Music Lessons in Amenia, NY. It's your time.

I teach hornists of all ages, and have been teaching privately for 6 years! I have a music education and horn performance background and teach based off the learning styles that best meet a student’s needs. I have experience with teaching young and mature beginners, elementary-high school, and college. I love helping students prepare for college auditions and exploring different options as to how music can be a part of their life. A unique process I love for teaching : using my students’ favorite song or artist to build fundamentals on the horn!

BEGINNERS WILL LEARN: 1. Proper left and right hand, arm, and body positioning . 2. Proper (not common!) pick grip. 3. How to play notes (reading of music suggested but can be worked around) and first position chords. 4. Rhythm focus to play to some of your favorite songs.
INTERMEDIATE TO ADVANCED STUDENTS WILL LEARN: 1.To continue proper positioning (I will remind you... bet on it !) 2. Ear training (very important) 3. Bar chords (you'll hate them initially but they speak the world of you.... you'll get 'em !) 4. Learning and utilization of scales including Minor and Major Pentatonic Scales. 5. Multi-position playing 6. Improvisation utilizing all afore-listed. 7. Incorporating my methods that utilizes a bit of other styles (just a bit) as I have taught such wonderful players I've been sought to create a "next level" Blues Guitarist such as Chris Raabe and Bill Tuthill.... look 'em up (the Chris Raabe Band) for example.

I am a professional performing artist and educator who believes that everyone is inherently musical. I have extensive experience with students of all ages and abilities and enjoy cultivating the interests in those whom I teach.

This is my profession.

I started playing piano at age seven when my mother enrolled me in lessons. I have been playing ever since, and I absolutely love it. I began teaching private piano lessons in 2003, and have taught many thousands of lessons since that time. I have experience accompanying choirs, instrumentalists, and vocalists, as well as playing as a soloist in various piano competitions and recitals. I recently began taking lessons in jazz piano, a genre I never learned much about. I believe it is never too late to learn something new, and I am excited to start this new chapter of my musical life and to use this new knowledge to enhance my own teaching.

In my piano lessons I use the Faber's fabulous Piano Adventures series. In my opinion, they are the best books on the market, emphasizing reading by intervals as opposed to memorizing note names. This method minimizes student frustration while also decreasing the amount of time it takes a student to read a new song. Piano Adventures also focuses ...

Ear Training (or Aural Training) is a very important part of musical development. Learning to recognise sounds will help you in many ways, most importantly it will help you Transcribe and accelerate your ability to work out songs on your own.

It really can be quite incredible and I have had many students say that after a few months of consistent work on Ear Training that they can hear music better, that they can separate the instruments easier and hear new depths in recordings they thought they knew well.

I grew up transcribing, it was the way I learned to play songs, but when I started doing Interval Ear Training it took it to a whole new level. Doing a lot of transcribing will teach you the intervals sonically and to some extent on the neck, but once you know the names of the intervals too it makes it easier because you can 'put a tag on it' and know for sure what it is. Learning the names of the intervals is also great for communicating ideas with other musicians and ...