Meet Josh, a dedicated Piano Teacher. He helps students of all ages develop their musical talents. With experience and a personalized approach, Josh guides them to grow and reach their full potential in piano.
Quick Facts about Josh
- Teaches Piano, electric bass, guitar
- Specializes in Classical, rock, pop, funk, RnB, jazz, soundtracks (movies/video games)
- Most comfortable teaching beginner or intermediate students age seven and up.
- Experience working with neurodivergent students
- Can teach to play and sing at same time
- Experience with drums and voice
- 3+ Years Experience teaching private lessons across several instruments
- Minored in Music at Indiana University Bloomington
Learn more about Josh
General Teaching Style
I tend to focus on fundamentals- rhythm, harmony, general technique- as these are consistent regardless of genre. A strong foundation allows a student to navigate the various rhythmic and harmonic demands presented by different styles of music.
I was an English major in college, and I believe this gives me a strong ability to communicate concepts as I can employ a wide range of metaphors, analogies, or other figurative language to demonstrate a point.
Curriculum
I am comfortable working with method books or transcriptions. I also give my students various exercises tailored to the concepts they are learning in their lessons- rhythmic subdivisions with a metronome, chord progressions to improvise over, etc.
Most Inspirational Music Moments and Experiences
In high school I stayed the night with a friend who was an amazing guitarist. We stayed up all night watching a bunch of concert dvds- Steve Vai, Dream Theater, etc.-and by the next morning I decided I wanted to learn an instrument.
Top 3 Desert Island Albums
Abattoir Blues/The Lyre of Orpheus- Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
Insurgentes- Steven Wilson
Discipline- King Crimson
Holistic and Analytical Teacher
I excel at taking a concept and breaking it down into manageable chunks, such as how to take a difficult riff or passage apart into individual bars or beats, and then gradually reassembling it until the entire part is up to tempo. I try to show all my students the structures underlying a piece or tune- the melodies and phrases, chord progressions, sections such as verses and choruses, etc.- so they can think musically rather than mechanically. We also focus on how technique is a whole body experience, not just how we wiggle our fingers. We look at things like making sure to breathe during difficult passages, how to release tension in the arms or shoulders, how to stay loose so we can move as needed in order to execute whatever it is we’re trying to play.
Focus & Goals of the First Lesson
Usually we’ll begin by discussing if they have any prior musical experience- how long have they played, have they had lessons in the past, etc. If they have experience I’ll ask them to play a little something to assess things like general technique and rhythm. We’ll also discuss their personal goals- do they want to perform live, with a band, or solo, do they want to write their own material, etc. The approach is largely the same, except children often aren’t as clear about their future goals as adult learners.