Music Lessons in Woodbury Heights, NJ

Instruments: Guitar Electric Guitar Acoustic Guitar

For beginners I like to start with note identification, octaves, and basic open CAGED chords then move to the open minor chords, pentatonic, and major scales next . As students understanding of the fret board develops I try to move these concepts into other position by highlighting relativity and connecting chord shapes as they're highlighted in different scale patterns. In the meanwhile I like to offer students song material relevant to these concepts for practice. Read More

Instruments: Piano Voice

My general rule of thumb is, the younger the student, the less technique I will teach. Although I do not necessarily consider there to be a minimum age requirement for pursuing voice lessons, I do copiously encourage parents to be astutely aware of the potential risks encountered when young students are taught vocal and breathing techniques which should be reserved for intermediate or advanced students. My focus with younger students is to instill a passion and excitement for music while developing fundamental techniques. Read More

Instruments: Guitar

As a beginner, nothing is more satisfying than being able to play recognizable tunes as soon as possible. I typically lay out apatterned tier of simple and well knownmusical phrasesfor a student to gain initial confidence with while introducing basic performance principles. Once the the fundamentals of playingare beginning to click, we will start to customize our approach based on the student's particular goals. Not to worry, many students have a loose idea of what they are striving for at first and their curriculum develops naturally as they master certain skills and knowledge. Read More

Instruments: Guitar Violin Cello Viola Bass Guitar Electric Violin Electric Guitar Classical Guitar Acoustic Guitar

For my string students learning violin, viola or cello I typically use the Suzuki method books. There are times that I might recommend the Essential Elements series for those who are just starting off, but at some point I switch the student over to Suzuki. Another supplemental book I encourage my students to get when they get to a certain level is Essentials for Strings. This is primarily a scale book, but it also contains a number of other helpful exercises and resources. Read More

Instruments: Piano Drums Mallet Percussion Conga Djembe

Playing the Drum Set requires strength in a few key areas. Hand to Hand Coordination, 4 limb interdependence , rhythm vocabulary and Timing. No matter what your skill level is we'll always need to maintain it. The saying is, "if you don't use it you lose it". No matter your skill level I believe it's important to understand what it takes to maintain the physical performance on your instrument. That's why I encourage students to memorize songs and exercises. Read More

Instruments: Piano

I started playing piano as a young child in a small beach town in Southwestern Michigan. I was always involved in church choir, bell choir and school choirs. From the time I was 15, I knew that I wanted to use music to help people. I began pursuing a degree in Music Therapy at Western Michigan University, where I studied piano with Lori Sims. Upon graduating with a degree in music therapy, I began working as a music therapist on an inpatient psychiatric unit where I worked for 9 years with adults. Read More

Instruments: Voice

When I first start working with students, I strictly work on warmups for a few lessons. The first lesson is usually when students get their jitters out about singing in front of someone and learn that I'm really not a scary person. I also get to know where their voice sits, what is beautiful about their voice and what we could work on. Once there is comfort between myself and the student, I will start teaching them technique to create more comfort and ease in their production of tone. Read More