Piano Lessons Alameda County, CA

Instruments: Piano, Voice, Drums, Recorder

I've been teaching for several years since I got out of College and it's been a rewarding experience. I love witnessing my students make progress and evolve. I love to feel and share their passion for music. I do like to have a program to ensure constant progress but I do not mind at all adapting, changing, or not following at all the program depending on the student's demands and goals. Read More

Instruments: Piano, Saxophone, Flute, Clarinet

Jazz, Improvisation, Musicianship, Technique, Functional Piano. Topics also included are 1) Breathing 2) Phrasing 3) Articulations 4) Scale Studies 5) understanding Chord Symbols 6) Chord Symbols and there related chord scales 7) Harmonic and Melodic anaylsis. For more advance players I like to introduce them to Aebersol play-along, Berklee method books and lennies Nehaus to work on phrasing and articulation for the student that plans on playing in a jazz band at school. For beginner students who usually are Children or sometimes adults who have maybe never played a musical instrument I will typically start with Hal leonard or Rubank method and once the student has grasp some of the fundamentals I will begin to either introduce Solo material ( Classical) or if thier interest is in Popular Music-Jazz start learning to play either some Blues and Standards depening upon the path the student is interested in. Read More

Instruments: Piano, Guitar, Saxophone, Clarinet, Drums, Bass Guitar, Organ, Synthesizer, Ukulele, Mandolin, Music, Keyboard, Electric Guitar, Acoustic Guitar

I always say that rhythm is more important than the notes. Play the right rhythm and the notes will come instead of playing every right note while sacrificing rhythm. I encourage students to make their mistakes loud, proud, and in rhythm so everyone has a better idea of what needs to be worked on most. I also emphasize isolating parts to practice and working backwards. Example: play the last two bars of the song until comfortable with it, now play the last 4 bars, last 6, last 8...etc., whole song. Read More

Instruments: Piano, Guitar, Voice, Violin, Viola, Ukulele, Keyboard, Electric Guitar, Acoustic Guitar

I typically perform an assessment with every individual during the first lesson. Depending on goals, I will recommend curriculum to achieve the desired results. If a classical approach is desired, I use the Alfred's Basic Piano series and the Hal Leonard method for guitar, along with scale and chord theory literature depending on the level of the student. I also teach jazz/pop accompaniment style improv playing so I print music out from various sources. Read More

Instruments: Piano, Drums

For beginning piano students, I start them with a variety of materials, beginning with John Thompson's piano books, along with stanzas of finger exercises to develop dexterity. But more importantly for me, is that I understand that people, especially now, want to start playing songs as soon as possible. So, I immediately teach them chords and scales. Weekly, I introduce a new one so they get comfortable and then get them used to moving from chord to chord. Read More