Veronica M. TakeLessons Instructor Music, guitar, drum, piano San Diego, CA

Veronica grew up on a farm in Colorado. Her parents started a country band in the 70s called “The Flatlanders”. Her mother sang and played piano while her father sang and played guitar. After college, Veronica moved to San Diego, California in 2006 to pursue her career in music. Music Background Veronica has been playing piano for 22 years. She was taught by her mother who has been a piano teacher for 35 years. She has also been playing drums/percussion for 15 years (which includes a minor in percussion at Colorado State University). She has been taught Latin percussion, drum set (funk/rock/blues/jazz), four-mallet marimba, jazz vibraphone, orchestral snare, timpani and auxiliary percussion. Her most recent endeavor has been in guitar, which she has been practicing extensively for eight years. She specializes in finger picking, jazz and innovative percussive techniques on guitar. She even has a patch of sandpaper on her guitar for a snare effect in one of her hit songs The Sandpaper Song. Educational Background Veronica finished high school at Byers High School in Byers, Colorado. She then pursued her Music Therapy degree at Colorado State University. She continued on to her six-month internship at Musicworx of California where she worked with children from six-months to 102 years old. She then began her first career at The Music Therapy Center of California (MTCC). At MTCC, Veronica specialized in working with children with autism. She worked on socialization, speech development, motor development, and emotions. She also gave adaptive drum, piano and guitar lessons to children with autism, ADHD, cerebral palsy and downs syndrome. The Approach Veronica uses the “person first” approach. This stems from her Music Therapy background. After assessing each person individually she plans each lesson accordingly. She finds a lot of use in visual learning. She looks at what the student’s tastes lie in and creates fun learning opportunities within those preferences. Veronica also does a lot of ear training, which teaches students to rely on their ear and not notes alone. Veronica has a very motivating approach that is filled with patience and fun. She wants the student to enjoy learning so they will want to pursue their instrument for fun, relaxation and an outlet in their everyday lives. Ages Taught How old are you? That’s perfect!!

Veronica's approach looks like a mothers approach--loving yet structured. She has a lot of patience but expects results from practicing. She has designed her own curriculum and set of expectations that varies from person to person. After 3 months each child should be able to identify pitch ranges, rhthmic values, minor and major chords by ear, at least seven chords and three strumming patterns (guitar), three-point coordination with three different styles (drum set), all major/minor triads, read all right-hand notes and play at least four major scales (piano).

Bastien series. folk fingerpicking styles, latin percussion, some west african styles, basic jazz, basic funk, rock, basic jazz piano improvisation.

Byers High School - - 1998-2001 (degree received)
Colorado State University - Music Therapy - 2001-2005 (degree received)

Music, guitar, drum, piano