Credentials
I'm a licensed public school music teacher in the state of Massachusetts and a Suzuki-registered guitar instructor specializing in classical guitar, rock, folk, and pop, with students ranging in age from 4 years old to adult. I've taught thousands of students guitar for over 20 years.
I studied guitar with Mark Davis at Uconn and Dick Provost at Hartt as well as with Judy Handler, Cem Duroz, and Philip DeFremery. I received a BFA in Music Composition from the University of Connecticut.
I currently teach at the Uconn Community Music School for the Arts and in my Carriage Shops studio in Amherst, MA.
Teaching Philosophy
Within the framework of the six tenets of autonomy, community, creativity, play, recognized success, and relatedness, it's my goal to teach my students exactly what they need to know to achieve their musical goals. Since everyone has a unique goal, I develop a unique curriculum for each student.
To help students maximize their success, I keep in consideration the various ways people learn, the different temperaments each has, and each person's unique physiology.
We start by learning a simple song - setting simple goals so the student can experience success. We use different methods to learn new songs including looking at the bigger picture, exploring patterns, rote memorization, building on what we already know, and repetition. We capitalize on the dominant modalities of sight, sound, and feeling.
Next, we begin to experiment with musicality, exploring different ways to interpret music using simple ideas like loud and soft, short and long, and tension and release. With these and other tools Students are able to creatively make the music their own.
Beyond this, many students learn improvisation and song-writing which further expands creative thinking. Using patterns, shapes, colors, landscapes, and abstract ideas they begin to create totally new and original music.
All students are encouraged to find their own song - that is, the rhythms and melodies that come most naturally to each of us. From this point it becomes much easier to learn and experience new ideas.