Piano Lessons in Ryde, CA

Instruments: Piano Clarinet

I teach all styles of music. I begin teaching from piano books published by Alfred. I also have the student learn their scales as well as give a weekly written music theory assignment. I incorporate styles and songs the student enjoys listening to or playing as well. I like to teach classical music. With this foundation, ALL other music is much easier to play, and helps tremendously with their sight reading skills. Read More

Instruments: Piano Voice Music Keyboard

As a teacher, my aim is to help students unlock the meaning and message of any piece of music. For me, teaching and learning are both about exploration, inquiry and experimentation. And I approach each lesson fully committed to spark a student’s imagination and musical understanding through these principles. The joy in my teaching is seeing students’ ideas develop and being there to guide them each step of the way! Read More

Instruments: Piano Guitar Voice Drums Bass Guitar Organ

For beginner students who are pursing music on the tonal instruments, I typically start with learning the names of the notes on the instrument and the major scale in every key as it relates to the piano. For the bass guitar I start of with basic finger strength techniques and exercises while incorporating the major scale fingering form and Nashville numbering system for all tonal instruments. For voice, I start off by finding the range of the individual and then teaching warmup techniques while building the individuals technique through finding a song and learning how to sing along.  Read More

Instruments: Piano

My wife Chappell and I collaborate on composing, recording, and performance. After a full time music adventure, I followed the muse of story-telling and poetry to San Francisco State University’s Creative Writing program (B.A. ‘93, M.A. ‘95). My goal as a teacher is to help the student achieve what they desire in their piano playing, to grow their love of music, to awaken the joy of creative expression and appreciation for beauty. Read More

Instruments: Piano Trumpet Trombone

My teaching style is catered to the pace and interests of the student. Small achievements are the keys to great success, and acknowledging these achievements is essential to maintaining interest in learning music. I work together with students to find and set short term, midterm, and long term goals so that visible growth of their abilities can be observed, tracked, and appreciated. Through this process, anything can be achieved. Keeping a journal with dates, times, goals, practice logs, and general notes about your experiences can be extremely helpful along the path to mastery. Read More

Instruments: Piano Voice Trombone

For three years I was a camp counselor in the La Honda Music Camp (Hayward, CA). As a counselor, I looked after 10-12 middle school-aged girls, oversaw brass sectionals, coached trombone, and assisted in the junior wind ensemble. In high school I used to coach my classmates in the trombone section. In my grad school years I began to teach beginning piano and trombone. My hope when teaching music is that the kids have a lot of fun learning their instrument, so I always encourage them to learn songs they'd like to sing/play along to. Read More

Instruments: Piano Voice

I always encourage my students to progress at their own pace and have fun while doing it. Not everyone improves and learns at different paces and I make sure to emphasize that with my students and when possible with their parents. I personally think that seeing a student reach a new goal is an important part of my job and it makes it all worth it in the end. I like to use positive reinforcement with my students to help them reach their goals. Read More