Pro musician trained at New England Conservatory, patient teacher

Mike G.

Hey, I'm Mike! After graduating with honors in composition from New England Conservatory, I've lived my entire life as a professional musician with many hats - conductor, pianist, composer - as well as a teacher to hundreds of students. Over the 15+ years I've been tutoring professionally, I've specialized in private piano, ear training, music theory, and composition lessons with students of all ages.

For students aged 5-18, I gave in-home piano and theory lessons where we would take an experiential approach to music theory, finding examples of theoretical concepts in the repertoire itself to examine, dissect, and understand how composers use theory to craft their works. I would guide students one-on-one through theory workbooks, including ABRSM materials, as well as create custom exercises to ensure an individualized approach.

At the university level, I was a music theory assistant during my senior year at NEC, privately tutoring undergraduate conservatory students who needed additional assistance. I have also tutored adults directly in piano and theory, and taught ear training in group settings to adults in choral settings.

I've recently returned to arranging and composition, and gave a day long guest lecture at a music school to undergraduate composition students working on a choral project with orchestra. We looked at examples in the repertoire of voicing, orchestration, and texture, and then used those best practices to review the students' own work and look for solutions to their own compositional problems.

My biggest goal as a teacher is to challenge you to get to the next level, but always patiently, to allow you to learn and discover in a warm, supportive environment. We'll also talk about specific learning strategies to be incorporated in between lessons, since that's when knowledge converts into ability. Please be in touch, I'd love to help you keep improving as a musician!