Jeffrey N.

General Info

• Certified Music Teacher

  Certified Music Teacher

  Our rigorous hiring process requires a completed application; an interview with our professional recruiting specialists; personal and professional reference checks; and annual criminal background checks for the duration of each teacher's employment with us.

  
• Background Check Complete

  Criminal Background Check

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• Levels: Beginner to Advanced

• In-Home Lessons: Yes
• In-Studio Lessons: Yes
• Ages: 5 & up

Subjects Taught

Bass Guitar, Drums, Percussion, Songwriting

Education

University of Houston - Media Production - 2005-2009 (Bachelor's degree received)

Specialties

My genres of choice for teaching drums is metal, because of the use of double-bass pedals which I enjoy quite a bit. While teaching a student, I make sure to include genre studies on classic rock, jazz, and other specific genres catered to the student's taste or interests (e.g. Darkwave, Drum and Bass, Minimalism, Death Metal etc.)

Lesson Details

Lessons for the piano will be taught initially out of the Faber and Faber books which are very good for beginners and young students. Older students, though, get more complicated handouts and lessons that are a mix of transcriptions and my own lessons. Drums are the same way. Some pieces will be taken from the famous Stick Control method book, but a lot of the lessons are my own creation and tailored for each student.

For example, depending on the student's interest, the path of learning ... (after the basics) could go in any number of directions. If the student has an interest in jazz, then the next few lessons might focus on swing technique and a transcription from a Dave Brubeck song. If, on the other hand, the student seems more interested in fast rock or metal, the following lessons might introduce the double-bass pedal and have transcriptions from Dream Theater, Black Sabbath or Ozzy.

My teaching demeanor is light and sarcastic. Music should be fun first. If a student isn't getting an exercise after trying quite a few times, it's not a case of failure - just a sign to do something else for a while and come back at the problem fresh. This almost always helps alleviate the stress that naturally occurs when a teacher is asking for something specific. No need to stress!

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About

Jeffrey is a drummer, mainly. He started learning drums way back in the last century, a time long ago when even Google wasn't around. He was taught at the prestigious Holub Middle School in the Alief school district and very quickly became a band geek. This geekiness continued on into high school where he was a member of the Alief Taylor Drum Line and learned the marching tenor drums. He graduated magna cum laude from the University of Houston in 2009 with a degree in Media ... Production.

Jeffrey's true musical passion, though, is the drum set. He was the drummer for the Holub Jazz Band during its historic visit to the Midwest Clinic in 1999. As such, he is very experienced in a number of genres including Big Band, Blues, Funk, Rock, Funk Rock, and Progressive Metal.

Jeffrey is an autodidact pianist and composer and has been arranging MIDI music for over seven years. He even has the ability to play the keyboard and drums at the same time! As a composer, he's composed the music for the independent PC RPG Necrotech by Spectre Software and the casual puzzle game, Miner Madness. These projects were suited to the short, looping nature that synthesized MIDI offers.

Jeffrey is the composer, drummer, and pianist for a progressive rock band. They have already self-released their first album, To the First Power. The band's website was also designed by Jeffrey.

Jeffrey is also the drummer for the Houston metal band, Mercenary X, wherein he plays both the drums and keyboards (at the same time!). Finally, Jeffrey is the drummer for the Houston synthpop band, Glasnost, who recently won the Houston Press Music Award for Best Electronic Act of 2011.

His musical influences include Dream Theater, Rush, Akira Yamaoka (composer for the Silent Hill series), Nobuo Uematsu (composer for the Final Fantasy series), Symphony X, Metallica, Yasunori Mitsuda (composer for Chrono Trigger and Xenogears) and Phillip Glass. He enjoys listening to progressive rock, melodic death metal, trance (especially goa), the occasional diversion of breakcore, thrash metal, and also trip hop, film scores and video game soundtracks. He has an easygoing attitude and playful demeanor.

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