What is your teaching philosophy?

Music lessons always begin with the student playing the music and his or her teacher listening carefully. The teacher doesn't look for mistakes, because no one needs the advice, "Don't make that mistake!” The teacher tries to hear what the student wants and then figures what to work on in order to get there. I've been both a student and teacher of guitar, and I try to take that teaching style into my tutoring. I never start by explaining material or by "simplifying" it (because that usually means repeating it again and again!) but by listening to the student and finding out exactly the student already knows and what his or her strengths are, and move forward from there.

What might you do in a typical first session with a student?

Any session has to start with getting to know the student, in terms of both personality and academic strengths and weaknesses. So we'll talk about what the student does for fun, what he enjoys, and move from there into formulating a plan for how to make that personality work for getting to his or her academic goals.