Piano Lessons in Keene

As a professional musician, I have performed in clubs, venues, theaters and recording studios from Boston to Los Angeles, and all around the greater New England region. I've played dozens of musical theater productions, numerous weddings, and countless jazz and rock gigs. Though I specialize as a jazz and big-band drummer, I love all styles of music and have extensive experience teaching, performing and recording a variety of different styles and genres. However, I always knew that I wanted to be a music teacher in addition to a performer, and I have been fortunate enough to be able to do just that for a living for more than fifteen years.

As an educator, I have extensive experience working with students both one-on-one and in the classroom, and have been teaching online since COVID in 2020. I currently teach middle-school jazz improvisation and jazz ensemble, along with private students aged 4 to 70 on everything from drum set to trumpet to music theory to guitar. I believe in finding out a student's long-term and short-term goals, and giving them the tools they need and a plan on how to reach those goals.

I have worked with high school students as a guest clinician, teaching marching percussion and how to strengthen their jazz ensemble's rhythm sections. Additionally, I teach drum set at Keene State College, where I have also taught jazz ensemble, jazz combo, music improvisation, and given presentations on Brazilian and Afro-Cuban rhythms. I earned my Bachelor's Degree in K-12 Instrumental Music Education at Keene State College in 2012, and graduated with my Masters Degree in Drum Set Performance in 2018 from University of Massachusetts Amherst.

I have studied Edwin Gordon's Music Learning Theory, and I believe in the importance of getting a student to think musically and to hear music in their heads before they play it. We learn music the same way we learn to speak: trying, receiving feedback, making an adjustment, and trying again. I often remind my students that music is simple, not easy - and it should always be fun, since that's the reason we set foot in a music lesson or classroom in the first place. I especially enjoy when I'm able to "sneak in the vegetables" and help students find ways to grow and learn without making it feel like work.

Lessons can be about whatever the student is looking for, as subjects tend to overlap with each other quite often! Areas of study include but are not limited to: drums, mallet percussion, trumpet, guitar, bass guitar, piano, music theory, jazz improvisation and harmony, and music production.

I look forward to helping more people find answers to their musical questions!