As a student and an educator of multple instruments, I have found many similarities when learning and teaching each different discipline. . To me the common thread between all instruments is vibration and understanding where sound resonates and how to harness and control it. Once we are undertand the importance of FEELING sound we can learn to connect it to our expressive self. Below you will find more information about the musical instruments I teach. Please contact me to talk about your interest further.

Voice - Many people have a misperception about learning to sing. While we believe we can learn an instrument by practicing diligently, many believe incorrectly that we are either born with or without an ability to sing. I use techniques that treat the voice as an instrument. We learn to feel sound vertically and horizontally in our bodies and employ straight forward techniques to learn breathing, tongue placement and other important elements of the human voice.

Songwriting - After years of teaching songwriting classes, I believe more and more that songwriting is one of the most complex and challenging disciplines in music. Songwriting integrates most elements of music (melody, harmony, rhythm, space, etc.) with concepts also found in poetry and prose (form, content, tension & release). Songwriting can be very personal and emotionally complicated. My approach is not to create answers but to pose questions and present possibilities for burgeoning songwritiers to follow.

Guitar - I teach all levels of guitar ranging in styles from Blues and Country to Jazz and rock. I specialize in working with students to integrate their voice and the guitar, learning independence and internalizing rhythm.

Saxophone - I teach all levels of Alto and tenor saxophone. My students learn to read music and become proficient with scales but we also work towards improvising and developing strong sense of melody with the instrument.

Bridging the gap

Part of what makes teaching a passion to me is integrating different disciplines as students attempt to make the jump into a performing environment. i have always been somewhat of a jack of all trades and I enjoy working with people to integrate all of the layers of performance, songwriting and technical profiency into our playing. In todays music industry it is essential for artists to have a well balanced collection of skills. It is very hard to acheive much musically if we have a monodirectional approach. Success personally or professionally requires learning in three dimentions. This means aquiring the skills to move laterally and recognizing that every discipline in music is interconnected. In simple terms this means that practicing scales on the guitar can help your voice and practicing breathing can improve your guitar solos.