My Teaching Philosophy

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My approach for music teaching(or any other kind of teaching) is to turn our lesson into an educative hang. To have a fun lesson, to transmit the student the excitement and awe that pulled me into music. Music is fun!

The way I see it, every student is a lock, and it’s my responsibility to find the right key. My lessons are normally up to 60 min long and always starts with at least 10 min chat about the student’s life (for example: if they’re into tennis I always show interest in the last tournament), making a connection build trust, and trust is, in my opinion, the most important ingredient between a teacher and a student. The student will not retain any information if they don’t trust you or not having fun (especially the young ones).  

Though I accumulated a wide range of experience and knowledge over the years I insist the student will bring their own taste of music to class. 

I always ask a student to make a list of 5-10 of the most favorite songs, and that’s where we draw out (most of the time) our next song.  Through their personal taste and choice I insert the theoretical knowledge. True! Some ask me to come up with our new next song to work on, so I always have something in my back pocket. I usually give more homework than the student can find time to do only so they’ll ALWAYS have something to work on.  I encourage all my students to keep playing those ‘old‘ pieces we worked on in the past in order to  create their own personal repertoire (in case you want to impress your guests:) , and I’m always open for new artists and new music the student brings in. 

I never say “no” to a song but rather “not yet”.  

I rarely give a student technical exercise, I believe it’s a waste of precious time and in a way limits the artistic freedom of the student, in other words: 

“why talking about bananas instead of eating bananas". I prefer to find a musical piece (etudes, or other contemporary music) to answer a specific technical issue on the guitar instead of another boring-repetitive-brain numbing technical exercise:)  

I offer my students  (mainly the online ones) an on-the-spot video demonstration and encourage them to text or call me at any time with any issue, related and unrelated to music, and inform me at least few hours before if our class need to be canceled.  

I insist all my students read music for the communicative value it gives, also, that's the language! ... oh well you can thank me later... :) 

My lessons are “no jacket required” and there’s always laughter in my class.  The love to music, the guitar (and the need to satisfy the teacher) will make the student work harder and get better.  

Depending on the seriousness of the student their progress will be determined but I can honestly say that within three years they'll be capable to start doing things on their own! like, playing other music we didn’t work on in class or explore new techniques, and even work as professional musicians (professional means they’re getting paid btw), and as said before, I’ll use these methods and approach in any kind of teaching situation, private students, classes, and ensembles)
Available for teaching via Zoom and/or in-person.