Kamen R  
Instruments: Piano, Guitar, Voice, Flute, Bass Guitar, Organ, Synthesizer, Music, Keyboard, Electric Guitar, Classical Guitar, Acoustic Guitar
Styles: Classical, Jazz, Pop, Rock, Blues, Folk, Country, R&B, Musical Theater, Funk, Hip Hop, Electronic, Showtunes, Spirituals, Reggae, Swing, New Age, Bossa Nova, Marching Band, Punk, Mariachi, Avant-garde

I began teaching music at the age of 15, primarily guitar and piano lessons for beginners ages 7-14 in my hometown of Parker, CO. At 16 I began teaching my students basic music theory and intermediate instrumental instruction. I moved to Boston in 2012 to pursue an undergraduate degree in Songwriting from Berklee College of Music in Boston, still actively teaching throughout my curriculum. I have now taught over 200 students ages 4 to 64 a wide variety of music-related subjects, including: piano, guitar, bass, voice, music theory, D.A.W. and notation software, and contemporary songwriting.

First thing's first: 1) WHAT are you listening to, lately? 2) WHY are you interested in learning music? 3) WHERE do you hope music will take you? This helps me to find out what my student's interests are, and where their passion is. Two beginners of the same age learning the same instrument, for instance, can have vastly goals, interests, and areas of strength. For beginners: scales, simple melodic pieces, and a very basic overview of notation, key, and time. Once an adequate amount of fundamental material has been grasped, I like to have the student select songs or pieces that they already know of and learn to play simple translations of them that I will prepare. For intermediate students: heavy rigor with more complicated exercise in the form of etudes (piano), vocal runs (voice), and picking exercises (bass/guitar) is encouraged, with an introduction to more complicated music theory and harmony. I like to have my students progress to a point where they feel comfortable picking a song of their choice, transcribing it as accurately as possible, and playing it. For advanced students: there is no set structure for advanced students, as their requests and sets of strengths and weaknesses are so individually specific that I have to create a specific lesson plan for each student. However, one theme that I love to introduce advanced musicians to in terms of music theory are the psycho-acoustics and emotional manipulation of specific chord progressions, modes, cadences, and modal interchange.