Monaco Music Studio

Teaching Philosophy      

If I had a Magic Musical Genie in a lamp and could make 3 wishes as a teacher:

*My first and foremost wish would be that my students would truly 

understand how valuable they are.  

Their thoughts, feelings, ideas, and dreams are important.  

I want to know what their favorite book is, 

whether they think dragons or unicorns are the coolest, 

and all about the tough day they had at school. 

*My second wish would be that my students would fall in love with music. 

Everyone says they enjoy music, but true enjoyment comes from understanding.  My earnest 

desire is to create a culture of joyful music experiences, not just a series of weekly 

lessons and maybe a recital or two.  I provide opportunities for my students to 

play with and learn from professional, world-class musicians.  I regularly host fun 

musical group games, activities, classes, and field trips. 

*My third wish would be for my students to become amazing musicians.  

Let’s face it, music is a skill that takes a lot of brain cells.  Learning to read notation, getting 

different parts of your body doing different things at the same time, all while counting 

tricky rhythms, minding your pitch, and listening to and communicating with musical 

colleagues is nothing like playing Guitar Hero!  It’s no wonder that so many students 

start taking lessons and then give up in frustration a few months later.  

Here are a few little secrets: 

The more you practice, the better you get.

The better you get, the more you ENJOY making music. 

As an instructor, I give my students EVERYTHING I possibly can to help 

them succeed. I make videos of band and contest music to help students understand 

what to practice during the week. I’m available to answer questions via phone, email, 

and text every single day of the week.  I spend dozens of hours pouring through 

repertoire trying to choose recital and contest pieces that will appeal to the ability 

and taste of my students. I write thorough notes every week to remind my students 

what we studied in lessons and to help me organize lesson plans (concepts we need 

to cover, ideas to remediate weak areas, lists of potential etudes for managing 

trouble areas, etc.), I make room in my schedule for extra coaching sessions as 

concert and contest dates approach.  I squawk my rubber chicken at them 

whenever their posture suffers (but ONLY if the students agree to be squawked 

at ahead of time- not everyone likes a good squawking!).

I believe in a growth mindset 

and I coach my students to understand that they can play at an advanced level 

very quickly with consistent, efficient practice and lesson attendance. 

Giving a child the gift of music is one of 

the best gifts a parent can give a child.

Parents, if we work as a team to give your child a good musical start with 

lots of love, encouragement, and solid practice routines, 

he’ll be playing fairly complicated pieces early on AND LOVING IT. 

Your child will be able to enjoy the musical skills we cultivate now for the rest of his life!