Music Lessons in Whitestone, NY

Instruments: Piano

Ben is a New York City-based jazz pianist, composer, and producer. His classical training and bebop roots resonate in his explorations of contemporary jazz harmony. Having lived in the Philippines, Peru, Kenya, Montréal, and New York, Ben has been a part of several distinct music scenes. He has performed with Taru Alexander, Miles Griffith, Stanley Banks, Kevin Dean, Josh David Barrett, Steve Brown, Daryl Johns, Jesse Collins, and other acclaimed musicians. Read More

Instruments: Piano

I believe playing an instrument "well" requires lots of understanding of details about the instrument and the music. A music score is an instruction on how and which note to play and it's the performer's creativity that embellishes the result(performance). I have been teaching my students piano lesson with music theory to learn how to read the score and understand all the details(rhythm, note, sound, articulations, form, etc.) so that they not only learn how to play the instrument but also learn about general knowledge of music that they can apply to any instrument or other styles of music. Read More

Instruments: Guitar

I start the student off with basic fundamentals. Basic scales and chords. I'll start to give the student more advanced material once they start making more progress. I'll center the learning curve on how quickly they progress through each lesson. Once they can figure out a certain fundamental I'll help them build upon on it and work at it from different angles do understand it better. Read More

Instruments: Guitar Bass Guitar

I'm very patient and fun. My concept is a very straight forward approach by applying theory and technique to pieces of music. The student learns proficiencies [scales, chords, theory, technique and more ] Develops a song list. With a check list of things to do with the songs. melody, chords , advanced chords , chord melody, improvisation, riffs Also we study composition and song writing. Read More

Instruments: Drums

For me, witnessing the "ah-hah" moment in a student's face is priceless. It means that a certain concept or idea has been understood by the student. I use the first lesson to find out what the student is inspired by and what aspect of their playing they wish to improve on depending on their age and skill level. Once I find out what inspires them, I'll be better informed as how to keep them inspired and moving towards certain goals. Read More

Instruments: Piano Music

For younger students I like the Alfreds method books . I also use the Piano Adventures books as well as Hal Leonard for adults. I like to combine what the student is looking for musically and build upon that while supplementing the method book. For younger students I tried to engage them by making the lesson fun. If an adult is interested in popular music I supplement the lesson with a method book that is geared toward popular music. Read More

Instruments: Piano Voice Organ Synthesizer

I typically use the Alfred books for young beginning students. In these books, children learn the geography of the keyboard and learn about the contours of musical notation and by the end are using both hands. For adults, as well as intermediate children and up, I prefer the Michael Aaron series for intermediate and beyond. For beginning adults I use the Aaron Musical Primer. I also use the Aaron Technic for advanced performers. Read More