Brandon S
Instruments: Piano, Voice, Drums, Keyboard
Styles: Classical, Jazz, Pop, Rock, Blues, R&B, Gospel, Hip Hop, Spirituals, Soul, Marching Band
Brandon S
Instruments: Piano, Voice, Drums, Keyboard
Styles:
Classical, Jazz, Pop, Rock, Blues, R&B, Gospel, Hip Hop, Spirituals, Soul, Marching Band
Where I Teach:
Ages Taught: 5-80
Bachelor's Degree in Music Education, Chicago State University
2009 Performed with the HBCU All-Star Band Orchestrated a master class with Israeli Artist, Idan Raichel Performed with Idan Raichel along with my students at City Winery as well as Ravinia Festival 2017
I love teaching music! It's been my passion since I was in high school as the section leader of my drum line. It grew as I taught private lessons during my tenure in college starting in the year 2005. I've been teaching private lessons since then till this day and have loved every moment with my students. I love the "light bulb" moment they have when they figure out a technique or can play a passage of music successfully. That's where I get my joy. In High School, I was awarded the "Louis Armstrong Achievement Award" in jazz for playing drum set for the jazz band. In college, I performed with the HBCU All-star band during their National Band Directors Consortium. I was awarded first chair percussion. I've been playing Gospel Piano since 1998 and refined my skills at Chicago State University where I obtained my Bachelors of Music Education. Since then, I've been teaching for 6 years in the public and charter school systems. At my current employer, Little Black Pearl Art and Design Academy, I orchestrated a master class with Israeli artist, Idan Raichel. My vocal and rap students performed with him during that class and were invited to perform with him at Chicago's City Winery and Ravinia Pavilion in Highland Park Illinois. I also performed along side him, playing piano and received high praise for my "sensitivity to the art" and collaboration with him. My goal as a teacher is not only to instruct students on theory and give them creative building blocks, but to ensure their musical career is just as rich as mine if not greater!
I began to teach private lessons when I was in college in the year 2005. I started in a small music shop called McKinney Music where I taught in a back storage room. I taught beginning snare drum, piano and drum set. I had an experience there where a young 7 year old student who didn't practice and it showed. He felt so ashamed he began to cry, but I was able to calm him down and furthermore help him understand the lesson he hadn't practiced. I saw the "light bulb" go off above his head and the lesson went from tears to cheers! From there, I taught at Van Moody School of music where I met students of all types from those with autism to those that were exceptionally gifted in music. Parents and students alike that I come across in my daily doings in the streets hug me and compliment me on how great of a teacher and influence I had on them and their children. After graduating college and teaching in the public and charter school systems, I began to teach private lessons on my own in students homes. The experience is intimate, thoughtful and enriched as I am able to teach one on one in a comfortable setting for the students and we gain a lot of ground from the comfortable surroundings. As both a classroom teacher and private lesson instructor, I find great joy in teaching technique and creative skills.
For beginning piano students, I begin by teaching them the C major scale and many nursery rhyme songs that can be played at that key. I then elevate to simple blues and gospel songs in the Key of C for example, the C major blues. I will then teach C minor and the introductory song, Blue Bossa to acclimate students to the sound of C minor. Beginner students that seek to learn classical music will be introduced to Notation music theory from rhythm dictation, reading the grand staff and the introductory piece, Minuet in G, by Johann Sebastian Bach. For my intermediate students, I will teach them all 12 major keys and the circle of fourths and fifths and how they interplay with song writing and chord progressions. I will then teach them the chords of the scales and turn the chords into progressions and into songs. For my advanced students who know all of their scales and chords, I will tailor the lesson around what they seek to learn and improve on. They will learn songs from various genres such as pop, classical, jazz and gospel of their choosing and will play them from lead sheets which will allow for not only learning the form of the song, but keep it open for improvisation. A display of my students abilities will come from a small recital that will happen every quarter/3 month period.
My teaching style is technical and yet open ended. I stress knowing scales, chords, inversions like the back of your hand to enable you to put them together just as we put the English language together. Letters become words which become sentences which become paragraphs which become stories. Keys become scales which build chords which build progressions which build phrases which build songs. Knowing this language of music, one can freely express what they hear in their mind outwardly to their audience. I teach both by rote and by reading. When it comes to music theory, notation and reading music, I am also methodical in wanting my students to fully understand what they're reading so that it becomes so natural to them, it's as natural as reading a newspaper or understanding a conversation. Once the foundation is laid, a musical conversation can be had with the sound of their instrument. At the end of the process, students will find their love of music enhanced now that they know what they are doing and are doing it on purpose. Their sound is theirs to perform, explain and convey to anyone that seeks to hear them.
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