Teachers

Austin Keyes

Drums

Works with

All Ages

Shines with

Beginner to Intermediate

Neurodivergent Learners

Available

Afternoons & evenings on Monday, Wednesday,

Friday, & Sunday

What is your musical background?

My mom was a drummer. She always worked in music stores. When she got a job at Rainbow Guitars she brought her drum teacher there, and he made a great living. Then when she got sick and passed away when I was 13, he said hey kid, if you ever want to take lessons I’ve got you for life. And I showed up that next Wednesday, then every Wednesday after that for 13 years.

A week after my mom passed away, my friend said hey, we have this band, we could play our eighth grade graduation if we could get a song together. So we did. The next ten years, we practiced every minute we could. In High School I got into jazz band before I was supposed to, won the Louis Armstrong award.

Before the pandemic, I was playing live three to four nights a week for other artists. Sold out shows at the Rialto, opening for Tyga, Machine Gun Kelly. I haven't done much like that since, I’ve mainly been teaching. The hip hop scene didn’t come back the way it was.

How long have you been teaching? Why do you teach music?

I've taught for about six years. I taught two years out of my house before I came here. I’ve been teaching here for three years.

What drives me to teach? How uncomfortable growing up is. I turned to the drums, no one can mess with me right here. This is my complete power circle. No matter what was going on, I could get behind the drums for hours, and not think about it. You learn that life can be bad, and you learn that no one can stop you from getting good at something. No one can mess with me behind the drums. And I want these kids to have that. There are a lot of kids who might be uncomfortable about life, trying to find an identity. Drums gave me a sense of identity. I want to give back for that.

How would you describe your teaching style and methods?

I am straight up to the bell to bell. All my students learn how to read music, beginning day one. It’s a necessity. Learning that early on will put you leagues ahead. And I try to cram as much as much actual literature that I can get into their brain, because that's how I learned. I'd have 30 minutes that would blow my mind, then a week to process it.

For practice, I tell parents, make sure they practice tonight before dinner, for 10-15 minutes. At the least, practice within the first two days of a lesson. Any longer than that, it's brand new to them. They’ll just be reteaching themselves, instead of locking it in.

What are your students like? Who do you work best with?

I’ve had kids from three to 65, neurotypical to severely autistic. I prefer 12 and up, but I’ll teach anybody.

What do you want your students to take away from their time with you?

That music can be as fun as they want it to be. It's not a stuck-up thing. There are so many outlets, so many avenues you can take. There’s no one direction to do this. I thought about being a jazz drummer in the Air Force for a while just because that would have been the coolest thing ever. There are so many opportunities. That's the best real thing.

What is a favorite musical memory?

I would fall asleep every night to my mom playing drums. Hair permed out, headphones. Five two, adorable. One glass of red wine she would never drink. She’d take a sip out of it and just play along to Steely Dan, Elton John albums. Her musical tastes were incredible. She had two kids to raise, my dad was nowhere to be found, and she was like, you know what? I’m going to fall face into something. She started playing drums, and that became her regular obsession.

What can students and parents expect during the first few lessons?

They’ll walk out with music, and the kid will know how to read it. Because you can break down a beat so simple. I always start the same, on a staff on the whiteboard. It starts like a magic trick: I tell them, pick a color. They say blue, I’ll write out the bass notes in blue, then have them hit the kick drum. Pick another color. Red, that’s the floor tom, and I’ll write out those notes, have them play along. I just break it down, and when they leave, they’re like, “I’m kind of able to do this already! I didn’t even realize he was teaching me anything.”

The way my teacher explained things – you can spend six months and just trying to figure it out on your own. You can save six months with one 30-minute lesson, because somebody else took that six months and then wrote it down. Some people can teach themselves, I couldn’t. Learning drums is really complicated. Get someone who knows enough to make it simple. And sometimes it's not fun. Yeah, to get good at anything, it's not fun sometimes.

