Music Lessons in Edendale, CA

Instruments: Piano Violin

My teaching experience started in high school when my private teacher started teaching me how to teach. I then accepted students on a continual basis, usually working two jobs. I realized at a later point in my life that I would like to make teaching my profession and started getting more serious about how I would proceed with teaching music. I have had students for over 25 years and without a doubt, parental involvement and practice are the two main factors for success of young students, along with a good teacher. Read More

Instruments: Violin Mandolin Electric Violin Fiddle

I trained classically for almost six years, and then branced out to old-time, celtic, and bluegrass fiddling. I performed in, and won, several fiddle contests throughout high school, but then discovered jazz and improvisation, and found my true calling.   I have performed with a wide variety of groups, from traditional bluegrass to country-punk, from folky singer-songwriters to a hip-hop group, and love nothing more then creativly interacting with others, adding my own voice to whatever else is going on. Read More

Instruments: Guitar

I started teaching my friends in school who didn't have any experience playing guitar. I can combine material given with a variety of books for an appropriate and interactive experience that can help any student to understand a topic and apply it while playing. My goal is to give students anything that fits their needs.. I try to explain the roots of where the theory comes from. I was always looking for a reason behind it while I was in college. Read More

Instruments: Piano Voice Acoustic Guitar

For my students, I like to see what type of music they are interested in and listen to a few of their favorite songs. From there we can learn chords (guitar, piano) and melodies for vocal lines. We could go the route of learning scales and theory, but since I didn't grow up learning that way, I'd prefer to go the more modern way by learning strumming patterns, chords, inversions, melodies and harmonies, and teach dynamics to make a song come together. Read More

Instruments: Trombone

I always start with a warm up, followed by scale studies. From there we move to etudes, and solos or concerti, and end with excerpts from books like the Mueller technical study or Arban book. For more advanced students and jazz players, I like to start with a warm up, scale study, learn tunes and the blues, big band charts, and end with listening and transcriptions. Overall, the most important thing a student can develop is a full tone and personal sound. Read More

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

My teaching experience goes back almost 8 years ago. I had joined a worship band for the church and one of the guitar players asked me for lessons to help him better understand how to play in a band. I traveled to his home and several others by word of mouth. A few years later I launched my own private lessons out of my home. Continually my personal lessons, I then worked part time with a private music academy for 5 years. Read More

Instruments: Piano Voice

I'm very passionate about being honest and straightforward with my students. I'm very prone to telling my students not just what I do but why I do it, as I believe it's important to develop holistic thinking. I also think it's important to get students curious about as much related to the art form as possible. So, I include extra information about history, theory, other aspects of the canon, etc. Read More