Thanks for clicking on my “music lessons” button!
If you are seriously interested in music lessons for your child, I hope this information will function as a good substitute for a personal interview, saving time for us both.
I teach guitar, mandolin, music theory, improvisation, sight reading, ear training, and jazz band preparation. The private lessons are for thirty minutes one day a week. I am available for private lessons on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday afternoons from 2:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. I also teach group sight reading for two eight-week sessions per year, on Saturday mornings from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. during the months of March/April and September/October. There is no extra fee for the sight reading groups.
My fee for private lessons is $70/mo for one 30-minute lesson per week. Some months have five lesson days, some months have four, but the fee is the same regardless of the month, and regardless of attendance. I learned that policy from more experienced teachers when I first began teaching. It creates a gravitational force for the student to attend lessons and frees me from having to keep track of attendance.
I tell my kids it's like Mesa State: you can attend classes, work hard and get a "A", or you can cut classes, goof off and get an "F", but either way, come the end of the semester, you don't get to ask for your tuition money back. Also, if the student simply chooses to be somewhere else on lesson day, s/he has the luxury of thinking, "Old Wilkenson is getting paid anyway, so what right does he have to complain about my absence if I feel like going skiing?"
I used to teach adults, and I have had some good ones, but, for the most part, adults can find more excuses to fail and/or quit than the kids can. Also, since I am on sabbatical, I decided that one of my goals would be to help supplement the music education which goes on in the local middle and high school jazz bands. For that reason, I give preference to kids aged 8-14 when accepting new students.
Prior to starting lessons, I prefer for parents to get their kid to agree to a commitment ("contract" if your prefer) that s/he will try diligently for one full year before exercising the option of giving up. I do this because I refuse to enable easy-quitting behavior. I prefer to instill a work ethic and teach the student how to succeed, not how to give up just because acquiring musical skills requires work. Very few of my students ever give up. I tell them that if they want to give up, they have to do it all by themselves; I won't help them give up by EVER being cross, demanding, judgmental, disrespectful or unkind.
Kids invariably seem to like me, perhaps because, like our animal friends, they can tell when a person really likes them or not. Also, they can tell that I don't think I'm a higher form of life than they are. I consider them friends, and try to cultivate their friendship and trust by always being honest and kind. I NEVER lie to my students about the amount of work necessary to acquiring a high level of musical skills. I am old-fashioned and intellectually honest enough to understand that self-appreciation comes by way of achievement, NOT by being told we're wonderful when we're really not. I don't coddle my students, yet they all like me anyway. I do my best to create an understanding in the student that we're a team, and we're on this music-learning journey together. I’m quick to acknowledge my own mistakes, because that acknowledges the standard both the student and I are striving to attain.
Trust is the only tool a teacher has. If the student trusts the teacher even though they may not understand every detail of why they have to work on some particular idea, they will have the determination to work much harder than if they don't have trust. Trust results in willingness to work, which, in turn, results in progress, which, in turn, is ultimately the whole point of paying for private lessons. In our journey along the way, my students seem to inevitably become my friends.
I have what I would call an “eclectic” teaching style. I use all kinds of music to teach with. In my personal musical tastes, I am kind of old-fashioned. I like classical to sound like classical (Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, etc), rock to sound like rock (Beatles, Beach Boys, Grateful Dead, Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly, etc), jazz, to sound like jazz (Django Reinhardt, Charlie Byrd, etc), country to sound like country (Hank Williams, George Jones, Merle Haggard, Randy Travis, etc), and so on. I use bluegrass and Irish fiddle tunes to teach pick control. I also have video links of great players on my website which I use for viewing "homework" for the student on a case-by-case basis. I tend to dislike rap and disco, not least because I believe the self-absorbed, purple-haired, body-pierced, tatooed, backwards-baseball-hatted, smart-aleck, proud-of-ignorance-and-violence "gangsta" image is in direct irreconcilable conflict with the traditional values by which healthy, happy, kind-hearted, educated, productive and prosperous children are raised to live successful lives.
While I use a variety of different styles to teach with, I believe it is crucial that the student understand from the outset that playing music well is not about learning his or her favorite song. In other words, it does not involve merely memorizing a specific sequence of notes they find appealing. Playing music well involves training for, and acquiring, a variety of specific physical and mental skills (scales, chords, arpeggios, etc.) which make it possible for the student to successfully execute whatever piece of music has been chosen to be played. So I explain to the student that I will help them play the music they want to play, but first we train our fingers and brain scientifically.
I find it effective to use a sports metaphor to explain the situation: first we lift weights, then we play football. Playing for the Denver Broncos is not about going to Canyon View Park and horsing around playing sandlot football with your buddies — even if you have a genuine $150 John-Elway-autographed official NFL football. It's about spending ten to fifteen years in a gym systematically lifting weights to scientifically develop the type of strong, speedy and agile body which will allow you to step out onto the field and compete with the other professional football players without getting killed.
If all this sounds good, and you decide to start lessons, your student will need a 3-ring binder. I use my own teaching materials, and regularly add pages. I like to recoup the $8 in copying costs I incur for each new book.
Also, I prorate a student's first month. If the student starts in the middle of the month, and the first month of lessons only has two lesson days, the fee would be half. If the student starts in on the last week of the month, you would only owe one fourth of the fee for that month, and we'd probably just add it to the next whole month. The fee is due on the first lesson day of the month.
If you have any further questions, please feel free to "e" (email) me at john@johnwilkenson.com or music.tutor@bresnan.net.
Thanks again for your interest!
All the best,
John Wilkenson