Music Lessons in Garden City, MI

Instruments: Drums

I emphasize, above all, practice. If a student doesn't practice daily, then they aren't going to improve at their full potentail rate. I would never "push" a student, but I do encourage students to strive for their best. I know when I need to adapt the situation to fit a student's specific needs. If a student isn't getting something, I know exactly how to back up, break it down, and explain it in a way that they will understand. Read More

Instruments: Guitar Electric Guitar Acoustic Guitar

For beginning students who are completely new to the world of music, I typically start them with exercises and theory found in Hal Leonard's Essential Elements. This introduces them to the foundations of the guitar, such as basic chords, chord progressions, and the musical alphabet. Once they have the necessary understanding of the fundamentals, I then like to find out what music the student is interested in learning and apply these foundations in musical pieces they are familiar with. Read More

Instruments: Drums Mallet Percussion Orchestral Percussion Latin Percussion

For beginner students of any age, I would normally recommend Alfred's Drum Method Book 1, or Joel Rothman's Basic Drumming as they both cover a great intro to reading rythmic notation, proper grip forms, and snare drum method as they also start to incorporate rudiments. It often surprises people that the only purchases REQUIRED for starting to learn drums is: a practice pad, a book, and a pair of sticks (maybe a music stand). Read More

Instruments: Voice

For children, I keep it simple and fun, using a variety of methods to help them not only learn a song/songs, but the fundamentals of music reading, and theory. For older individuals, I prefer to work with their interests, and work towards their goals, through tailored lessons. I use a wide variety of styles, and challenge students to look outside their comfort zone-on occasion- to give them a larger repetoire that they may not have thought of. Read More

Instruments: Voice

I always ask my students what their goals are, both short and long term. This then gives me a good outline of how I expect our lessons to go. My biggest goal is not just for my students to grow and progress but also to have fun! We sing because we love it, and it gives us joy to do it and share it with others. While I do strive to challenge my students, I never want them to leave a lesson discouraged. Read More

Instruments: Piano Drums Synthesizer Mallet Percussion Orchestral Percussion Conga Latin Percussion

Hi. My name is Jesse and I am a drummer. I graduated from Bennington college in 2008 with a bachelor’s degree in liberal arts with a concentration in music, after which I moved to New York City to study jazz drums with some of the most gifted and creative musicians in the world. I’ve travelled the world playing music professionally in a variety of styles, in over 70 different countries across every (habitable) continent! Read More