Teaching
Musicianship is the mastery of musical skills such as sight reading and the ability to absorb and write down what is heard. Thorough musicianship training is often overlooked, and the benefits of mastering these skills are immeasurable, whether you’re a rock musician, a choral singer, a singing actor or an aspiring classical musician. (More about musicianship)
Hungarian Trained
In addition to my Master’s Degree from the San Francisco Conservatory, I studied for several years Franz Liszt Academy in Budapest, Hungary, where I was exposed to the Hungarian approach to musical education. Known as the “Kodály Method” in this country, and primarily thought of as a method for teaching young children, it happens to be a very powerful and intuitive method for all ages and levels of musical sophistication. My musicianship students get the full benefit of this approach. (more about the Kodály Method)
What Skills Will I Learn?
- You will use the solfège system (do, re, mi, etc.) to learn what each musical interval sounds like and feels like to sing. By learning to sing intervals accurately, you learn to hear them as well, which is the first step to being able to write down music upon hearing it.
- You will be able to sight read melodies from the staff, starting with simple pentatonic material and gradually building up to major and minor diatonic melodies. At a more advanced level, more chromatic melodies are added.
- You will be able to read and perform increasingly complex rhythms
- You will develop your “inner hearing” and be able to read music on the staff and hear it in your head. Given a two-part melody, you’ll be able perform one part and hear the other in your head.
- At a more advanced level, you will be able to recognize and identify chord progressions
- If you’re ambitious we can get into score reading, which means reading from a full orchestral score including transposed instruments.
What Will the Result Be?
- If you’re a singer in a chorus, your conductor will love you and thanks to your sight reading, you’ll be in demand as a section leader.
- If you’re an actor, you’ll have a leg up on auditions with new material
- If you’re a rock musician or songwriter, you’ll be able write down your ideas, and even come up with better ones by not depending on your instrument
- No matter what kind of musician you are, musicianship training will improve your music making and you will enjoy it more.
But, I really just want to work on my reading. Can we do that?
By all means. The description here is an attempt to be as thorough as possible. Of course, students may opt to just focus on certain skills, and may come in at any level.
Also Ask Me About…
- Composition lessons
- Lessons or one-off help sessions in Sibelius notation software
- Instrumental/vocal arranging
About Me
I am on the musicianship/composition faculties of both the San Francisco Conservatory’s Preparatory Division and Berkeley’s Crowden School. Here is my detailed bio.
I teach in my home in Oakland’s convenient Glenview District and accept students ages 12 through adult. Private students and small groups of up to 4 are welcome. A larger group would require finding an adequate space, but I would love to do that.
Contact me for details using the form below or just email me.
Contact Me
Please drop me a note here with any questions or to let me know how I might help.