Dominick Lalli

Guitar, Bass,

Audio Recording, Rock Band

Works with

Age 6 to 18

Adults

Shines with

Age 12 to 18

Available

Monday evenings

Tuesday evenings

What is your musical background?

I started out messing around with synthesizers and electronic music, because that’s what my dad had always done. He’d been a DJ. I got into playing acoustic guitar in 5th grade. In middle school I started playing bass with the orchestra band. That was where I learned to read music, and learned a good amount of my music theory. Around that same time I started my first band and played with them. All throughout high school, my main focus was on building bands and trying to find a band that I could write music with.

How long have you been teaching? Why do you teach music?

I taught informally for about 7 years, since I started my first band. It was just my friends and I was the only person who played, so I had to teach all of them. In high school I was usually the top guitar player in my classes, and the teacher would have me tutor the other kids. I’ve been teaching here for 2 years. Teaching music really empowers people. It's just a good skill to have and it's fun. It’s the thing that I enjoy most in my life, so being able to teach somebody else who might enjoy it just as much is really cool.

How would you describe your teaching style and methods?

I wouldn't say that I have a definitive way that I like to teach, because I’ve seen how everyone learns so differently. I try to see what each person responds best to and go from there. I take so many different approaches, it really just depends on the person. For instance, sometimes I’ll use Google Classroom and show things on the screen. But there are a lot of people that don't like that. Some people I’m talking through things, showing them on my guitar. Sometimes we're doing songs they wouldn't think that you could play on guitar, like electronic songs or weirdly instrumented songs. Those I'll figure it out, so I can teach it to them. It really depends on the person.

For practice, again, I think a lot comes down to the person - the age, the amount of free time. In general, I’d say the minimum would be 10 to 15 minutes a week. But if you're really trying to make strides, then probably more like at least 10 to 15 minutes a day.

What are your students like? Who do you work best with?

My students are all so different. I have two adult students, and the rest range from 6 to 18. How young you can be to start with guitar depends on the person. Some kids are really good with their hands and really good with understanding directions. I've never had any issues with teaching someone older than 9 or 10.

What do you want your students to take away from their time with you?

At the end of the day, it's all about just enjoying it, no matter your skill level. Just having fun with the process. I feel like with anything, if you're not enjoying it, then there's not really a point to doing it. So, to not approach it with too serious of an attitude.

What is a favorite musical memory?

When I was in middle school, they used to go around all the middle schools and pick out the best kids from the honors bands. We got to go to Cienega and play with the high school band twice a week for a few weeks, and eventually we got to play at the halftime show at one of the football games. Being in middle school and getting to do that was a really amazing experience.

What can students and parents expect during the first few lessons?

For someone who's never had any experience with the instrument, the first lesson will be more of an introduction to the instrument and its parts, what physically makes up a guitar. From there, I’ll figure out what music they like. I’ll experiment with different teaching styles to see what they respond best to, so I can find what’s going to be most helpful to them in the long run. Some kids like to have their parents sit in on the first couple lessons. Once they warm up, even the shy ones, they’re ready to learn one on one.

Michael Staggers

Guitar, Rock Band

Works with

Ages ~8 - 18

Shines with

Rock Band

Available

Weekends, late afternoon

What is your musical background?

I took a guitar class when I was younger, and I was the bottom of the class, I was not doing very well. And then in freshman year of high school, I got mistakenly put in Rock Band instead of the drama class they were doing, and I ended up really loving it. I took it all four years of high school and have played in bands ever since. I also studied audio engineering and learned to record.

How long have you been teaching? Why do you teach music?

I’ve been teaching here for about two years. I started as an intern doing audio setup and running sound for one of the Rock Bands, and filling in when they needed. Then when their teacher left, I ended up taking over that band.

I like teaching because the lack of teaching I initially received is something that still holds me back - I don’t want people to have that same experience. I built a lot of bad habits, and it's a lot harder to break a bad habit than to build a good habit. So, one thing that I focus on a lot when I'm teaching is making sure that rather than rushing someone to ensure that they learn a certain thing by a certain time, I want them to learn it well. Otherwise, if you learn something wrong, it’s going to damage your learning moving forward. And music is and sound in general is just something that I really enjoy working with.

