AJ A
Instruments: Clarinet, Drums, Mallet Percussion, Orchestral Percussion, Music
Styles: Classical, Jazz, Rock, Blues, Country, Musical Theater, Latin, Funk, Swing, Bossa Nova, Marching Band, Avant-garde
AJ A
Instruments: Clarinet, Drums, Mallet Percussion, Orchestral Percussion, Music
Styles:
Classical, Jazz, Rock, Blues, Country, Musical Theater, Latin, Funk, Swing, Bossa Nova, Marching Band, Avant-garde
Where I Teach:
Ages Taught: 10-80
Certificate of Honor in Music Performance -2018
Sabian Bob Zildjian Memorial Award- 2018
Jeffery Kimball Award Recipient -2016
Growing up in Westchester NY, I lived in a musical household. Starting Percussion/Drum Set at the age of 10, playing music soon became more to me than just a hobby. Going to college at The Crane School of Music, I graduated with a Bachelors in Music Education, a Certificate of Performance, and am currently working on my Masters in Music Education. After getting my teaching certification in NY, I spent 2 years as the Elementary, Middle and High School Band Director at Clifton-Fine Central School. In my spare time, I enjoy playing video games and spending time with family. I have performed with various professional groups through out the years. A regular with the Orchestra of Northern NY and Northern Symphonic Winds as well as had the honor of performing with the U.S. Airforce Band. I studied under Catherine Meunier and James Petercsak. Compositionally, I have orchestrated and arranged works for Materia Collective as well as performed for them.
My teaching experience started back in college, when I got to teach the percussion techniques class for the other music education students. Ever since then I knew I was in the right career path as I showed helpful techniques to students. I have been teaching private lessons for 5 years, and teaching publicly for 2. Teaching band to a wide variety of age ranges has allowed me to teach in adaptive styles. I realized quickly that every student learns differently, and teaching to the individual is imperative to a students growth.
Every student I teach privately gets their own individualized lesson plans. Whether you are an audio, visual, or kinesthetic learner, I will adapt to your needs the best that I can. For beginning students, in percussion I usually start with Standard of Excellence and in drum-set I write my own beginning parts focused on the fundamentals. As the students skill level progresses I get them on books such as The Drummers Bible, Stick Control, Developing Dexterity, and solo works. My philosophy when teaching any kind of music is to get the student to think about music in a thoughtful way. It's never "do this" or "do that", it's "how could I make this sound better" etc. I also believe that music is an excellent tool for improving oneself and try to correlate it with how they can apply improvement into the outside world
My teaching style is first and foremost about having fun with music. If the student isn't developing an appreciation for music then how can I expect them to improve. My teaching style directly relates to teaching philosophy, relating to how they can use music in everyday life, and how to engage in music in meaningful ways. I love teaching because to me, nothing feels better than helping someone improve and grow. Seeing that growth overtime, knowing that one day they could use that growth to influence other people brings me great joy.
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