Robert S. Music, Music Theory, Clarinet, Flute, Saxophone, Oboe, Trumpet, French Horn, Trombone, Tuba,... Bensenville, IL

My musical background begins as a child growing up with a musical family on the north side of Chicago. I've always had a natural curiosity and understanding of musical performance and theory. However, I was never your typical school band/orchestra member that focused solely on just one instrument. Although my main instrument that brought me scholarships to VanderCook College of Music was clarinet, I also was performing professionally on string, keyboard, and other woodwind instruments beginning in my early high school years. I was the type of student who could play a clarinet concerto for a solo contest in the morning, play a gig at a block party in a rock band on guitar in the afternoon, and compose electronic dance music in the evening. My versatile musical experience and upbringing has helped me to relate the importance of musical knowledge to students of all backgrounds and interests.

After just completing 20 years of teaching in the public schools, I have other new ambitions that include more one-on-one instruction in music. This will allow me to focus more on the musical growth of individuals. My 20 years of teaching experience, including 6 years as Principal conductor of Chicago's All-City Youth Orchestra, has provided me with much experience in developing musicians from beginning level through advanced on a variety of instruments. Other ambitions I have include spending more time composing and arranging music for band, orchestra, electronic music and other music productions.

My educational background is as follows:

Bachelor's of Music Education from VanderCook College of Music 1988 - Rank #1 on Senior Comp. Exams, 1st Clarinet

Master's of Arts in School Leadership/Administration from Concordia University 2003

NBPTS National Board Certified Teacher - Orchestra Specialty Ages 10-18+, 2004

Global Career Development Facilitator 2004

VanderCook College of Music - Strings Education course with Michael Allen 2005

Below is a Summary of My Experience and the Instruments I Have Taught:

Experience Teaching Beginning to Advanced Intermediate Strings (Violin, Viola, Cello, Bass) - 10 years

Experience Teaching Beginning to Advanced Intermediate Guitar - 7 years

Experience Teaching Beginning to Advanced Intermediate Woodwinds (Flute, Oboe, Clarinet, Sax, Bassoon) - 22 years

Experience Teaching Advanced Clarinet & Flute - 20 years

Experience Teaching Beginning to Advanced Intermediate Brass (trumpet, French Horn, Trombone, Baritone, Tuba) - 20 years

Experience Teaching Beginning to Very Advanced Electronic Music - 22 years

Experience Teaching Beginning to Intermediate Snare Drum & Mallets/Bells/Xylophone - 21 years

Experience Teaching Beginning to Very Advanced Music Theory - 22 years

Experience working with you as a student - "Priceless"

Depending on the level, age, interests, and learning styles of each individual student, I will tailor-fit my lessons and curriculum to be suitable for his/her needs and pace. I expect my students to practice a minimum of 2 to 4 hours per week, spread out evenly from day-to-day to achieve the best results. 30 minutes for 6 days every week is usually a good plan for practicing. Although I am very understanding of the difficulties students may have in achieving certain goals, I am encouraging to them in my belief they can achieve them. 

Tone production and playing positions are my first goals with beginners. I believe that, especially with string players, these techniques need to be separated from note-reading similar to the Suzuki methods with one major exception - basic note-reading WILL be learned during the first six months. For beginning string players, I work on techniques with the bow separate from the left-hand skills, then later apply the 2 together. It's a similar approach with beginning brass players as we work on the mouthpiece buzzing separate from the valve fingering. As you can see from these examples, my approach is to focus on one skill at a time before moving on and combining skills together. This way insures the student's focus on learning each skill properly. This may seem like a slow process at first, but it is less frustrating and moves along the process of learning a lot quicker later on. Once a set of skills are mastered using this method, in later lessons, new material/skills are quickly learned without the struggles of relearning bad habits caused by improper learning of earlier basic fundamentals. 

I am an easy-going person that can get along with almost anyone. However, I am no pushover when it comes to my expectations from my students. I've had pretty good success as a positive motivator for my students who usually want to do well for me. I'm never one who yells at a student. 

I am a NBPTS National Board Certified Teacher of Music. I can adapt to any genre, style, or method that works most effectively with each individual student. In my 20+ years of experience as a public school Instrumental Music Director, I have used many methods to teach a variety of learning styles to a variety of students of ages 5 to 70 years old.

Lane Tech HS - Band Major - 1980-1984
VanderCooK College of Music - Music Education, Instrumental, Clarinet Major - 1984-1988, 2005
Concordia University - School Leadership (Type 75 Program) - 2002-2004
NBPTS - Music Education, Orchestra Specialty - 2002-2004

Music, Music Theory, Clarinet, Flute, Saxophone, Oboe, Trumpet, French Horn, Trombone, Tuba, Violin, Viola, Cello, Bass, Guitar, Electric Guitar, Electric Bass, Bells, Xylophone, Snare Drum, Electronic Music, Digital Audio Production, MIDI, Sound Engineering, Band, Orchestra, Composition.