Mandolin Lessons in Miami. Amazing Teachers.

I have been playing mandolin for about five years now. What started as a Led Zeppelin obsession has since moved towards a Chris Thile obsession...including studies following his learning methods.

music.

My Teaching Philosophy

Left Hand-
Scales and arpeggios our the bedrock of music. They are the foundation of everything harmonically and melodically. We will begin with learning our major, minor and pentatonic scales and corresponding arpeggios. Once we have an understanding of those we will delve into our modes and more “exotic” scales.

Right Hand-
The right hand is our time machine. It gives us the ability to play in time and with groove and feel. We will work on rhythmic studies string crossings and practicing with a metronome. Remembering music is harmony, Melody and rhythm working as one.
For those who are new to playing music the hardest thing for some to master is rhythm/time keeping. It is the black and white right or wrong of the music world. Often times our want to progress quickly is hampered by skipping over the basic building blocks of rhythm and time keeping.
The first critical step is the concept of subdivision. Subdivision it the mind ...

Mandolin lessons for people who want to learn classical music, bluegrass, folk or jazz. This instrument is so versatile there are so many types of music one can play. Students learn how to read charts, improvise, comp with chords as well as take lead solos.

I teach Mandolin using the Suzuki method and then branch out into into bluegrass mandolin playing. The mandolin is tuned like a violin double strings. So the left hand fingering is the same as the violin and the picking is similar to the guitar. If you play the violin then the main thing you need to learn is the right hand picking. If you play the guitar then you will need to learn the left hand fingering. Mandolin is a fun instrument to learn and to play.

I started playing acoustic guitar when I was seven years old (off and on). I then started traveling more and found the mandolin to be so much easier to carry around and so much fun, it was hard to stop playing it. I have been playing and teaching mostly bluegrass, old time, Irish, blues, and swing jazz styles for many years. I have taught both privately and have also done various workshops at festivals. I have taught multiple years for instance at the Gettysburg Bluegrass Festival in PA, The Traditions week at Common Ground on the Hill Festival in MD, etc
My students learn to have fun with music. Students can work on rhythms, melodies, improvisation, song writing, arranging tunes, music theory, getting into and/or hanging on in a jam session, etc.