Music Lessons in Black Earth, WI

Instruments: Piano Djembe

I have been offering music education since 2009, where I have had the luxury to work, learn and play with students, other fellow musicians and experience music education in a variety of environments and platforms whether in person or via the internet. I am a self-taught musician, beginning at Edgewood College, where I served as the pianist in the Jazz Ensemble. After college, I had the opportunity to play professionally for several years; as the pianist in the Jeff Peronto Jazz Orchestra (Big Band) and also was the pianist for a period of time with Madison, WI Jazz Club "Cafe' Coda" owner, Hanah Jon Taylor in the Hanah Jon Taylor Artet (Jazz Combo). Read More

Instruments: Piano Voice

It is important to have an atmosphere of trust and honesty, regular communication, and constant reflection for successful growth through lessons. I meet with a student to discuss their interests, aspirations, and expectations in taking lessons, and we choose musical goals and selections together. Every time we have a lesson, I ask for their reflection on their frustrations, progress, and discoveries within their craft and music. This allows us to converse freely about their learning pace, flux of interest, strengths and weaknesses, and how they perceive their improvement, as well as if changes need to occur in the lesson setting, the musical selections, or our initial goals. Read More

Instruments: Guitar Flute

Each student should progress at their own paceone that instills passion, and makes them enjoy practicing, and love coming to lessons. Since every student is unique, every approach is unique. By trying to find out what inspires students I can successfully tailor my instruction to their wants and needs and get them "fired up" about music. I love to give the student a sense of accomplishment that expands into all areas of their life. Read More

Instruments: Drums Mallet Percussion Orchestral Percussion Conga Latin Percussion

I have been teaching drums off and on while maintaining other work for almost 20 years. While other teachers may always say "Practice makes Perfect" I say something different. "Practice makes permanent". For me, this means that yes, if you practice something every day you will get better at it - but what if you practice it wrong! That is why I have an open call/door policy. I would much rather a student call me and say "I don't think I am doing this right" and let me re-explain something instead of them just to continue practicing it wrong - once you practice something 7 times it is usually in their for good. Read More

Instruments: Violin

I like to teach with the music from the Suzuki books and then the Bach Sonatas and Partitas, out of an interest in teaching with actual music as opposed to scales or etudes, but I also introduce repertoire from outside those books, and isolate sections of standard violin repertoire for learning. This has the advantage of always keeping music in our ears as we play (by this I mean, we do not lose the sound of music in the sound of the violin as I feel can happen in overtly technical exercise), which is essential to growing an authentic relationship to one's sound and, by extension, to learning new ways to improving one's sound. Read More

Instruments: Voice

My teaching is rooted in the philosophy of functional singing, which means everything I teach has a purpose rooted in the physiology of singing. We do a lot of different exercises and say a lot of funny sounding words, but each exercise is carefully crafted to maximize training your voice's flexibility, agility, or strength. Similar to how you might do a bicep curl to make your bicep stronger, vocal exercises are part of a broader "vocal workout" regimen based on what your voice needs on any given day. Read More

Instruments: Guitar Classical Guitar Acoustic Guitar

I have a Bachelor’s Degree in Music from the Higher Institute of Music in Damascus, Syria, which is one of the most prestigious music schools in the Middle East, and an Artist Diploma from the Kraków Academy of Music in Poland. I also have a Masters of music in classical guitar performance from California State University Northridge. I have more than twelve years of performing experience and masterclasses with the most known guitarists around the world. Read More