Luna M  
Instruments: Drums
Styles: Jazz, Pop, Rock, Blues, R&B, Funk, Hip Hop, Swing, Soul, Marching Band, Punk, Avant-garde

I had always had a knack for passing on bits of wisdom to bandmates and friends that were interested in picking up a bit of drums, but it wasn't until spring of 2024 that I decided to take the leap, and got a job teaching drum lessons at my local Guitar Center. My teaching style involves stressing feel, timing, and confidence over note-for-note accuracy. I also spend a lot of time developing proper technique with my students, to ensure that my students do not form bad habits that limit their improvement. Trained in a competitive drumline environment, I have an eagle eye for ways to rapidly improve students' techniques and rudimental abilities. I pass this wisdom on to my students in a much more comfortable, low pressure environment than the world of drumline, however. My passion in teaching lies in finding those moments where students discover that the amazing techniques they want to learn are much more achievable and within reach than they even thought!

I adapt my methods to the needs, goals, and learning styles of each of my students, but for a child student who is just beginning lessons, the teaching process usually goes something like this: First, I get my students to have a basic handle on the names of the drums, counting, and playing a basic 4/4 rock groove. Next, I get them playing along to a simple rock or pop song. From there, I get them to start incorporating some fills. I try to find out what kinds of music the student likes, and continue teaching them a few more grooves and fills and some other simple songs going off of that. I also start explaining subdivisions some more at this point. From there, I typically start to get into some rudiments and basic exercises. Often, I find I end up introducing some simple ones much earlier to help students over a hump in learning a groove or a fill. I pull from the PASIC standardized 40, as well as some basic drum set vocab I find versatile. I also do a lot of exercises largely based around George Lawrence Stone's book Stick Control. I also pull from 1001 Drum Grooves, and Tommy Igoe's style book.