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My Thoughts on Teaching Music...​

 

It is difficult to learn an instrument - often, beginning the process is slow, tedious work. Because of this, most people never get farther than their first few notes, chord, or songs. 

However, I believe that everybody has a certain threshold that they will cross after enough practice. Once you work your way over that threshold, practice becomes something fun and exciting, rather than a chore. At that point, I find most budding musicians develop a hunger on their own for new concepts and abilities that they don’t yet have under their fingers. 

All this to say - I have a few primary goals for each of my students: 

A) For those that have yet to cross this threshold, I seek to gently guide them towards it in the most enjoyable way possible. Unlike some teachers, I typically hold off on things like music theory, reading, difficult scales, etc, because I find that once the threshold is crossed, most students will develop a curiosity and interest in these things on their own. It makes learning these concepts much easier than it would be if I tried to force it to the student. 

B) For those students that have “crossed the threshold,” and have developed a passion (or at least, enjoyment) for playing the guitar, I simply want to guide you along your own path. At this point, many students have some idea of what they want to sound like and study. I strive to help you set and meet goals to get you there, and to keep pushing you and stimulating you if you plateau. From there, I want to branch out even further and introduce you to new approaches and challenges that you may not have discovered on your own. 

 

Though each student will have their own path to follow, I do have some ultimate “end goals” to achieve by the time they’ve finished studying with me: 

A) A firm grasp of musical fundamentals on the guitar (which allows one to do anything beyond that in a way that’s much easier)

B) An understanding of how to self-evaluate and practice efficiently 

C) An understanding of concepts and repertoire based on one’s own musical interest

D) An understanding of how to objectively evaluate music, and learn new concepts/repetoire on one’s own

E) The ability to apply said fundamentals and concepts in real time, in a real-world scenario with other musicians. 

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