All my students deserve an experience tailored to their specific strengths and needs. We learn most effectively when the information is interactive, and speaks directly to our interests and experience. Essentially, the focus is on building a foundation of performance ability and musical knowledge. 

 

I also teach a core curriculum in music fundamentals including: technique, coordination, improvising, performance and song structure, reading music, transcription, composition and music history. These subjects encompass what is necessary to play one's instrument in any style, or “outside” of any style. While the amount of time spent focusing on each "fundamental" is different between students, this foundation helps to create a more complete performer or composer, someone who understands the art form and can succeed in all styles of music.

 

Throughout my studies, I've learned from my instructors that drumming is an expressive art form, and I strive to help my students create an emotional connection to their chosen instrument. By encouraging improvisation and creativity, students learn to trust themselves, find their own voice on the instrument, and play with confidence and passion. These aspects are best explored in an environment where students are free to discover what sounds good to them, how they want to play, not how they think they should play and ultimately use their craft as their primary outlet for creative expression. 

 

Finally, it is my job, as an instructor and mentor, to teach my students how to further develop and succeed on their own. By developing practice rituals, finding new material to take on new challenges, networking tips to open doors for performance opportunities, and how to succeed as both a band leader and sideman in a group setting, I take pride in setting my students up to succeed, in school and beyond. 

 

 

EDUCATION

 

2011-2013  Masters of Music (M.M.), New York University (Steinhardt School of Education) New York, NY

 

2001-2005  Bachelor of Fine Arts (B.F.A.), The New School for Social Research/Jazz & Contemporary Music, New York, NY

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TEACHING EXPERIENCE 

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Adjunct Professor of Music - St. John's University 

Queens, NY 2017-Present

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Adjunct Professor – Steinhardt School of Education, New York University
New York, NY, 2011-2013

 

Director of Percussion Studies – New World Music Center – Long Island, New York  2006-2017

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The Danny Borg School of Music - Metro/Long Island, New York 2004-Present