Music Lessons in Portage, WI

Instruments: Clarinet

I am a product of the dedication and experience of those who taught me, and I strive to provide an enriching and comfortable environment in my own teaching practice to pay it forward. I studied music education and clarinet performance at the University of Illinois in Champaign, IL, then moved to Madison, WI to pursue a masters degree in clarinet performance. I enjoy having a well-rounded musical career by performing, teaching, and working towards accessible music education and community engagement. Read More

Instruments: Guitar Classical Guitar Acoustic Guitar

Regarding musical repertoire, I emphasize a diverse and enjoyable repertoire especially for guitar ensemble and group classes. I tend to introduce my students to different cultures and wider musical experience by playing and practicing works composed by composers from around the world and even arranging traditional music of variety of cultures. For me, teaching in groups was always an enjoyable experience. In my view, making a friendly environment is the corner stone for having successful results. Read More

Instruments: Piano Drums Mallet Percussion Orchestral Percussion Latin Percussion Djembe

In addition to technique we work on music theory where the student learns to identify both the type of note it is as well as identifying the name of the note dependent on the clef and key signature of the music. As an instructor we also do a variety of reading exercises where I cover a variety of genres from classical, jazz as well as a variety of contemporary genres. Read More

Instruments: Piano Voice

The most important goal I have in teaching voice and piano is to grow the student's love of music. I love customizing lessons to a student's abilities, interests, and learning style. I prioritize the student's enjoyment above all else, but students who make an effort to work and learn will always find their instrument to be more exciting and fun. For this reason, my lessons are always highly goal-oriented, regardless of how fun they are! Read More

Instruments: Guitar Flute

I also have deep experience in song writing and producing and love to help students express themselves through words and music. I am the father of three daughters for whom I wrote a book titled, Be Who You Are, A Song For My Children. The book is actually based on a song I wrote for them titled Be Who You Are. Im a Telly Award winning composer/producer whos worked directly with celebrity artists raging from Eric Clapton, Carole King, Avril Lavigne and Joss Stone, to Wynona Judd, Jason Mraz and Dave Mathews among others; written jingles for brands from Mazda to Mattel. Read More

Instruments: Voice

My teaching is rooted in the philosophy of functional singing, which means everything I teach has a purpose rooted in the physiology of singing. We do a lot of different exercises and say a lot of funny sounding words, but each exercise is carefully crafted to maximize training your voice's flexibility, agility, or strength. Similar to how you might do a bicep curl to make your bicep stronger, vocal exercises are part of a broader "vocal workout" regimen based on what your voice needs on any given day. Read More

Instruments: Piano Djembe

Taking the teaching perspective that the piano is a percussion instrument, my instructional focuses are on rhythmic development where I use drumming patterns, hemiolas and other metronome tactics to develop your time. I am a Jazz musician, however going deeper means I use music to communicate as a language, taking the language development metaphor further, I use scales, arpeggios, movements, melodies and song forms, just to name a few as methods to communicate or improvise, both with the audience and other musicians. Read More