Introduction: I am a jazz pianist, composer, and music educator from Chicago, currently based in New York City and Los Angeles. I have over fourteen years of teaching experience, including three years at the Juilliard Evening Division where I teach Jazz Piano and Jazz Arranging courses. My goal as an educator is to meet students at their current background and give them the tools to make and discover music in a deeper and more joyful way starting from their first lesson. I believe that means helping them learn music by ear and understand how it works; not just asking that they read the notes. This holds true whether they are working on a piece by Mozart, Duke Ellington, or Stevie Wonder. Therefore, I integrate theory, harmony, ear training, and improvisation into most lessons.
I am a graduate of the Juilliard School (Artist Diploma, Jazz Studies) as well as the Eastman School of Music (M.M., Jazz Composition/Arranging + B.M, Jazz Piano). With a strong background in classical piano, I am able to help classical pianists explore jazz for the first time. I often share a library of dozens of home-made handouts, exercises, and transcriptions of jazz instrumental solos and compositions/arrangements with students to outline concepts in the clearest and most exciting way. I have been fortunate to study with Kenny Barron, Frank Kimbrough, Harold Danko, Bill Dobbins, whose techniques have informed my own teaching and playing.
