Piano Lessons in Pardeeville, WI

Instruments: Piano Voice

For beginning piano students who are children, we will typically either start with Alfred or Piano Adventures series. I find that both these series introduce the concepts of technique, theory, solo playing, and terminology in ways that help them learn effectively. Depending on the age, they will be placed in either early beginner's series or the beginner series. For adults, I look at what they are interested in and build a course for them based on that. Read More

Instruments: Piano Drums Mallet Percussion Orchestral Percussion Latin Percussion Djembe

With both piano, percussion and drum instruction I cover things such as technique, reading, music theory etc. I work out of a variety of books depending on the student's level of experience and interests. In regards to technique there are a variety of things that I cover including the mechanics of the body, posture, hand and arm positioning and a variety of techniques depending on what the music is calling for. Read More

Instruments: Piano Guitar Bass Guitar

I have taught from both the FJH and Berklee series of guitar and theory books. My lessons revolve around three parts: 1- Lessons from books of the appropriate level. We choose a book that suits the student, and there are weekly assignments from the book. 2- Theory work, usually focusing on the Blues form. My teaching of pop, rock, country, folk, etc. all goes back to the blues form. The music theory work also supports the students growing musical knowledge. 3- The student's choice of music. Read More

Instruments: Piano Voice

I have different methods for piano and voice: depending on the level of the piano student, I will use Faber method books and supplement performance pieces, technique lessons, games, theory discussions, etc. I do not use method books with voice students, although I do have a curriculum that I follow and adjust depending on the level and age of the voice student. I believe that while beginning and intermediate students continue to learn, it is important for them to practice different genres on their instrument -- this allows them to speak different musical languages, improves their understanding of style, and gives them a better context for their own gifts and interests. 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

Instruments: Piano Guitar Voice Drums Bass Guitar Keyboard Djembe Acoustic Guitar

My teaching style is very simple. With the fundamentals in place, it's possible to learn any song you want to. If there's a song that goes beyond a student's fundamentals, then that's what we'll learn next. As my music teachers told me, if you listen to a record and you find something on it that you don't know how to play, go back and learn how to do it! Listening and learning is essential to playing the music that you want to be able to play as quickly as possible. Read More