How would you describe your teaching style and methods?

I put the emphasis on learning things correctly, rather than quickly. And I believe you should work with the particular student’s interests. It is so much easier to engage students when they can work on what they're interested in, and can see themselves reflecting those things. At the end of a lesson, I'll ask if there are any songs they’d like me to take a look at next week. I like to take the song as a whole and break it down into a few exercises that will improve specific things, like picking dexterity or chord switching. They’ll need those skills for the song, but with the exercises they’ll be able to apply them wider.

What I say is that consistency is the most important thing when it comes to practice. Because you can sit down one day a week for four hours and practice the same thing, but you will make a lot more progress if you sit down for 10 minutes a day. And eventually, you'll find you get kind of sucked in, and you don’t want to set your guitar down.

What are your students like? Who do you work best with?

I’ve taught young beginners, around 8 years old, to intermediate high schoolers. A pretty wide age range. I love to teach bands, because they all push each other. There's less necessity for self-motivation, and they also can see their progress a lot better. It’s just more measurable.

What do you want your students to take away from their time with you?

The way I measure my own success against myself is that I want to make sure that the students I’m teaching have a less painful learning process than I did. I want their learning to be easier than mine. Something I preach about that I struggle with a lot is consistency of practice. Habit building. When I was starting out, building good habits was something that wasn't quite reinforced enough. And building bad habits was something that wasn't quite warned against enough.

What can students and parents expect during the first few lessons?

What happens in the first few lessons depends on the student’s skill level. With a pure beginner, I’d focus on teaching the anatomy of the instrument, how to hold yourself when you're playing. How to hold your pick, how to hold your guitar, how to press on the strings, not too little but not too much. And then just a couple of basic exercises to get their hands moving on the fretboard. For someone intermediate, I would want to understand what they struggle with, what styles they like, what are their strong points. Then we assess from there what areas to develop.

Zack Woolstenhulme

Piano, Guitar,

Classical Guitar, Ukulele

Works with

Age 5 through adult

Beginners & Intermediate

Shines with

Intermediate Students

Available

Weekday afternoons & evenings

What is your musical background?

I’m classically trained in piano. From an early age, there was always a piano at home. That led to me eventually taking lessons, which I took under Kirk before he started his school here. One of his teachers actually taught me when I was 10 years old. And that eventually transformed into me teaching for him here.

With the guitar I was mainly self-taught. That wasn't an instrument I thought I would have done until I played bass in my middle school band. That kind of grew into liking all stringed instruments. When I was in high school, I joined Kirk’s Rock Band program at Andrada High School. I’ve also played guitar in different bands since I was about 15 - played shows, recorded an EP.

How long have you been teaching? Why do you teach music?

I’ve been teaching here for five years. It's kind of a dream job to include what most people might think is like a hobby into an actual profession. I really enjoy music, it’s one of my favorite things to do. It's kind of fun to have it as your job.

How would you describe your teaching style and methods?

With piano, it's very book driven. I have a classical background – we go through a lot of classical music and methods through the books. For guitar, a lot of the time it’s the tablature method, the traditional kind of rock and roll. I do have a classical guitar student, where, again, we’ll go through the books. And I do use some virtual things, like Rocksmith. It’s a subscription-based digital interface for learning guitar, and they’ve just introduced piano. I’ve been having some OF my piano students use that at home. It’s a fun way to break it up, for students who don’t want to practice, or are doing the more boring things, like learning to read music. I like to break it up with more of the fun stuff. Rocksmith, duets.

For practice, in a perfect world, I’d say come to your instrument at least once, five days a week. This is where parents can really help, in reaffirming practice.

