Music Teaching

I offer private lessons and tutoring for everything ranging from music theory to musicianship to composition. I’ve been working with people of all ages for several years, and have been formally tutoring at the undergraduate college level since I began my graduate studies at California State University, Northridge.

If you are interested in lessons or tutoring, please contact me to get started!

Note: Current CSUN music students are covered by the university for tutoring in music theory or musicianship classes. Please mention that you are a CSUN student if that is the case.

I look forward to working with you!

I have a paper outlining my current musical philosophy, “Capital-M Music”, a list of practical “Life Tips from the World of Music”, and a Studio Guide with some information on starting to build a computer music studio.

Please feel free to explore these to get a sense of where I come from musically!

I’ve put a bit of a summary of some of these ideas below here, as my Capital-M Music project has gotten quite large now. See those writings for more detail, but here are some of my ideas in an easier to digest form:

Multi-Genreism, Multi-Instrumentalism, Multi-Rolism (Perform, Compose, Improvise), Musicianship skills (Play by ear, rhythm training, sight-singing/reading, melodic and harmonic dictation / transcription, recognize instruments and genres by ear, audiation)

From Capital-M Music Life Tips guide, General Musicianship:

  • Music is made of patterns, not notes

  • Music is sound (sheet music is a useful representation, but not the music itself)

  • Never stop learning - and “don’t leave it in the classroom”, pay attention in all activities and learn from everything. Also try your hand at more pieces than you get assigned. If you practice analyzing a piece in your harmony class, pick another one and do it yourself.

  • Foundational skills are critical - the “flashiest” technique means little if fundamentals aren’t solid. Rhythm in particular is key!

  • There’s no such thing as “bad” music, only poorly conceived music. All music can be good, and all music contributes to the world. Some music might make you famous, most will not, and you can’t really tell the difference in advance. The goal should be to stay true to yourself and what you find interesting in music (which can and should grow or change over time), not to seek mass popularity.

  • Composing is not for “composers”, it’s for musicians (as is playing). All musicians should try composing, and we should teach from a perspective that all musicians can (and should) compose. You don’t have to be Beethoven (or even Taylor Swift) to have something meaningful to say.

  • Music does not have to have a primary political or social change message to be worth making, though that is certainly worthy too (particularly if the causes are worthy!)

  • All composers should develop at least semi-professional competence on at least one instrument (or singing, though I’d encourage an instrument as well. I’d really encourage both). Everyone should try performing other people’s music in public at least a few times, in addition to their own if they choose to do so. It would be weird to try composing music with no real ability to “make” music (sound) on your own terms. Computers can be used to generate sound, but the ability to make music in other ways is also beneficial.

  • By the same token, music is a human art form. It expresses human emotions and feelings. Computers are useful tools but relying on them for the full generation of ideas is not self-expression. In other words, Generative AI prompt-based music creators do not allow “you” to compose, only to “summon” a composer. You should try coming up with your own ideas.

  • If you are going to use AI at all, you still need to contribute meaningful parts of the final product from your own mind if you want to call yourself a composer. [See my essay On Artificial Intelligence and Human Music]

  • Music is a life skill, and elements that are practiced in learning music also play a role in many other aspects of life.

  • It is very difficult to hate a person you make music with, particularly while doing that. If more of us made music together, the world would be a better place. (This could be my tagline, and is one of my primary guiding principles)