Jakob S
Instruments: Piano, Guitar, Voice, Bass Guitar, Ukulele, Electric Guitar, Classical Guitar, Acoustic Guitar
Styles: Pop, Rock, Blues, Folk, Country, R&B, Funk, Electronic, Flamenco, Showtunes, Spirituals, New Age, Bossa Nova, Soul, Avant-garde
Jakob S
Instruments: Piano, Guitar, Voice, Bass Guitar, Ukulele, Electric Guitar, Classical Guitar, Acoustic Guitar
Styles:
Pop, Rock, Blues, Folk, Country, R&B, Funk, Electronic, Flamenco, Showtunes, Spirituals, New Age, Bossa Nova, Soul, Avant-garde
Where I Teach:
Ages Taught: 5-80
Bachelors, University of New Mexico, English w/ minor in Literature
2009 - APS Selfless Senior 2012 - Daily Lobo - Favorite Folk Artist
Hello! My name is Jakob and I have been teaching children and adults for over 10 years to love playing music. My focus is on making music fun and easy for my students first and foremost, and then working on making music a growing passion or a refined practice, depending on my students needs. I provide organic, communicative and intelligent lessons and plans to push my students to set the best goals to accomplish their musical ideas and dreams. If you're looking for a casual, fun and innovative approach to learning guitar, ukulele, bass, piano, keyboard or vocal training, I'm the guy for the job.
My teaching experience started in the YMCA, my church worship band, with friends and friend's kids and evolved into private lessons with friends of friends via word of mouth. I have taught over 50 students in 10 years. All great students but I know 12 who have gone on to play music professionally in solo work, bands, movies and TV. I have performed Folk, Mariachi, Gospel, Christian, Electronica and Classical music all over the country in bands and in my own solo work. I have played guitar/bass for 17 years, piano for 8 and sang professionally for 12. If you are looking for assistance with songwriting, A/V, stage work, live performance or professional recording, I have over 15 years of experience and the equipment necessary for these subjects and love to make my students feel comfortable, well-rounded and professional on stage, behind the mic, the pen and in person.
I am a proud self-taught musician and have a great ear for music, so I love unearthing the same talents in my students. For my beginners, I feel that while practice makes perfect, Ode to Joy gets boring after the 127th time, so I focus on getting my students to learn their favorite songs that I have personally transformed into easy one-note-at-a-time melodies and work my students up to the chords, scales and modes that make up these songs. I love setting lofty, reasonably challenging goals for my students and giving them music they think is too hard to play, and then watching their faces light up when they hit all the right notes they didn't know were possible to hit. I have multiple guitars of varying sizes for children and beginners, an upright piano (pictured), stage equipment, recording equipment, keyboards, tuners, strings, etc. I incorporate proper instrument care, music history and love convincing students to love new genres, styles and cultures of music.
Every student is different and has different dreams, needs and goals. So, my teaching style relies heavily on communicating with my students and their parents, if applicable. My first lesson is focused on setting goals for yourself and unearthing musical dreams and ideas. The following lessons are about hitting that goal as soon as possible. Once that goal is hit, I set another goal with you, and so on. I keep an eye on making sure you get the essentials (notes, finger placement, posture, good habits, etc.) and incorporate the things you are needing or missing into our goals. I rarely use any one method, but rather locate and adapt material and books for my students based off of what they have told me about their perceived musical future. This approach provides a unique, personalized and comprehensive experience when learning music while making it easy to focus on the goals you set while I massage in the details you need to feel proficient, professional and comfortable.
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