Music Lessons in Black Earth, WI

Instruments: Guitar Flute

I love teaching music to kids from one to ninety-two! Ive been teaching, playing, writing and producing music forever, and my passion for all things music just keeps growing and growing. I think learning and playing music should be fun not another dreary detail in schedules that can sometimes be filled with dreary details. I love to instill and nurture a lifetime love of music. Because Ive been involved in the real world of the music industry I can teach guitar and flute students, not only how to read and play but to improvise and play. Read More

Instruments: Voice

My teaching is rooted in the philosophy of functional singing, which means everything I teach has a purpose rooted in the physiology of singing. We do a lot of different exercises and say a lot of funny sounding words, but each exercise is carefully crafted to maximize training your voice's flexibility, agility, or strength. Similar to how you might do a bicep curl to make your bicep stronger, vocal exercises are part of a broader "vocal workout" regimen based on what your voice needs on any given day. Read More

Instruments: Violin

I like to teach with the music from the Suzuki books and then the Bach Sonatas and Partitas, out of an interest in teaching with actual music as opposed to scales or etudes, but I also introduce repertoire from outside those books, and isolate sections of standard violin repertoire for learning. This has the advantage of always keeping music in our ears as we play (by this I mean, we do not lose the sound of music in the sound of the violin as I feel can happen in overtly technical exercise), which is essential to growing an authentic relationship to one's sound and, by extension, to learning new ways to improving one's sound. Read More

Instruments: Clarinet

I have been teaching young clarinetists privately for nearly 8 years, and more recently began working as a clinician and teaching masterclasses at local schools. I prioritize curating diverse resources for teaching and performing, and am frequently trying new technique books and contemporary music for myself and my students. As a performer, I have made great progress through participating in chamber music, and so I encourage my own students to collaborate with their peers and frequently will play chamber music in lessons. Read More

Instruments: Piano Guitar Voice Drums Bass Guitar Keyboard Djembe Acoustic Guitar

My teaching style is very simple. With the fundamentals in place, it's possible to learn any song you want to. If there's a song that goes beyond a student's fundamentals, then that's what we'll learn next. As my music teachers told me, if you listen to a record and you find something on it that you don't know how to play, go back and learn how to do it! Listening and learning is essential to playing the music that you want to be able to play as quickly as possible. Read More

Instruments: Piano Voice

For beginning piano students who are children, we will typically either start with Alfred or Piano Adventures series. I find that both these series introduce the concepts of technique, theory, solo playing, and terminology in ways that help them learn effectively. Depending on the age, they will be placed in either early beginner's series or the beginner series. For adults, I look at what they are interested in and build a course for them based on that. Read More

Instruments: Piano Djembe

As an educator I do my best to imitate the most impactful learning sessions I have experienced during my tenure, and most if not all of those learning opportunities stemmed from an educator who carried 3 characteristics, also know as the definition of Cool. These characteristics include, being Kind, Honest and Fearless. As a teacher I have to be honest, both with my student's current musical capacity and also with how I am planning to help them progress. Read More