Music Lessons in Chelsea, NY

Instruments: Violin Viola

Before anything, I find out what the goal of the lesson is. I always want to know what the students want, so I can plan around them. The lesson will always be about the student! After discussing the goal of the lesson, we will find repertoire, etudes, or other materials that either benefit the student technically, or will simply be enjoyable to the student. Since the goal of the student can either be anything, including playing professional recitals, or simply playing a Taylor Swift song from the radio, my priority will be that the student is enjoying their craft. Read More

Instruments: Piano Saxophone Flute Clarinet Piccolo

Dependent on the instrument, I generally use essential musical workbooks as well as my own scales and exercises that create a better base to suppliment the workbooks.  I find that these general books are useful to keep the student's growth on track, however, my own sound exercises alllow wind players to usually progress at a quicker rate.  For more advanced students, once we have discussed what each student hopes to get out of their lessons and what they generally see themselves doing with their instruments in the next few years, we can decide what pieces to work on and what skills to develop. Read More

Instruments: Saxophone

I am a passionate saxophonist and instructor looking forward to sharing my enthusiasm for the saxophone and music with students. My studies began in high school and eventually led me to Gettysburg College, then Western Connecticut State university, where I graduated with a Bachelor of Music degree in Jazz Saxophone Performance. While in college, I was fortunate enough to study with world renowned saxophonists such as Jimmy Greene, Dave Noland, and Andrew Beals. Read More

Instruments: Piano Trumpet

For beginning piano students, I use a series of books designed for beginners called Dozen a Day. It is very organized and it teaches the student in a very clear way. For my trumpet students I use Arbans, Clarkes. Schlossberg, and 45 years of experience playing trumpet. As to a philosophy of teaching, I believe in never ever being mean to the student as that causes a negative experience. Instead of the mean strict scolding method, I prefer an upbeat positive 'you can do it ' approach!! Read More

Instruments: Piano Voice Organ Synthesizer Keyboard

With beginning students, I will lay out all of the fundamentals, teaching all of the scales, basic chords, key signatures and time signatures, and gradually integrate strategies for reading music. Depending on what the student is interested in learning, I will pull from my pool of repertoire - we could be studying a Bach Invention at the same time as a Billy Joel song. Classical music is great for technique and in many ways textbook for teaching harmony, but I play and love contemporary music, and will teach anything, as long as there is some form of musical knowledge to be gained from the material. Read More

Instruments: Voice

I focus on confidence and realism in my teaching. I believe in finding a students "true voice" rather than having them imitate what they hear on recordings. Every student is unique, and every student has a magnificent voice waiting to be unleashed! For beginning voice students I focus on pitch sense, breathing, support and ear training to make sure we have a solid foundation to expand into more advanced techniques. Read More