Music Lessons in Dayton, MN

Instruments: Guitar Voice

For "pop-style" singing I tend to borrow some useful vocal warm-ups from Roger Love's "Singing with the Stars",but most of them are modified or tailored versions of scale warm-ups. For structuring lessons I follow the structure of the book "Singing for Dummies" because I have found it to go through the modules of learning to sing in an order that makes a lot of sense and it is a good foundation to refer to. Read More

Instruments: Guitar Bass Guitar

I have been teaching Guitar and Bass off and on for the last 8 years, and have seen many of my students become great musicians in their own right. One thing that I have come to understand is that everyone has different ways of learning, and my main goal is to understand how the student best absorbs information and try to package that in a way that is easily digestible. My family is very musical and I grew up playing many different instruments, and I vividly remember how frustrating the learning experience can be, especially if you don't gel with your teacher. Read More

Instruments: Saxophone Clarinet

I began teaching in 2003 at my high school during an arts funding crisis that left band students to have sporadic lessons, since we had had an exceptional teacher previously we persevered and excelled in a student-led environment. Luckily by our senior year we had another extraordinary instructor who helped us win first in our district band final, no small feat considering our schools financial hardships and a concert band consisting of only ten students. Read More

Instruments: Piano Trumpet Trombone Saxophone Flute Clarinet Drums Euphonium Mallet Percussion

I do expect regular practice outside of lessons; I do not want lessons to simply be a guided practice session. Ideally, students would fully prepare the assigned material for each lesson-- not that it needs to be perfect, but that I can tell that he or she has been working on it. For students who are clearly putting in a reasonable amount of effort, I reward them by writing out melodies of their favorite pop songs for them to learn to play. Read More

Instruments: Saxophone Flute Clarinet

I strive to get all of my students to understand not just how to play music, but how to learn how to play music-similar to the old adage "give a man a fish and he can eat today, but teach a man to fish and he can feed himself for the rest of his life". I use a open school-style philosophy of teaching, which revolves around exploration of the music (trial and error, in a sense), as well as encouraging the students to be self-reflective, self-critical, and to ask as many questions as they want to in order to understand each musical concept within the confines of his/her individual learning style. Read More

Instruments: Piano Voice

They will also be taught methods designed to help embrace the character being performed and to enjoy the act of performing. Piano students can expect training focused on building finger strength and flexibility along with sight reading and improvisation training. Piano students can also expect more theory training to complement improvisation and to more fully understand the music at hand. Beginning piano pedagogy focuses on agile, slightly curved fingers, an aligned and free back and arms, proper use of the pedals, and creating a clear and even strike. Read More

Instruments: Piano

I am classically trained but I also compose music extensively on a daily basis . I have had a life long passion for music and started playing when I was eight years old. I am currently the pianist for the ballet program at Macalester College, LIse Houlton's professional class at MDT, the Metropolitan Ballet, and Ballet Minnesota. Growing up I studied 10 years with Yakov Gelfand, Phd from St. Petersburg Conservatory. I also studied in Hungary with Gulays Istvan, professor at the Franz List Conservatory in Budapest. Read More