Percussion Lessons in Elkhorn. Amazing Teachers.

I have taught all levels of percussion including auxiliary percussion instruments.

My experience as a performer and teacher spans over 25 years of every musical style. I believe in creating an environment that is focused on playing music well and where the student can have fun while gaining confidence. It is important to develop functional musicians with good technique, reading, time, and listening skills. We can cover all styles of music from early music to rock/pop, including jazz, classical (including orchestral), and other percussion as desired.

I pretty much teach all common areas of percussion. These include timpani, drum set, marching percussion, mallet percussion, concert percussion, and some world percussion.

In these lessons our focus is mainly on hand drumming, teaching the student techniques and styles for various styles of hand drums from around the world including; Cajon, Bongos, Congas, Djembe, etc...

- Develop good time keeping skills by playing with a metronome or click track or all ready recorded music
- Study basic hand strokes specific to the student’s type of drum
- Learn proper hand position
- Gain knowledge of the origins and history of various types of hand drums
- Play and read rhythms specific to the student’s type of drum
- Learn the proper way to hold and position drums

I am thrilled to hear that you or your kid is ready to start taking drum lessons! I have been teaching drum set and percussion for ten years, and last year finished my master's in percussion performance at CU, after a music education degree in Michigan.

I start my students off with "repeat after me" style exercises, to develop technique, coordination, and musical tone on the instruments. Then, we can dig into playing the music (s)he loves! I'm always curious to hear if there is a certain band or drummer my student admires.

This is a play-by-ear approach. Virtually all pop music bands, regardless of genre, have for the past 65 years used drumming that is played by ear. This means, without the use of written music. Few venues today require drumming to written "drum" music charts.

We will examine drumming styles and approaches in basic rock-n-roll and learn to play along and perform similarly. This will also include the development of an ear for style, technique & method, and skills necessary to execute a full pop music performance. Student should have access to at least a basic drum set.