Milwaukee Music Academy

First, we offer different packages based on how many lessons per week you desire. The price per lesson will vary with the different packages we offer. If you take lessons once-per-week, your tuition is the "normal" rate. If you take lessons twice-a-week, the per-lesson tuition now goes down. (3x/week goes down even more!) Of course your monthly tuition goes up with more lessons per week, but the per-dollar VALUE you are getting increases. That's not only because you pay less per lesson, but the learning is COMPOUNDED, which makes your rate of progress MORE THAN twice the "regular" rate of progress if you're doing twice-a-week. To sum it up, more than once-a-week lessons is a DOUBLE-WHAMMY of VALUE! We also have many benefits to the way we have our lessons set up, such as (1) super-flexible scheduling, even week-to-week changes are easy for us to handle (2) Tuition is always the SAME amount, on the SAME DAY day every month, based on a 4-week month. This results in a free lesson (or a free 2 or 3 lessons if you're doing more than once-a-week) about once every 3 months! This is because sometimes there are not 4, but 5 Mondays in a month (or 5 Tuesdays, etc.). If there is a 5th "week" of lessons for you in any month, there is no extra charge for these lessons!

The first thing is to find out what are the new student's goals, and also what are their frustrations, so we create a plan to reach the goals, and eliminate the frustrations! We provide tools that will give our students results from DAY ONE. These tools may become more refined as the student progresses, and they may change as the student moves to different skill levels. Also, we have a lot of FUN while at the same time we are accomplishing real forward movement!

I'm a member of an international group of elite music teachers called the Elite Guitar Teachers Inner Circle. This group started out as all guitar teachers in 2007, (thus, the name "Elite Guitar Teachers...") and since then, piano and voice teachers have joined this group of elite music teachers. I have been an active member of this elite group since 2018, and I have received special training in many areas of teaching music, musical creativity & soloing, songwriting, perfect practice, rapid results, and guitar mastery. As a current member of this group, I receive ongoing training every month to excel as an expert music teacher, delivering extraordinary results for my students! Also, we meet for an intensive 2 weeks of training every June for our annual series of events, which is a major push forward every year in our expertise as voice/guitar/piano teachers! Not many music teachers participate in a continuing education program for music teachers such as this one! In terms of my actual musical training, I studied keyboard & music theory for 5 years. I studied rock, blues, and jazz vocals with with Blue Note recording artist Jackie Allen, and I've had operatic training with international opera singer Leonora Morvaya. I've earned educational certifications in Total Guitar Mastery and Ultimate Creativity and Guitar Soloing Mastery. Also, I have a very special certification in teaching groups, which many private music teachers don't know how to do! Contrary to popular belief, learning in groups has many benefits that far outweigh the benefits of one-on-one lessons. The inspiration & support you will receive from your fellow students is just one of the many benefits you get in group lessons, but I would love to explain to you a lot more about these benefits, and how they will serve to accelerate and even super-charge your learning!

I started writing songs and performing in clubs as a singer/songwriter in Reno, NV 1993, and quickly put together my first band, releasing our first record in 1997. My career took me to many different music hubs in the U.S., including Seattle, Los Angeles, Austin, and I lived on the road playing shows all over the U.S. from the summer of 2006 through the summer of 2007. My Los Angeles-based band headlined many Sunset Strip clubs including the Troubadour, the Whisky A Go-Go, The Viper Room, and more, and our 2 CD releases charted on both college and commercial airplay charts. I returned to my hometown of Milwaukee in 2008, and have played many festivals and summer concert series including Summerfest, Bastille Days, Brady Street Festival, the Bay View Bash, Music Under Glass at the Mitchell Park Domes, Rock USA (Oshkosh, WI), and various venues all over the U.S. with 6 U.S. tours from 2014-2017. I started getting more serious about teaching music in those years, and the Milwaukee Music Academy was born in 2017. I share with my students knowledge from my musical training & background as well as my real-life experience from thousands of on-stage appearances, performing intimate house concerts with a crowd of 10, or to a crowd of thousands at a downtown Milwaukee Arena. I have had several weeks where I had 6-7 shows in 7 days, and I've had up to 10 shows in 8 days! Delivering powerful vocals without doing damage to the voice requires a vast knowledge of how the voice works, so vocal stamina & endurance are just one of my specialties, as well as belting & mixed voice! My current musical project still tours on occasion, and I am currently working on the 10th CD of my career. I've recorded both piano and guitar original compositions on my CDs, and my love of various styles of music is a very powerful force in my life!

