Music Lessons in San Mateo, CA

Instruments: Guitar Trumpet

With young students, I teach using the Royal Conservatory method. These books provide a good balance of technical development and quaity music. Once technical foundations are estabished, I will add ear training as well as theory and improvisation. For older students, I generally let them be the guide- whatever you want to work on is fine with me. Regardless of style, I try to make each lesson musical and fun. Read More

Instruments: Piano Clarinet

35 years teaching piano, music arranging, composition, theory, technique, personal expression. Beginning - Intermediate - Advanced. Intructor for Music School of Alameda. Music School at Sherman Clay, Private Music Studio, Music Director, 1st Trinity Lutheran Church Pianist for string orchestra, chamber groups, duos, trios, quartets, quintets. Accompanist for Vocalists, Instrumentalists. Pianist for Jazz Quartet Solo Pianist Classical, Jazz, Contemporary for Private Celebrations, Weddings, Birthdays, Graduations. Read More

Instruments: Guitar

I use a variety of books, recordings, and online resources for all levels- transcriptions of classicstylesand newer artists , scale and chordreference books, solo pieces for different genres,beginning guitarmethods bytraditional publishers such as Hal Leonard and Warner Bros. plus newer books. Online video and audio content andrecording software such as garageband arealso valuable resources to work with.Learning to read and write music opens up great potential for communication and creativity- theory and improvisation are other topics that I like to teach. Read More

Instruments: Bass Guitar

I like to give my students small goals until I get to know them better. Early triumphs in learning a musical instrument tend to really help keep the attention of the new player. With beginning students, I like to teach in reference to the music the student wants to play. With Intermediate students, I like to have them explore new musical genres with similar concepts to what they are listening to or creating, in order to teach them to use the tools they already have more diversily. Read More

Instruments: Piano Voice Ukulele

My methods of teaching cater to the students interests and strengths. I use material and songs that the students want to learn. I draw the learning from these pieces of art. I also use Suzuki, Hal Leonard and Bastien piano materials. My specialty is popular, sacred, arias, jazz and folk music. I create diversity in my lessons and keep them fun and exciting. In my lessons, I teach body mechanics, proper vocal warm ups as well as piano exercises and drills. Read More

Instruments: Guitar Electric Guitar Acoustic Guitar

My methods for teaching are very adaptive depending on your experience, skill level, and what you'd like to learn. For beginner students, I usually go over basic knowledge of the guitar and a bit of music theory, and guitar finger exercises. For students more interested in playing songs, I will aid them in reading guitar tabs and also how to set up an amplifier to achieve the right tones, i.e. reverb, distortion. Read More

Instruments: Piano

However, I consider these method books as merely one of the tools of my teaching (very often, I do not follow exactly the order/content of the book, but design my own lesson plan using the aid of the book) - Because I believe I am responsible for most of the teaching, not the book. I also occasionally provide supplementary repertoire, as well as incorporating a limited amount of rote teaching. Read More