The most important outcome from this course is collaboration skills. Creative people usually collaborate to make something, even though they might work alone on ideas and have different roles to play in the process. It's a great experience to see other students sing or help to produce your song!

I will guide students through the creative process and help them to prepare songs as sheet music, song sheets, performances or recordings.  As students enter and exit the class at different times, I will organize participating students into creative groups based on their ideas and musical skills.

Students are guided through the vital ingredients of songwriting: chord progression, melody, lyrics and structure. Then the technical parameters are explored: tempo, style, genre, tradition, instrumentation and dynamics (the things that make a song sound unique). Finally students are guided through the different music production processes: personal work, collaboration, notation (writing it down in any way), sequencing or multi-tracking (recording/programming separate tracks), live performance and live recording.

A creative product is never "done", there is always room for new ideas and improvements.  Students are encouraged to try different material with different people.  This class is most popular with students who already play at least one instrument and have an interest in songwriting and music composition.

Students can get to grips with digital audio workstation (DAW) software from Ableton, SoundTrap or Logic.  Using good quality software, students will learn the basics of digital and audio music manipulation to create their own beats, back-up tracks or jams. 

I will guide students on a journey of self discovery of the infinite applications of DAWs.  It's also a great way to learn music theory and music composition skills in a less formal setting.

DAWs are often used for live playback at concerts, combining "real" live sounds, programmed digital sets and even computer programming applications.  This course is a must for students interested in electronic music, recording their own songs and the wider world of music production.

Using Sibelius, NoteFlight or Flat software, students will follow tutorials, exercises and contribute to interactive class discussions.  As well as being music publishing programs, they're also a great way to learn music theory and tools for music composing.

This course teaches you the basics of music notation and notation software and helps you relate this knowledge to your own musical instrument.  Sometimes music theory gets boring when you're learning a musical instrument!  Learning good instrument technique and creativity is very important, but at some point, good notation skills will help a musician save time.

Learning notation in any way is going to increase your understanding of music theory.  At first, a lot of the exercises are concerned with writing, copying and reading music, but we’ll have some fun with arranging music, exporting to other file types and sharing our products with each other!

Learn music through a core instrument, such as piano, guitar or voice.  Playing a polyphonic instrument and singing (even privately) is essential for advanced musicianship.  All good musicians learn, extend and perfect their art by using these skills.  You can learn one at a time with me, or alternate all three (the way I do!)

My teaching method is based in aural learning (by ear) and music theory, as well as various notation (written) methods.  I always will put SOUND before SYMBOL for younger students, i.e. fun/play before rigor.  For older students who have already developed some ear skills or notation skills, I will adjust my teaching accordingly.

This is my first love of music: writing for instruments - either jazz, classical or contemporary ensembles.  If this is already your thing, I will be a perfect teacher for you!  I can teach in many styles, genres and traditions.

This is my most developed of music skills, as I studied to a Masters level with great teachers and peers.  Saxophone is what you'll see me playing the most.  I love alto and baritone the best (don't tell my tenor saxophone), but you're more likely to see me playing an alto or tenor saxophone in public jams, gigs or concerts.  Unlike more natural skills I possess, saxophone is my "ten thousand hours" discipline - a skill someone develops with over 10,000 hours under the supervision of a teacher, director or expert.  This does not mean hours of practice; I don't want to know that total!  Practice should be efficient, rather than open-ended and obsessive.  Little and often is better than hours on one day.  Playing your instrument every day (either practice, rehearsal or performance) is the best way to success.

As with composing, I learned this early in life, as I developed piano skills and well before I mastered the saxophone.  As a result, my understanding of jazz theory and improvisation all relates to the keyboard.  Making my brain convert this to my saxophone technique is my current learning mission.  However, I love to teach jazz improvisation based in harmony, melodic and personal style development.  In other words, I do not think or teach in endless licks, lines and melodic material as many great jazz musicians do.  I'm probably going to change as I continue my advanced studies at UNC.