TEACHING

A born teacher is an educator. It is my calling in life to wake the human spirit up to itself and I thrive doing so. I find a wealth of fulfillment in working with students and watching them turn on inside and flourish in their own natures, especially at the critical age of adolescence. It is my goal as a professional educator to share this gift with as broad a range of students as I am able.

I am essentially a self taught “rock” musician who fulfilled his youthful dream of graduating from one of the most well respected and forward thinking music institutions in the world, Mills College. I love teaching students through a band context, which is a vehicle for self empowerment, communication skills building, empathy building, learning how to play a role in a group, personal and social leadership skills building, and what it means to pass around the responsibilities of leadership. Through using the band / ensemble as the catalyst to get students engaged and energized about music, I take them into deeper understandings of theory, history, the physics of music, the broad differences, similarities, and cross-influences of the world’s diverse musical cultures. The benefits of learning and of teaching music through a band / ensemble context are numerous, utterly valuable and infinitely flexible.

The key to any good practice, indeed of education period, is to learn the wisdom of being a student. We never "finish" on an instrument, we only advance. My teaching philosophy rests on my personal values as a human being - integrated holistic health, passionate curiosity and inquiry, courageous risk taking, honesty, patience without sacrificing drive, turning “mistakes” or unforeseen circumstances into positive creative opportunity, and keeping the mind-body-spirit engaged and ready to improvise with whatever life presents. Improvisation is the art of creatively navigating the meeting place of our individual nature with the situations and dynamics presented to us by our primary environment - namely, other people.

Through the art and practice of free musical improvisation I have learned a more valuable general skill set for life than I believe I could have learned in any other practice. At the root of the entire skill set is the capacity to listen. Listening is a different activity than hearing. We hear passively. Listening is active. It is a conscious practice for which the ears are merely a metaphor. It must be engaged with the full sensory system. It is as deep as any of us want to go and deeper than that. I find this fascinating and it is one of the main pillars of my teaching practice and philosophy - to bring the refined art of listening into the students’ lives.

MUSIC TUTORING

I am available for music tutoring, both in person and remotely via Zoom. Tutoring can be helpful for music students struggling to understand music theory, stylistic differences, performative issues (performance coaching), approaches to the practice of improvisation, among others.

If you are interested in using me as a music tutor, please contact me through the “Contact” page, with the words “Music Tutor” in the subject line.

Thank you!

MUSIC LESSONS

I have a very serious passion for the electric bass. I have found it to be incredibly versatile and fun, regardless if I am playing rock, jazz, noise, improvising, contemporary classical chamber music…it can go in so many directions. It is a percussive instrument, a melodic instrument, as well as fulfilling traditional roles “holding down” the band. Aspects of lessons with me cover:

• instrument technique and knowledge

• how to build a bass line for a song

• learning the function of bass in harmony

• reading notation (western notation and/or tablature)

• transcription

• improvising

• various aspects specific to the student’s needs / aspirations

At the end of the day, only the student can make themselves a better musician. What I do (and I believe any good music teacher does) is encourage the student to become a better practitioner. I provide honest feedback, critique and support, insight into better practice routines and habits, and information and resources the student may not be aware of, otherwise.

I am available for electric bass lessons, and can also teach beginning drum, piano, and guitar. If you are interested in music lessons, please contact me through the “Contact” page, with the words “Music Lessons” in the subject line.

Thank you!