Music Lessons in Blue Mounds, WI

Instruments: Piano Voice

By day, I am the high school and middle school Choral Director, General Music Teacher, and Voice Lesson Teacher at Mineral Point. By night, I serve as the Musical Theatre Director at the school, and offer private vocal lessons. I was an Adjunct Instructor of non-major voice lessons at NYU Steinhardt for three years, and an independent lesson teacher in the NYC metro area. I have had the opportunity to work for Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp (late-elementary, middle, and high school aged campers) in a variety of positions, including Voice Faculty, Choir Minor Teacher, Unit Director, and Counselor. Read More

Instruments: Piano Djembe

My goal is teach you to be able communicate (improvise, listen and respond) through a 3-step process, which includes; 1. Imitation: Listening and Learning lines by ear, Transcribing solos. Absorbing a player’s feel, articulation, and time. 2. Assimilation, which means ingraining these stylistic nuances, harmonic devices, and lines that you’ve transcribed into your musical conception. Not just mentally understanding them on the surface level, but truly connecting them to your ear and body. Read More

Instruments: Piano Voice

I have different methods for piano and voice: depending on the level of the piano student, I will use Faber method books and supplement performance pieces, technique lessons, games, theory discussions, etc. I do not use method books with voice students, although I do have a curriculum that I follow and adjust depending on the level and age of the voice student. I believe that while beginning and intermediate students continue to learn, it is important for them to practice different genres on their instrument -- this allows them to speak different musical languages, improves their understanding of style, and gives them a better context for their own gifts and interests. Read More

Instruments: Piano Guitar Voice Drums Bass Guitar Keyboard Djembe Acoustic Guitar

As a member of an indie rock band, I understand the importance of being able to play songs on your instrument as quickly as possible! With this in mind, my lesson plan focuses primarily on breaking down songs that we want to learn how to play into their fundamental parts; the chords, the grooves, the fills, what-have-you, until we can put it all together. If there's a song that's particularly difficult and requires sound fundamentals, then we'll pound out those skills until we can get the results we want. Read More

Instruments: Clarinet

When playing clarinet, the body is an important part of the music-making process, and so I encourage students to really pay attention and get in touch with their body. I teach with an understanding that every individual is different, and so what works for me may not work for someone else, and I have a wide variety of examples and experiences to draw on in order to make sure my students understand and internalize the concepts we talk about. 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: Piano Guitar Violin Cello Viola Bass Guitar Synthesizer Recorder Electric Violin Double Bass Conga Keyboard Electric Guitar Djembe

My teaching style is very involved and incorporates playing for the student, playing with the student, and having the student play on their own. Creating a safe environment where the student is comfortable making mistakes is vital, because making mistakes is a vital component to learning how to play an instrument. I take each student at their own pace and cultivate growth through technical mechanics of the instrument as well as philosophical ideals about what it means to be a musician. Read More