What are your students like? Who do you work best with?

teach all ages. I've had lessons with a five-year old, with people in their 70s. Every person is individual in their own way, and I adapt my teaching around that. I'd say they’re alike in that they’re all really adamant about what they want to do, learn, and practice.

Piano is a lot easier for younger students to start with than guitar. Younger students tend to still like routines, so that can be helpful. For guitar, you’d want to start a little older, because it’s hard to press correctly on the strings, and at first it hurts. But it doesn’t hurt forever, and the more you practice, the less it will hurt. The ukulele is a little easier to play. You still run into the same problems, but the strings are nylon, so it’s an easier time.

What do you want your students to take away from their time with you?

I guess the main thing that I want to get across to my students is the love of music. I’ve always kind of tried to make music learning less painful, because I know it can be sometimes, especially when you take a more classical method. To combat that, you need to balance it with things that are fun. So the love of music for one thing, and, if anything else, practice – that’s how you get better. That’s the thing.

What can students and parents expect during the first few lessons?

The first few lessons are kind of a rundown of the basics, gauging their level. If they know the basics, that’s great, and we'll just kind of jump right into it. And maybe I'll recommend some music or books, if they don't have them already. For the beginner students, it's definitely just reading out the basics, helping them to get to know their instrument, and what kinds of books I’d recommend.

Hannah Sawyer

Violin

Works with

Age 6+

Shines with

Beginners

Available

Weekends

What is your musical background?

I started playing violin when I was in fourth grade. I played in my school orchestras, and in the Tucson Philharmonic Youth Orchestra. Right now, I’m a junior at the University of Arizona (UofA) getting a Bachelor of Arts in Music, with an emphasis on Violin Performance and a minor in Sound Production. I also play in the UofA Philharmonic Orchestra.

How long have you been teaching? Why do you teach music?

I’ve been teaching for about two years. I just find it very enjoyable, because I enjoy music so much, and I get to give that joy to somebody else. It makes me really happy when I see someone figure out how to do something, or get to play a piece that they really wanted to play.

How would you describe your teaching style and methods?

During lessons I like to jump around between books and pieces to keep things interesting - that’s important. For younger students I communicate a lot with parents to help get practice integrated into their home life. At the end of each lesson, I’ll typically debrief them on what we covered and how their child should be practicing. I find that violin posture and positioning is the hardest thing. Even in college I'm still working on it. So I like the parents to know how their child should look when they're practicing, so if they walk by and see the violin is tilted, they can say, hey kiddo, don't forget to hold your violin up. Or if they're just playing one song over and over they can say, hey, why don't you just work on this one section? So that they’re almost an extension of me.

I also give practice logs. The goal is for the student to bring it back to me. As long as they're honest, and show they're putting in some time throughout the week, I give them a sticker. Once they reach a month of doing practice every week, then I give a little small gift, a thank you for practicing.

What are your students like? Who do you work best with?

My students are typically younger, beginners. There are always enjoyable things about each level and age group. I do like intermediate students, because sometimes you’ll catch them doing something, or not doing something. And you can intervene and say, maybe try this, and see how much easier it is on them.

What do you want your students to take away from their time with you?

There are a couple of things that I really find important. Learning how to enjoy music, the joys of music and what goes into it - whether or not they continue playing. Having responsibility. Understanding how to manage time, and how to handle taking big issues by breaking them down into smaller sections. That’s what I hope. Even if they don't continue with the instrument, they’ll take away these lessons that make life easier.

What can students and parents expect during the first few lessons?

The first few lessons are focused on getting to know your instrument - how to hold it, how to put it away. Then I help to get their violin ready. I'll put tapes on during the first or second lesson. I’ll show them how to pick staccato on open strings. If they're brand new to the instrument I help them get to know it, quiz them on the names of different parts.

I also give parents a document that has a bit about me, then little checklists - what they need at home, what to bring to lessons. Also how practice should be scheduled into the student’s day, if possible. I know people can be really busy. But if you set aside 20 minutes to say, hey, it's time to practice - that's really helpful.