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General:

I offer private guitar lessons to students of all ages and abilities. Please contact me for my availability.

I am a dedicated, capable, competent teacher and work very hard for my students. I emphasize setting and accomplishing clear goals, proper technical formation, critical thinking, musicality, and I enable students to achieve their personal goals. Lessons generally include instruction in the following areas:

1. How to Practice Effectively - we only spend one hour (or less) per week together, therefore you should know what to do when I am not around;

2. Mechanics and Ergonomics - how to use your body in the most advantageous and efficient way possible while avoiding possible damage to your hands and body;

3. Technique - the specific application of proper mechanics to produce music;

4. Problem Solving - how to overcome technical and musical problems;

5. Theory and Analysis - understanding a piece of music so that your interpretation supports the music;

6. Interpretation and Performance Practice - how to shape a piece of music effectively, and how to do so stylistically appropriately;

7. Forming Habits of Confidence and Security;

8. Musicianship.

Philosophy:

Studying Music - Music is a challenging yet rewarding pursuit that brings much joy and satisfaction to those who undertake it. And though music in itself is a good to be desired, its pursuit leads to things much greater than itself alone: a sense of accomplishment, clarity and sharpness of mind, inner-peace, the development of one's full human potential, and an understanding of the Divine that transcends spoken language. Developing these things are where my ultimate interests lie, though music is the means of doing so. Students who study music also reap other more tangible benefits such as increased verbal skills and increased memory.

Studying Guitar:

The guitar is a beautifully sounding instrument with a rich history and its study is well worth undertaking. I hope to raise the bar for the quality of guitar education in general so that music making, whether as a professional, student, or hobbyist, becomes easy thereby allowing the student to experience even deeper levels of musical enjoyment, personal satisfaction and development.

I am also working to train other guitarists to teach effectively, and to develop a society of teachers and students who are as masterful in teaching music as they are playing it. Making music is artistic; but shaping an entire musical landscape is truly artistic, and, hence, a goal of mine.

Performance Opportunities:

There are few opportunities for a young guitarist to play, perform, and otherwise share his or her gift of music. The orchestras and bands at the high school level and below typically do not accommodate guitarists, neither do many university level programs. Guitarists, like other musicians, need a venue to perform and interact with other musicians of similar interest. But don't be discouraged! I offer you the Queens Guitar Society and host the Guitar-B-Q to provide these social, communal, and educational needs for our young musicians.

Style:

I am a strong advocate of performing both the traditional repertoire and the music that is being written today. I believe that we should strongly emphasize the creation and performance of new art music while also studying the music of the past. We then become educated practitioners of a living art, not just musical historians of an earlier time.

I generally teach classical guitar; there is a depth of expression in art music that I feel cannot be attained in other styles. I do, however, also love popular styles very much and teach these styles too. I usually work with musicians wanting to learn other styles by enabling their technique so that they can accomplish more in their chosen medium, and I provide advice on how to make that particular style more meaningful. I also try to expose my students to a variety of styles of music. Students always come to me knowing what they like, but they don't always know what they could like. I like to broaden students' tastes while helping them discern what is  good and what is not.

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