Rod E
Instruments: Guitar, Trumpet, Music
Styles: Classical, Jazz, Rock, Folk, R&B, Gospel, Funk, Spirituals, Swing, Soul
Rod E
Instruments: Guitar, Trumpet, Music
Styles:
Classical, Jazz, Rock, Folk, R&B, Gospel, Funk, Spirituals, Swing, Soul
Where I Teach:
Ages Taught: 10-80
Bachelor Degree: Epic Bible College , Associate Degree: Epic Bible College
Produced two albums in the past ten years and in the process of recording music videos of new music
Recognized with awards for trumpet at the high school and college level.
I have been pursuing a strong passion for music since I was 10 years old. Five decades later that passion is stronger than ever, and now includes a strong commitment to music education. I have been very fortunate in my musical career to have the opportunity to study and work with hundreds of brilliant musicians and play multiple genre’s in multiple settings across the Midwest and the West Coast. I have shared a stage with a few stars, but I have always personally been more focused on being the proverbial “side-man” than being the center of attention. That being said, I do lead a small jazz combo and perform as a solo artist on guitar and vocals. I am currently playing trumpet in The Scotia band and Humboldt State Orchestra as well as playing guitar and singing on jazz, rock, blues, folk and even country music gigs. I know how to write and arrange music and I have recorded 2 CD’s with original music on them and covers of some popular songs. You can hear samples of my music at CD Baby on a recent album called Dreams. You can also just Google me and the music samples should come up. I have had the great experience over the past 20 years of teaching trumpet and guitar to many students and I have also had the pleasure of teaching in a youth choir as well as an adult choir setting. I am not a teacher who is hoping to have a whole bunch of lessons students at this point in my career. I am most interested in having a few beginning level students and trying to share my love of music with them. It’s contagious! I know because I caught it from my music teachers a long time ago. I am comfortable teaching youth band and choir in a church or secular setting. I have taught some very young students, but I find lessons have worked best when I was teaching students over the age of ten or eleven. I am committed to communicating with parents and actually teaching them what I am teaching their child. I require that a parent or adult guardian accompany with and be near-by during all lessons with minors.
I have been a musician for several decades and have had the fortune to do take music lessons from many teachers. What I have found most important to me, was to have a teacher who able to take where I was at skill wise and go from there. I’m a huge advocate of practicing but I’m not a fan of assigning tedious exercises that a student cannot relate to. If the student has a favorite genre of music and can sing along with the songs they like (most everyone), then that’s where we should start. I think learning music that a student can personally relate to is critical.
My teaching methods depend on the age and the level of the student that I am teaching. If it is a young guitar student in middle school, just getting to the point where they can hold the guard guitar correctly and not have it hurt their fingers when they use the frets is a huge step. If they can’t get past the hurting of the fingers enough to develop calluses on the end of their fingers, they’re not going to practice. so I start with the instrument and how we can make the student comfortable with the instrument. Exercises for adults are going to look different than exercises for kids, but I think the critical thing is get to the point where practice is not a chore, but something rather that the student enjoys. I will use method books for both trumpet and guitar. I have several methods that I have found useful for students. Having some sort of guide or textbook to work with is important, but it needs to be something the student will look at. If the book doesn’t work, then something on a screen might be helpful, but getting through one method book to another is tedious and often turns students off.
I try to be as laid-back as I possibly can be when I teach. I am not an intense person, and I think one of the things I try to do as a teacher is to not make things really serious really fast. It helps me when I have a teacher that I feel I can talk with and not be worried about doing things perfectly. It have had many professors and teachers who were high intensity, and it works for some teachers but that’s not me. My goal is to help the student to have fun with music. If I am with a teacher that I’m intimidated by, I will not play in a relaxed manner and it will not be fun. I think this is particularly important with young kids. If we make music too serious too soon, we can turn them off for life. I see myself more as a cheerleader than a critic in my role as a teacher!
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