Rachel M  
Instruments: Piano, Voice, Flute
Styles: Classical, Jazz, Pop, Rock, Blues, Folk, Country, Gospel, Musical Theater, Opera, Flamenco, Salsa, Showtunes, Spirituals, Reggae, Swing, New Age, Soul, Avant-garde

I have been teaching for 30 years. The exciting thing is that private music lessons provides an opportunity to get to know students on an individual level. This means that each lesson is unique, and each student has lessons tailored to them. Getting to know what makes a student tick or understand is a highlight of my day! They often laugh at me because I have to ask what they are doing, and that I don't know off the top of my head because there are so many different things my students are doing. My students feel such a sense of accomplishment not just in performing what we worked on, but understanding what the music says. It is fun to see the light bulbs click on! I love to watch them make their instrument their own, and therefore they get excited to share their instrument with others.

I use many different methods, and I do not limit myself to the following list. I believe in a warm-up for all instruments, so each lesson will start with one (scales, long tones, etc.) For flute, I often start with either the book that comes with the rental book, old band books, etc. then I venture off into etude books, long tone books, and solos that promote individual development. Voice students will start with warm up exercises that help them find the placement of the voice and often, depending on why they are taking voice, there is a song that I pick and a song they pick. Piano - there are as many method books as there are different kinds of pianos! I use, but am not limited to, the following: Faber, Noona, Wunderkeys, Pianotown, Alfred, Helen Mier, Snell, and more. I like to start any student that comes to me with what they already have. For a young student - I will start with Faber as it is the easiest to understand for younger players. Other than that - I gear the lessons to each individual student.