Singing with Steve S.

I am a professional music teacher, and teach private one-on-one music lessons for Drums, Bass, Guitar (electric & Acoustic), Voice, and Trombone. Students are introduced to their instruments in a fun and understandable way. Technique, music theory, and reading are taught through song form, which creates a strong foundation and love for music. We are having fun, while getting the job done. I think that the key to music lessons is the fun and inspiration factor. I remember taking drum lessons from my first teacher who had this GIANT chrome drum set and it just made me want to go home and practice. My main goal with each lesson is to get "one nugget" that the student can walk away with. Either a reading tip, or a song form, or a lick…something tangible that makes them want to practice and get better. I also was a martial arts teacher for many years in Los Angeles, and one the main things that my teacher taught me was to "keep the student going". It's all about inspiration, fun, challenge, setting and achieving goals…and did I mention fun. When something makes us laugh, we tend to want to do it more. When I attended Musicians Institute THE BIG THING was seeing the worlds top musicians sitting 3 feet in front of you explaining how they do what they do…it was a life altering experience. And then of course they would ask us to come up on stage to play so that they could critique and help us….wow, talk about pressure. But in the end it was all worth it, and like I said, seeing all of those great players gave me the "reality check" to shoot for and reach that goal of becoming a professional musician. Another thing that I really enjoy about teaching, other than the fact that I get to help mold young minds, and influence the future (a responsibility I take seriously and with much thought and deliberation) is simply that i GET TO PLAY ALL DAY. I structure my lessons so that each time we start we do a warm-up, then we do some repetition, then we learn something new, then repeat that. so I am essentially playing a good 80 to 95% of each lesson. That inspires my students because they see how much fun i am having and they're like "yeah, I can do this". So I like to keep things light and happy as we start the lesson, get serious toward the middle, and then end on a happy note like jamming on what we learned, or doing something fast and exciting….so that the last thing you remember as you leave is…"I can't wait to come back". It really works well for students and for me too.