Music Lessons in Millbrae, CA

Instruments: Trumpet Trombone Saxophone Flute Clarinet Ukulele Recorder Euphonium French Horn Tuba Music

Making sure that the student is having fun, learning and achieving their musical goals is most important. I understand that each student progresses at their own pace and has diffrent goals and desires. While there are certian excersises that everyone needs to work on, solos and concert pieces are what students are drawn to. Therefore, I make sure that students are working on fun and challenging pieces that will keep them engaged in music. Read More

Instruments: Clarinet

My start in music was unexpected; I was set on a life in academia as a literature student when an honor band experience late in high school led me to swerve into a life in performing music. My teachers early on were very accepting and generous with me, as a student with vastly less experience than his peers, but I consumed their teaching ravenously. As a teacher, I began teaching young students as a summer job during my undergrad and later worked as a section coach for concert band clarinet sections in the Puget Sound area; during my graduate degree, I gave undergrads informal, routine lessons at their request, to supplement their own lesson experience. Read More

Instruments: Piano Guitar Violin Cello Viola Bass Guitar Organ Ukulele Electric Violin Music Keyboard Electric Guitar

Music is something that takes time to understand. It clicks in some students, but most kids take a while to develop musically. Patience is the most pronounced characteristic in my teaching style. It's easy to tell the student what they're doing wrong and what to correct, but that doesn't mean it's the most effective practice. Some kids will get nervous and make the same mistake over and over again. This is where it's important to use positive reinforcement and give the student time and space to be able to understand their mistake and fix it. Read More

Instruments: Piano Guitar Music Electric Guitar Classical Guitar Acoustic Guitar

I start my beginning students with Alfred guitar method. If someone wants classical lessons I start them with the Fredrick Noad books and some Sor and Segovia studies. For people interested in improvisation we begin with Blues and then take it where you want to go. Advanced students I give more master class type lessons where we discuss more advanced music ideas. Read More

Instruments: Saxophone Clarinet

My experience in teaching is not only in the musical aspect. I was also a Spanish teacher for Centro Latino in Berkeley. Teaching music is like teaching another languages. In my specialties, clarinet and saxophone, the pause, breathing and acentuation have a very important part in phrasing the notes. The melody should flow "as we speak", in a normal way and with the right entonation. I have two children who are also musicians, an 11 year old daughter and a 13 year old son. Read More

Instruments: Guitar

My teaching experience goes back to the late seventies where I started to teach kids in the neighborhood the guitar. As I got older and more knowledgeable about jazz and blues, I taught on a part time basis shareing what I was learning through my own studies with my students. Now many years later I have an excellent knowledge of the guitar and want to teach students how to completely understand it. Read More

Instruments: Drums

I am super passionate about drumming and it is important that lessons are fun and engaging. I like to mix up the content of the class and am flexible as to the student's objectives and needs. I like to talk in terms of concepts and approach to drumming, both mentally and physically, in order to visualize and simplify ideas. I am quite detail oriented when it comes to foundational technique with a strong belief that understanding rhythmic relations and styles is key to significantly faster improvement. Read More