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I am a passionate 27 year old musician who has decided to start teaching. Music brings a joy and connects people like nothing else in existence, and my goal is to be able to spread that with my students. I graduated SUNY Geneseo in 2019 with a Bachelor's degree in Chemistry, and a Music minor. I am only 23, and my music career is only beginning. I had just started a band that would have started playing around Rochester if not for the current situation of the world. Opening for Trombone Shorty in 2016 was one of the highlights of my life.
I do not have that much "professional" teaching experience. However, I have taught guitar to some friends over the years. I have just decided to begin teaching. As for experience, I have been playing guitar since I was 9. My parents met playing guitar and I grew up in a very musical household. In addition to guitar I play saxophone and a little piano, but these are not my main instruments. I started a band while I was in college and we were playing consistently up until March. In recent years I have found that many music lessons tend to boil down to the student practicing material given to them, and the teacher telling them if they played "good" or "bad." This process is repeated every lesson and an unfortunate number of students drop music. This is so sad to me, and I would like to help change this.
I am happy to teach absolute beginners, intermediate players, and anyone who feels like they are stuck and can't get better. In most cases I will photocopy material from a variety of books or use my own. I would most likely recommend a book after I got a feel for the students level and music style preference. The one book I do recommend for beginners who are a little older is The Complete Technique Theory and Scales by Joseph Alexander. The reason I don't like to directly follow books is that everyone learns differently, and I would like to hear the students interests first.
First and foremost, I typically ask the student if they have any goals and what they are. Then I do my best to give the student the best lessons that support their goals. I do not want to only give material the student will not enjoy. Music is fun, even if practicing isn't always fun, and I will keep this in mind. My primary teaching goal is to remind you that music is a language. When you were growing up and were learning to speak, no one told you to go practice speaking alone in your room until you were good enough to talk (or jam) with the masters. As a child you were already "jamming" with the masters, no adult decided not to speak with you because you weren't at their speaking level. I will do my best to make learning music as natural a process as possible. Of course, the student will still have material to practice.