Music Lessons in Sodus Point, NY

Instruments: Drums Djembe

First and foremost my goal as an educator is to inspire students to have a love, passion and excitement for music by tailoring my lessons toward each student's unique goals and interests. I aim to prepare students for any situation they may encounter by providing them with a strong basis in the fundamentals of music and drumming, along with improvisational techniques, skills for ensemble playing, sight reading skills, soloing, developing excellent tone, and proper technique to play with ease. Read More

Instruments: Guitar Electric Guitar Classical Guitar Acoustic Guitar

Interestingly enough, my musical background has proven to be of great value to me. Anywhere from learning music theory on a deep level, to having the wonderful privilege of being able to appreciate the whole world as music via having trained musical ears. There were a few colleges that helped me out with gaining these skills, and even though they were state schools, I had the honor of meeting and learning from amazingly caring and worthwhile professors. Read More

Instruments: Guitar Electric Guitar Acoustic Guitar

Every student is unique, and every student deserves a unique curriculum. That said, I usually start my absolute beginners off with open position chords and, when they're ready, open position scales - pentatonic and diatonic. We explore repertoire, often partially of the student's choosing. When this is established, we will dive into scales in all positions on the fretboard, and the corresponding modes for major, melodic minor, and harmonic minor. Read More

Instruments: Violin Cello Viola Double Bass

For young beginners, I typically start with method books and repertiore that align with the student's school orchestra program. After progressing through fundamentals and developing routine practice habits, I introduce solo and ensemble repertiore in a variety of styles including classical, fiddle, folk and modern. Because I have taught lessons in public school based on New York State standards of education, I incorporate music theory, composition, singing, history and culture into lessons. Read More

Instruments: Piano Guitar Music Keyboard Acoustic Guitar

Playing with one hand first, then the other, then using both hands. Working on rhythm and coordination follows that. For students that are in the intermediate-advanced stage, how the lessons go really depends on what the student's goals are and what they want to focus on. I have a lot of music theory knowledge and compositional skills, I can teach active listening, playing by ear, composition itself, improvising, arpeggios with fingerings, altered scales, hybrid structures of chords, tritone substitutions, voice leading, inner harmony, soloing, phrasing, and comping. Read More

Instruments: Guitar

When you were growing up and were learning to speak, no one told you to go practice speaking alone in your room until you were good enough to talk (or jam) with the masters. As a child you were already "jamming" with the masters, no adult decided not to speak with you because you weren't at their speaking level. I will do my best to make learning music as natural a process as possible. Read More

Instruments: Violin

For beginning students, I like to build a foundation of training the ear, learning the language of music, and becoming connected with their instruments. I typically start with Hal Leonard's Essential Elements or the Suzuki books. For intermediate students, I try and develop good building blocks for technique and facilities for getting around the violin. This is also a good stage to start introducing more advanced repertoire. For advanced students, I focus a lot on developing a deeper and more mature sound that really takes violin playing to the next level. Read More