Brandon M
Instruments: Piano, Drums, Mallet Percussion
Styles: Classical, Jazz, Pop, Rock, R&B, Gospel, Latin, Funk, Hip Hop, Reggae, Latin Jazz, Swing, New Age, Samba, Bossa Nova, Soul, Marching Band
Brandon M
Instruments: Piano, Drums, Mallet Percussion
Styles:
Classical, Jazz, Pop, Rock, R&B, Gospel, Latin, Funk, Hip Hop, Reggae, Latin Jazz, Swing, New Age, Samba, Bossa Nova, Soul, Marching Band
Where I Teach:
Ages Taught: 8-80
MA, North Carolina Central University, Jazz Performance BA, Elon University, Music Performance
2017- Organized and performed a 2 week Italian tour with band Small House 2016- Performed with Elon University's jazz ensembles on 2 week Italian tour 2013- Effie Mae Wicker Johnston music scholarship 2012- Elon Music Scholar
I am a motivated instructor and performer who teaches and plays for the love of music. My primary instruments are drum set and vibraphone, but I teach and perform on a plethora of percussion instruments and some piano. I am currently completing my final year of my masters program in jazz performance from North Carolina Central University. I have had the honor of studying jazz and Italian in Italy for three months. I have also had the performance expire on a plethora of instruments and shows up and down the east coast and also Italy on multiple occasions.
In college have had the opportunity to work as a music instructor to a studio with over 20 students on a weekly basis. The students ranged in age from 5 to 70. This gave me a good perspective on how to directly connect with each student to ensure that we are exploring the best concept of learning for the individual. Drum set lessons are always more groove oriented first and I do encourage becoming comfortable learning from an aural perspective before tackling reading music and understanding theory. For keyboard and theory lessons, this is not quite the case as the roles are actually reversed.
For beginning drum students, I typically like to start with the Percussive Arts Society sheet of rudiments to ensure a solid technical background as the student progresses. After that, we move on to simple reading and other drumming fundamental concepts including limb coordination, fills, phrasing and articulation, etc. With older students, I find it helpful to try and begin with what they are interested and comfortable in playing. This allows me to find connections and build lesson plans specifically for the individual. For keyboard and harmony students, I will begin with the Hal Leonard series for beginners. Knowledge of music theory is very important to the keyboard player which is why it is vital to start with a good background. A focus on composing and arranging is present in all lessons and always encourage students to bring in original music to work on.
Teaching must be a two way street between the instructor and the student. There must be an understanding of the relationship and a willingness on both ends to take everything that they can out of the experience. I believe once this is done, a relationship can start to form between the two which will naturally help in the learning progress. For adults especially, constructive criticism is just as important as the praise when you do a good job. My job as an instructor is to enlighten and share information with the student in order to make them a better musician and a better person!
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