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25 Years
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Here are just a few of the many teachers offering Piano lessons in Pittsburg . Whether you are looking for beginner guitar lessons for your kids, or are an adult wanting to improve your skills, the instructors in our network are ready to help you now!
Instruments: Piano Guitar Violin Cello Viola Bass Guitar Organ Ukulele Electric Violin Music Keyboard Electric Guitar
Throughout years of teaching I began making every lesson unique in a way that would benefit the student the most. The number one goal is for the student to have fun and learn at the same time. I was taught in a very rigorous fashion by high level teachers. I know what it means to look forward to coming to class. I love teaching because it lets me avoid the mistakes my teachers made in the past when it came my time to learn music. Read More
Instruments: Piano Voice
For Piano: I usually start with the Alfred's Basic books and work my students through those lessons until they reach a point where I can begin to use other repertoire books with them to give them supplemental work. I always use scales as warm ups for the hands, even if they are very basic for new students. If someone is more experienced, I gauge their level of experience and interests to help determine exercises and repertoire. Read More
Instruments: Piano Drums Organ Synthesizer
Teaching has been a constant for me since college (around 2005). I helped tutor both aural theory and written theory, and also helped with beginner piano classes. Later on, I taught at the East Bay Jazz Workshop and offered private lessons part time both at my home studio and at Young World pre-school. I've taught students of all ages and skill levels for many years and also can provide some experience at arranging, theory, and improvisation. Read More
Instruments: Piano Trumpet
If you are beginning and are a child, then Hal Leonard's Essential Elements is a very general and safe place to start. I firmly believe that establishing a solid set of fundamentals is a great place to start. It is important to not lose motivation during this period, progress is rewarding and it gets even better! After a solid foundation is established fundamentally, the individual is opened into a musical world with limitless possibilities. Read More
Instruments: Piano
For beginners, my method is simple. To be able to read music is important to me. Therefore, I teach them to read notes, count, hand and finger positions. For advanced students, I will focus on teaching them to interpret a piece rather than copying from others. I will motivate the students to feel the piece so that they can play it easily and genuinely. Above all, all my students have to be able to read music fluently. Read More
Instruments: Piano Flute Recorder Piccolo
Every student unique and learns in their own way. During lessons, I often compare concepts to other activities my students know and love - their favorite sport, video games, or books. I love sharing my magic tricks - shortcut exercises to make tricky passages instantly easier, and youll definitely catch me encouraging my students to listen, listen, listen! Every genre of music has something different you can learn and it adds to your own creative toolkit. Read More
Instruments: Piano Voice Trombone
For three years I was a camp counselor in the La Honda Music Camp (Hayward, CA). As a counselor, I looked after 10-12 middle school-aged girls, oversaw brass sectionals, coached trombone, and assisted in the junior wind ensemble. In high school I used to coach my classmates in the trombone section. In my grad school years I began to teach beginning piano and trombone. My hope when teaching music is that the kids have a lot of fun learning their instrument, so I always encourage them to learn songs they'd like to sing/play along to. Read More
Instruments: Drums Conga Latin Percussion Djembe
What does a normal practice session look like for you?
I tend to start with warm-up exercises on a practice pad with a metronome, starting slow and speeding up. Then I get into the "work out" portion, where I push into faster tempos to test and improve my technique. After practice pad work, I'll move to the drumset. This is where my routine is more flexible. I generally pick one or two things to practice, which could be playing beats in a certain style, practicing different sticking patterns and fills, or playing along to either songs or backing tracks. Again, I make sure to use a metronome and practice these things at various tempos.
If you have a Music Degree, what is it in (Performance, Education, Musicology, Theory, Composition, etc) and why did you choose that degree?
I have a Bachelor of Music in Music Composition from the University of Kansas. Ever since I was in high school, I loved writing music for bands I was in. I had an understanding of basic theory concepts, but I wanted to greatly expand my knowledge of theory and compositional concepts so I could write better music in more diverse styles. This is why I chose to pursue a degree in composition, and I'm so glad I did! Because of my education, I am now able to write for many types of instruments and expand upon simple ideas in any way I see fit.
If you weren't a musician what do you think you'd be doing instead?
If I weren't a musician, I would probably be a programmer. When I started college, I was actually dual majoring in Music Composition and Computer Science! I quickly became overwhelmed with my coursework and ultimately decided to pursue music alone, but I still find programming interesting. However, even if I did end up pursuing Computer Science instead, I would almost certainly still be playing music. It's too important to me to give up completely! In that case, I'd most likely go to jam sessions and try to be in a band so I could play shows on weekends.
What is your favorite style/genre of music to play and why?
I love playing in almost any style, but some of my favorite stuff to play is in the neo-soul/hip-hop genre. Specifically, beat styles inspired by J Dilla, Erykah Badu, and D'Angelo. There's a certain swagger to the style that is an absolute joy to play on the drums. Ultimately though, I think everything I play is informed by jazz. I have studied jazz for years, and it has given me the ability to improvise and communicate musically in basically any style. Even when playing in the aforementioned neo-soul/hip-hop, my musical choices are informed by jazz improvisation.
25 Years
Since We Started
41,456+
Happy Customers
10,769
Cities with Students
3,123
Teachers in Network
Trusted as the industry leader, for over 21 years the teachers in our network have been providing Piano lessons in Pittsburg to students of all ages and abilities.
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