Michael Z
Instruments: Drums, Bass Guitar
Styles: Pop, Rock, Blues, Country, R&B, Gospel, Latin, Funk, Hip Hop, Soul, Marching Band, Punk
Michael Z
Instruments: Drums, Bass Guitar
Styles:
Pop, Rock, Blues, Country, R&B, Gospel, Latin, Funk, Hip Hop, Soul, Marching Band, Punk
Where I Teach:
Ages Taught: 10-80
2016 - FFA National Band
I am a passionate and professional drummer based in Austin, TX. I have performed professionally for 10 years and have experience in both the studio and touring across the USA. I truly love my job and am looking to expand my career into the teaching role. I have a deep knowledge and understanding of both drumming and music as a whole, as I am a multi-instrumentalist and songwriter as well. I graduated from Concordia University with a Bachelor's in business, while taking a variety of music performance classes. I truly believe anyone can play drums and I'm dedicated to helping you reach your music goals.
I have always been a teacher in some form or another. I started teaching my peers in band class at the age of 12, helping them to understand and execute the music. I was always the percussion leader and truly loved helping out my fellow students. I started formally teaching at the age of 18, when I took on my first middle school student. He had a few obstacles he needed to overcome and his mom said he was a slower leaner than most. Because of this, most people had given up or lost patience with him. I met him and instantly was excited because I saw the potential he had! I took the approach of patience and fun because I saw that he needed to have the lesson be interesting in order to pay full attention. I came up with a variety of unique ways we could practice tempo, notation, etc, without getting bored. By the end of the lessons he had progressed successfully and was able to perform with the middle school drum line (his ultimate goal).
I am a firm believer in building the curriculum around the student since everyone learns differently and not everyone has the same goals. I start with an assessment to see where their skills are. I do this in 3 major categories: tempo, reading, rudiments. From there I can see what areas need to be focused on first so we can perfect the basics and have a strong foundation to build off of. From there I like to teach songs that they are interested in, with music they actually love. I do this because I notice students are more excited to practice if it's something they see as fun and enjoyable.
At the end of the day we're here to make sure the student learns the instrument and progresses towards their ultimate goal. I am very much letting the student take the lessons at their own pace and not rushing them through anything. Nothing is worse than having to go back and correct a bad habit years later because of a rushed lesson! I focus on making sure the student truly understands the lesson and can apply it practically. We will mostly learn things that you can practically apply to any gig and that also help develop their overall understanding of their role as a drummer on stage and in a group setting. Knowing this is crucial for any aspiring musician because you will always be on stage with other people and it's important to know your role in those situations. Of course we will also have fun and I always make sure to make room for just fun things the student wants to learn that may not be super applicable.
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