtually all of them agree on this point. Practice needs to have a sense of excitement and freshness. Of course, there are aspects of practice that are challenging and sometimes repetitive and no musician can entirely avoid those. However, our main motivation for practicing music needs to flow out of inspiration and love for what we're doing. So, incorporating a sense of play is important in any practice session. It is paramount to allow periods of practice, particularly the beginnings of practice sessions, to contain free-form exploration of the instrument in the form of improvisation, exploring the sound possibilities of the instrument, and anything that sparks the curiosity and imagination of the musician.

How do I know if my child is ready to start lessons?
When your child is nagging you over a period of many months to buy them the instrument of their choice, that is generally the surest indicator that they are ready to start lessons. If they have already established musical interests, especially under the age of ten, that is a bonus. Usually, children under the age of ten experience obstacles to learning the guitar because of motor-skill development issues. This is not such a big deal, as the years before the child's hands and body catch up with their interest, can be used to explore music and develop their interests. This is a vastly underestimated and critically important part of the development of any musician. Making progress on an instrument becomes much easier when the interests of the student are already well established.

When will I start to see results?
There is no way to answer this question other than to say that it depends on the student. The factors are so varied, including age, musical interests, physical ability, personality type, and others, that the outcome is impossible to predict. Any other answer is misleading at best and disingenuous at worst. Also, I am uncomfortable with the implications of the questionl. After all, how do we define "results"? Is our idea of results being able to play certain pieces of music by certain points? Being performance ready after a certain period of time? If so, we are almost certainly setting ourselves up for frustration and disappointment, even if we achieve the goal we have set for ourselves. If our idea of seeing results involves enjoying ourselves from the very first lesson and taking pride in whatever we are able to accomplish, then results come immediately. Those are the kinds of results I strive for and I find that this kind of less goal-oriented approach paradoxically produces better results, in terms of practical outcomes.

Have any of your students won awards or been selected for special honors? How have they succeeded?
I have a number of former students who are now performing and teaching professionals. A former student of mine recently graduated from the University of Maryland at Baltimore County's jazz guitar program and has become an outstanding guitarist and musician. Another former student now tours regularly with his band and has been doing so for years. I have had students who went on to successful teaching and performing careers, at the School of Rock and at Music and Arts Center in particular. Beyond that, I've had students who developed themselves in ways they wouldn't have thought possible before they started.

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