Seth D
Instruments: Piano, Guitar, Bass Guitar, Banjo, Ukulele, Mandolin, Lute, Music, Keyboard, Electric Guitar, Classical Guitar, Acoustic Guitar
Styles: Classical, Jazz, Pop, Rock, Blues, Folk, Country, R&B, Opera, Latin, Funk, Electronic, Flamenco, Reggae, Latin Jazz, Swing, New Age, Samba, Bossa Nova, Soul, Punk, Mariachi, Avant-garde
Seth D
Instruments: Piano, Guitar, Bass Guitar, Banjo, Ukulele, Mandolin, Lute, Music, Keyboard, Electric Guitar, Classical Guitar, Acoustic Guitar
Styles:
Classical, Jazz, Pop, Rock, Blues, Folk, Country, R&B, Opera, Latin, Funk, Electronic, Flamenco, Reggae, Latin Jazz, Swing, New Age, Samba, Bossa Nova, Soul, Punk, Mariachi, Avant-garde
Where I Teach:
Ages Taught: 5-80
2019 - Winner of One World Prairie Guitar Contest's "Classical Guitar" Category
2018-2020: UNC Performance Scholarships from UC Health
2013-2020: UNK Lavern Clark Memorial Scholarship
I am a guitarist in the southern Colorado area who loves teaching and performing music. I have played as a guitarist in almost every scenario you can imagine, which helps me to work with musicians from almost any walk of life. I have accompanied choirs, performed with orchestras, played for stage productions and musicals, improvised jazz in coffee shops, played solos in jazz bands, got loud with cover bands, reproduced renaissance music for a Shakespeare festival, performed classical guitar in an art museum and a transportation museum, sung and played at weddings, and the list goes on! Starting my journey with music was the best decision I have ever made, and it has brought so many wonderful experiences into my life and that is why I want to share those possibilities with my students.
I love teaching music and have been doing so for almost 11 years now! I was hired at my small town music store to teach guitar lessons at the age of fifteen, and I have continued to teach to all levels and types of students since then. My number one priority is create intrinsic motivation for music in my students, meaning that I want to show you that music is as exciting and easy as you want it to be. Instead of berating my students to practice, my students practice because they want to practice. My students often tell me what they have been working on from their own reading and listening without being asked, and give me suggestions on what they want to learn in their lessons. I create intrinsic motivation through using the most successful teaching practices, engaging curiosity and interests, creating and improvising music with students, building relationships between the student and other musicians, and just simply having fun! I serve the student in their own educational and musical journey, and I can show you how you can take a few small steps to start your life-long journey with music.
I use some tried and true materials, create materials for students, and create materials alongside the students for their lessons. The materials are dependent on the student's background, strengths, and interests, but there are some things that are necessarily taught to everyone. For example; I use excerpts from Bradford Werner's Guitar Method frequently for reading staff notation on the guitar, because it emphasizes using physiologically simple etudes. Since the music is very physically easy, the student can focus on the cognitive challenge of interpreting musical notation. I look at the struggles and strengths of students to choose music for lessons, because my methodology is student-centered. Technical exercises like scales and arpeggios will come necessarily from the music that is being learned, and are naturally integrated into the student lesson plans.
Whether I have been working with college students, retirees who are finally returning to music, or teaching music to a young child; I put the emphasis on the student. For guitar; I use various method books to start my students such as Berklee Guitar Phase 1, Bradford Werner's Guitar Method 1, Le Petit Guitarama, or simply no method book. Each student is different, so I do not necessarily use the same method book for each student and make decisions based on their strengths and interests to decide what materials to use in their lessons. I have students where they are very focused on learning specific songs that I love, while others are very focused on developing their general musicianship through technique and improvisation concepts, so I must use different resources and musical examples to make their lessons the most enjoyable and enriching experiences.
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