I have worked with kids from age 6 to students in their 70s... students of all age ranges who want to learn - or get better at - guitar, piano, singing, & songwriting. But if you're 80+, please don't be shy! I am a patient and caring individual, and I am able to help you find your strengths and bring them out, so they shine brightly!

I recently worked with a teenage girl who came to me for voice lessons, and one day, she shared one of her original songs with me. I really liked it and asked if she had any more. She shared with me about 10 more songs, and some of them had a lot of potential! To make a long story short, she and her parents have since met with my current producer, and we are now in the process of starting her first recording project, and I will serve as the co-producer! I am so excited about nurturing and helping the young talent I work with - there's not any show I can play that will give me the same kind of satisfaction I get from knowing I am helping a young artist come into her own! I wish I had such a mentor when I was just starting out!

First off, don't make price the first thing you look at. If you are looking for the cheapest teacher in the area, you could very well end up with a not-so-great teacher! You get what you pay for, and excellent teachers know that they offer an excellent product/service, so they charge a fair & competitive price for what they offer. And people who want a great product or service know that's it's worth it! You can WASTE a lot of money thinking you have super deal since you got a "great price" but then 6-12 months later you might look back and wonder what you got for your money because your skills on the guitar or the piano or your voice have improved very little since you started working with this person. This problem is more common than you think! You also want to make sure they have plenty of good reviews and they are qualified. What kind of training do they have, both as a musician and as a music teacher? Did you know that anyone can call themselves a private music teacher... there are no required certifications or permits that you need to put up a sign that says "Music Lessons"? So you want to find out: What qualifies this person to be a music teacher? Just like there are some therapists out there who should not be practicing therapy, there are some music teachers out there who should not be teaching! (But the therapists actually have to get a degree of some kind in order to practice!) Furthermore, even for established teachers, it can be hard to keep up with the latest teaching methods if you don't participate in some sort of continuing education to maintain and increase your own expertise as a top-notch teacher. Another thing to consider: Not all skilled musicians are skilled music TEACHERS. It takes a special kind of person to be a teacher, and you should consider this when choosing a teacher. Teachers need to be able to bring out the BEST in you. You are trusting this person to guide you & be your mentor with something that's important to you... so you should take the time to make sure they are going to be able to provide this kind of support; that they are going to be able recognize your strengths while at the same time, help you to handle your weaknesses in such a way that is safe and comfortable for you, so that you are able to confidently work towards minimizing and/or eliminating them.

The most important questions for each individual can change from one person to the next, so you really want to ask questions that are specific to YOUR needs and interests. Are you a total beginner? Does this teacher know how to handle beginners? For instance, for total beginners learning how to play guitar, it's generally very frustrating for the first 3-6 months. How does this teacher handle beginners? You might be a singer who has been studying for a number of years, and you are now looking to improve your range or your endurance. Can this teacher help YOU? Be sure that the teacher you are considering is the right teacher for YOU. Whether you're a total beginner, or an advanced player/singer, you want to be sure that the teacher you choose is the right FIT for YOU! So, ask questions that are important to YOU... these questions might include: Does this teacher have real-life experience, and lots of it? What kind of experience is it? Does this teacher know how to effectively teach groups? If so, does he or she know how to still cater to each individual's needs, even though it's a group setting? What kind of flexibility does this teacher have with scheduling and with learning? Not all music teachers are alike; you want to have someone who is a good match for YOUR needs. For example, some teachers have more patience than others, and some have a more "disciplined" style than others. Some students thrive with a more disciplined approach, while some students will run away! What kind of student are YOU? Will YOU learn better with one style of teacher than another? You want to find a teacher that is going to match YOUR learning style... the right teacher for YOU. You can write down what's important to YOU in terms of your interests and your needs, and ask your teacher about these things!