Cole C  

5

  5.0 (3)

Instruments: Piano, Drums, Ukulele, Mallet Percussion, Orchestral Percussion, Conga, Latin Percussion, Music, Keyboard, Djembe
Styles: Classical, Jazz, Pop, Rock, Blues, R&B, Gospel, Musical Theater, Opera, Latin, Funk, Hip Hop, Electronic, Flamenco, Salsa, Showtunes, Spirituals, Merengue, Latin Jazz, Swing, Samba, Bossa Nova, Soul, Marching Band, Avant-garde

I began teaching during my time as an undergraduate Percussion student at Chapman University. Around my junior year in college I began subbing for private lessons, and I also got a job as a front ensemble instructor for a high school drumline in the area. This gave me the opportunity to teach a group of about 10 students twice a week after school for two years. I believe this is really what made me fall in love with teaching. I really enjoyed motivating the students, teaching them about musicianship, but also about how to be better people in the process. I loved watching them grow and succeed both musically and personally, and the bond that the teacher-student relationship created was quite inspiring to me. From there I began to teach more and more. When I entered graduate school, I became a teaching assistant for my private teacher. I was assigned some classes to teach as well as private lessons in World Percussion to both undergraduate and graduate students. I also got a job at a music store teaching private lessons, and worked for a community partnership organization, helping teach African Drumming at an elementary school in the area. Throughout my last 5 years teaching, I have taught all ages from Transitional Kindergarten all the way through college on to adult students. I have taught classes at the collegiate level, high school and middle school, and thoroughly enjoyed each age group for different reasons. I've learned so many things throughout my time teaching, but if there is one that I would consider most important, it's that nothing motivates students better than passion and love for there craft, so I try to foster that in each student that I teach, no matter what.

I have two main goals as a teacher, no matter the age or experience level of the student. The first is that the student enjoys learning their instrument, so I tailor my teaching and curriculum specifically to each individual student. The second is that the student is consistently improving each week, and properly motivated to practice. This is the only way they will achieve their musical and artistic dreams. My top priority is developing students into well rounded musicians. This means that my curriculum is split up between different musical topics. These topics include learning to read musical notation, sight reading, developing the hands through drum technique exercises/rudiments and learning grooves/songs the student enjoys. These fundamentals are coupled with teaching the students a sense of musical individualism through improvisation exercises like creating their own grooves and songs. A typical lesson will start with a warm up, then some reading exercises, and technique work on rudiments. Then we would play through whatever new groove or song I had assigned them last week and critique it. I would then end the lesson with questions and also some fun improvisational exercises. It is my hope that when students leave lessons with me, and move on to the next phase of their musical journey, that no area of their musicianship is deficient. A good musician is a dedicated, hardworking well rounded musician.