Drum Lessons in Santa Clarita, CA

Instruments: Drums

For beginner students I usually begin with listening exercises. We will listen to music and talk about what the drummer is doing, and how we can de-construct that. From there we talk about how that looks written down on paper and explore the basics of drum notation. Within this we will also talk about proper technique. For adults, or students with more experience, i will try to find out where their skills are and what they are interested in learning from me. Read More

Instruments: Piano Voice Drums Ukulele

For beginners, I firmly believe in establishing strong fundamentals. However, you can't spell fundamentals with out "fun"! So, even while building fundamentals, music lessons should be fun and geared toward what the student wants out of all of this. Whether that's learning a specific song, style, cool musically visual trick, or just jamming, I'm here for it all! Musical journeys are specific to the individual and therefore there is no one path that all students must follow. Read More

Instruments: Drums Latin Percussion

For the begginer I like to start by exploring and accessing their ability to do anything musical in the drumset while showing them some very basic and familiar drum beats. Shortly after I introduce them to the foundations and building blocks of drum playing through visual, auditive cues as well as introducing music theory knowledge. Music reading is one of the most important skill to learn as you progress. Drum Books will be used for the classes For intermediate and Advance , I also make an accessment to find out where they are in terms of drum technique, drum culture, all the music styles that they are familiar as well as unfamiliar with. Read More

Instruments: Drums Orchestral Percussion

I primarily use original material when I teach, but occasionally Ill work from standard method books such as Stick Control, Master Studies, and Syncopation, or assign pages from more recent books like John Rileys The Art of Bop Drumming. Ill also pull out books specifically for sight reading such as Anthony Cirones Portraits in Rhythm. For beginning and intermediate students I focus on fundamental technique, basic sight reading skills, and drum set playing (independence/coordination of the limbs, relaxation and balance, time and groove, fills and solos, introduction of musical styles, etc.) For advanced students I get into more conceptual and creative aspects of playing the drums, but I also introduce the Spivack/Wilson technique which I learned during my studies with Murray Spivack and Richard Wilson in the 1980s [check out the 4-part series featured in Modern Drummer magazine in 2011-2012]. Read More

Instruments: Piano Guitar Drums Bass Guitar Orchestral Percussion Conga Latin Percussion Electric Guitar Acoustic Guitar

My teaching method is different depending on the abilities of each student. For beginning students, I use the Haskell W. Harr Drum Method Books 1 2, Stick Control by George Lawrence Stone, and The All-American Drummer 150 Rudimental Swing solos by Charley Wilcoxin. Once I feel like a student is strong enough on the snare drum, I will then work with them on developing limb independence on the drum set. All of the snare drum method books that I use with my students will eventually be adapted for drum set. Read More

Instruments: Drums Mallet Percussion Orchestral Percussion Conga Latin Percussion

I have been teaching privately over 19 years, currently online and remotely, as well as almost 10 years at the Musicians Institute in Hollywood, California. The majority of my students have been young, college age students between 17-30 years of age. I have also taught children as young as 4 and adults up to 69. Many of my students have been international, thus I have experience in clearly stating the goals in an understandable and convenient way. Read More