_
TEACHING: What do you want to accomplish as a guitarist/musician? Perform for others? Join in with others in guitar and song circles? Play for your own enjoyment? Write music using the guitar as your accompaniment instrument? I've guided hundreds of students from beginners to advanced in their quest to realize their musical potential. My intention as a teacher is to provide a relaxed, fun environment for you, where the joy of music making is the primary objective. My goal is to impart, based on your individual needs, the information and skills necessary to create in you a solid foundation which promotes your sense of creative self-sufficiency. While I specialize in classical guitar instruction (an excellent way to lay a solid musical foundation), I also enjoy teaching folk styles as well as beginning instruction in the basics of jazz and flamenco guitar genres. Interwoven in the lessons is a solid grounding in the basics of music theory and practice. Additionally, I've created, using my more advanced students, a classical guitar ensemble where we explore ensemble music dating from the renaissance to more contemporary times..
ABOUT ME: I have been performing and teaching as a guitarist and lutenist in the Bay Area for several years. The past Director of Guitar Studies at the University of Pacific’s Conservatory of Music in Stockton, CA (35 years), as well as San Joaquin Delta community college, I've taken up residence in Sonoma County where for the past 30 years I've maintained a private instruction, home-studio in Sebastopol.
PERFORMING: I'm a former performing member of a contemporary folk trio, THE FARALLONS (www.thefarallons.com), with wife Linda Weber and songwriter Tom Richardson. After twenty seven years, we've called it quits to pursue other musical interests. Hey, that's 20 years longer than the Beatles lasted, so there's that. Heartfelt thanks to all our fans who supported us. Anyway, my personal musical interests include classical, contemporary, bossa-nova, plus beginning jazz and flamenco guitar styles. As an event performer, I bring years of professional and artistic experience to special events of all genres and tailor presentations to the specific wishes and needs of my clients. Other past performance collaborations include: Carol van Bronkhorst (flute), Richard Heinberg (violin), Jeffrey Johnson (cello), Jesse Boggs (jazz guitar). I also directed an early music ensemble, The Woodes So Wylde, wherein I played lute and wind and bowed early instruments.
EDUCATION: includes private classical instruction with teacher-mentor, Phillip de Fremery, a degree in Music Education from the University of Pacific ('71), graduate studies in classical guitar with Richard Savino at Sacramento State (80's), participation with distinction in master classes at the Aspen Music Festival with maestro Oscar Ghiglia (70&71), and private studies in the Bay Area with George Sakellariou and David Tanenbaum. Lute and baroque guitar studies were accomplished domestically and in England.