Music Lessons in Old L Richardson, NC

Instruments: Piano Keyboard

I am an energetic lover of music. I love working with students and directing bands and choirs. I graduated from Hampton University in 2003 with Bachelor of Arts degree in Piano Performance and have been teaching students the wonder of piano even before I graduated. I perform as a accompanist for all types of music, sing at events, and am the Director of Music at Reynolds Chapel Baptist Church as well. Read More

Instruments: Drums Orchestral Percussion

As a musical educator, I firmly believe in simultaneously ecouraging my students as a push them far past whatever limits they may have had at the beginning. While doing this, I've also realized that each student eventually reaches an "ah ha" moment in their time of learning with me. This happens when the student begins to come into his/her own "musical identity." As crazy as it may sound, I never teach my student how to play, look like or to sound like "me" as I'm teaching them. Read More

Instruments: Saxophone Music

I typically start out young students with the Essential Elements books, although I also like the Rubank books. If the students are enrolled in a band program, I try to go with the book used in school, while adding in supplemental material as I see necessary. I try to introduce numerous etude books including Ferling, Klose, and Rascher as a progression out of the method books previously mentioned. I try to discuss the interests of my students often to assess what will be an appropriate next step in their musical selection for them to make sure its challenging without causing an overreach and breakdown of their fundamentals Read More

Instruments: Piano Drums Mallet Percussion

Teaching must be a two way street between the instructor and the student. There must be an understanding of the relationship and a willingness on both ends to take everything that they can out of the experience. I believe once this is done, a relationship can start to form between the two which will naturally help in the learning progress. For adults especially, constructive criticism is just as important as the praise when you do a good job. Read More

Instruments: Piano Violin Viola Synthesizer Electric Violin Fiddle

I love to ask questions about the student's thought process, and you will commonly see me "break down" technique into smaller, more digestable pieces. I will also take the time to discuss the musical setting of the piece to give the performance more context. For example, did you know that Mozart's Violin Sonata No. 21 in e minor was written around the time his mother passed, and is the only instrumental piece he wrote that rests in e minor? Read More

Instruments: Violin Viola

As a teacher i encourage my students to keep improving and progressing to the best of their ability. While I can be strict, I always try to make lessons fun, especially for young children because it is essential to their learning capability that they enjoy learning their instrument. Students are given opportunities, words, and support to increase their self confidence while constantly challenging them so that they can make the greatest strides possible to their own personal level and learning speed. Read More

Instruments: Piano Trumpet Saxophone Drums Orchestral Percussion Latin Percussion Music Djembe

I create my own lesson plans (and some materials) specific to each student. Some standard books I use are Alfred's Drum Method book 1, The New Breed, Portraits in Rhythm, The Drummer's Complete Vocabulary to name a few. The books are necessary for developing music literacy, however I remind students that the pages don't make sound!!! Developing a discerning ear is paramount in my approach. Therefore we do a lot of listening and I engage students in dialogue for them to develop a personalized mental image of what they are trying to play. Read More