www.AndeFlavelle.com

First of all, I love this job, and teaching people how to play music! I am incredibly organized, and have a folder for each and every student in my travel bag where I track, plan and record lessons. You can be sure that when I arrive at your door, I have lesson plans already mapped out, plans that center around each and every student’s needs and goals. I am also a good listener when students bring thoughts, questions or requests. Since no two people are alike, I find it incredibly interesting to help and watch people learn how to achieve their goal of playing a musical instrument – a goal many of them probably had strong doubts about when starting.

On the very first lesson I provide each student (at no charge) with a customized 3-ring notebook I’ve put together for them with TAB dividers that create sections like BASIC SKILLS, SONGS, IMPROVISING, etc. as well as a blank manuscript book for assignments to be written out and tracked. With guitars in hand, I then give a clear and easy to understand overview and demonstration of what I can do for them, where we can go together and what to expect along the way.  (The depth of this explanation varies according to student age.)

Each week I come well prepared with various hand-out sheets I’ve created that outline different skills from chords to strumming patterns to finger-style to improvising and ear training. I also provide accurately transcribed songs that were requests of the student or that I’ve suggested. In fact, I often spend as much time at home creating these hand-outs and song transcriptions as I do at each lesson, but it’s worth it – this extra effort allows me to show up and get right down to work, not waste a student’s time by making them sit and watch me scribble into a blank manuscript book for 20 minutes and then deliver about 10 minutes of actual instruction (as can often be the typical music store lesson experience).

I am proficient in virtually all styles, but if any student requests songs by an artist I am unfamiliar with I will chase it down and work it out well ahead of the next lesson. I take each student’s needs and desires seriously, as well as the high level of value they or their parents are entitled to expect. Since teens readily use the Internet as a tool, I show them how to choose from the various music websites and understand what’s helpful as well as what’s good to avoid. I can teach anything from music theory to improvisation to digital recording and composition, and the student (and/or parent) is allowed a large hand in deciding what it’s all going to be about. I will be happy to explain any more of what I do in further detail, but this is an accurate overview. I consciously strive to bring energy, positivity, encouragement, support and enthusiasm to each lesson I teach. This is who I am; this is what you get. It is a path that produces results, and I refer you to my testimonials for proof of this claim.