Private lessons
INSTRUMENT & ABILITY LEVEL
Drums (beginner / intermediate / advanced)
Guitar (beginner / intermediate)
Bass (beginner / intermediate)
Piano (beginner / intermediate)
AGES
Kids ( ages 9+)
Middle School & High School
College Students & Adults
LESSONS INCLUDE:
Fundamentals, Technique, and Sight-Reading
Rhythms, Chords, and Song Forms
Learn To Play Your Favorite Songs
Develop Musicality, Dynamics, and Creativity
RATES (Private Lesson): RATES (Group Performance Lesson):
$70/hour $50/hr/student (2 students)
(Check or Paypal accepted) $40/hr/student (3-5 students)
ABOUT MATT:
Matt Gershun - Masters in Music (M.M. Global Jazz Performance on Drum Set) - Berklee Global Jazz Institute
MATT is a multi-instrumentalist and has been a featured educator in participation with Spotify, The Jazz Educators Network, and has led social outreach workshops with the Fundacion Danilo Pérez of Panama. He has worked as an Ensemble Director and Private Instructor at the School of Rock and has presented workshops on Drum Tuning & Self Expression at the Berklee Global Jazz Institute. In all educational settings, Matt brings over 20 years of teaching, recording, and performing experience to the classroom, providing real-world guidance and wisdom to his students about artistry, song-writing, arranging, group dynamics, self-expression, and musicality.
Teaching style + philosophy:
My goal is to foster musical and personal growth and inspire young musicians as they progress from the practice room to the stage. As a teacher, I believe it is most important to be nurturing and encouraging. Students are most likely to succeed if they feel confident in their abilities and good about themselves. Becoming a musician is a lifelong process and it is very important to have a positive role model for guidance.
Private Lessons
I take a fun and intuitive approach to the drum set. I combine the study of rudiments, hand technique, polyrhythms, dynamics, and reading. I teach my students how to develop solid time-feel, groove, and creativity. In lessons, I often accompany my students on guitar, bass, or piano, giving them an opportunity to apply musical techniques and learn about the art of ensemble performance.
Group Lessons/ensembles
With ensembles, I take the same fun and intuitive approach. I teach my students about performance and ensemble playing, which includes learning about song-writing, arranging, group dynamics, self-expression, and soloing. I like to foster a real sense of teamwork and togetherness through the experience of being in a band and I show my students how to be there for each other as musicians and as friends.
why music?
I believe it is important to teach music for many reasons, all of which have been supported by scientific research.
a) Active participation in music stimulates all areas of the brain at once, which means that it stimulates the auditory, motor, and visual cortices. By playing and practicing music, the neuro-developments you make musically will extend to all areas of life. Playing music also stimulates fine motor skills as well as a combination of linguistic and mathematic skills, the functions of which are found on both hemispheres of the brain. Music exposure has also been linked with increased memory.
b) Participation in music has therapeutic benefits. Playing music is a spiritual salve and it helps students develop empathy. Playing music feels good and is also an effective emotional therapy for depression and the challenges of adolescence, which can be experienced by many young students. Music has been well-documented to help create a sense of community, interpersonal/intrapersonal awareness, and foster healthy self-expression and creativity, all good things for developing minds.
c) Finally, the activity of playing music can be a good fit for any type of learner. Since music has so many different aspects (visual, auditory, spacial, kinesthetic, analytic, creative, imitative, mathematic, etc) it is very likely that any type of student and any type of learner will be able to access its joys and participate in the world of music.
Let’s get started today!