Music Lessons in Spring Park, MN

Instruments: Guitar Drums Bass Guitar

I have always enjoyed teaching others. Even in high school, I consistently helped my peers with their learning and enjoyed helping them learn how to play percussion instruments. After starting college in 2009, I began formally teaching percussion privately and in groups at high schools in my area. I have since expanded to teaching guitar, bass guitar, and composition, incorporating compositional elements into all of my lessons. I have found that encouraging students to explore music through composing original material helps them in every other facet of learning music. Read More

Instruments: Violin

For beginners, particularly children, I use the Suzuki method due to the emphasis on learning the instrument before learning how to read notes. I do this in part because, regardless of method, listening to experts play pieces that you are working on is a big part of string playing, and the Suzuki method has become standardized enough that the beginner and intermediate pieces have readily available recordings. Once a baseline of the instrument is established, I add outside repertoire and workbooks. Read More

Instruments: Piano Guitar Drums Mallet Percussion Orchestral Percussion Conga Latin Percussion Music Keyboard Electric Guitar Djembe

My teaching experience is fairly recent. I have been teaching for 3 years as a percussion instructor at Park High School and private lesson instructor for several students. I also recently started a 6 week summer program with Minnesota Internship Center teaching bucket drumming to several groups of kids. As a student, I have always had a big interest in teaching but once I started teaching myself, that interest quickly grew into a passion. Read More

Instruments: Piano Keyboard

Throughout the past 10 years, I have taught neighborhood kids and friends how to play the piano both beginning and intermediately. I like to encourage everybody that consistency is the key to learning (for beginners). Not necessarily practicing for long periods of time, but frequently. Better to practice for 10-15 minutes three to five times per day than for an hour or two all at once. I've found that the best foundation comes from scales. Read More

Instruments: Trumpet

For the first couple lessons I try to gauge how advanced students are in their studies. From then on, I choose material that is feasible and challenging so that students grow accordingly. A lot of learning comes from persistence and practice, so that is a must when it comes to learning with me! I try to find out what motivates the student and what makes them so interested in trumpet and go off of that. Read More

Instruments: Saxophone Flute Clarinet

I strive to get all of my students to understand not just how to play music, but how to learn how to play music-similar to the old adage "give a man a fish and he can eat today, but teach a man to fish and he can feed himself for the rest of his life". I use a open school-style philosophy of teaching, which revolves around exploration of the music (trial and error, in a sense), as well as encouraging the students to be self-reflective, self-critical, and to ask as many questions as they want to in order to understand each musical concept within the confines of his/her individual learning style. Read More

Instruments: Piano Trumpet Trombone Saxophone Flute Clarinet Organ Synthesizer Euphonium French Horn Tuba Oboe Keyboard

Public School Music teacher 33+ years ( now retired) Taught Piano for over 40 years Director of two community bands including current Crosstown Community Band church keyboardist, accompanist and choir director Working musician in several bands My teaching goes back to before my college days, teaching at a music store. Encouraging regular practice on a consistent schedule is one of the key points I like to emphasize for younger students, as it tends to help the student progress, and gain a passion for music. Read More