Testimonials

“I always looked forward to having lessons with Dr. Nolte. He teaches with a deep passion for music and a high level of technical ability. During lessons, he led me along to be more efficient in my playing and expanded my repertoire to high-level exercises and books. In his teaching, Dr. Nolte pushes his students to be the best they can through meticulous attention to detail, evoking emotions through the music, and maintaining a genuine care for each student’s success.”

Jonathan Witte, Onalaska, WI

“I studied with Nick for about a year, and in that time he helped improve my playing immensely. He helped me develop more effective practice methods and I always knew what to work on for the week after I left my lessons. He helped me create a comfortable approach to the instrument and introduced me to many resources to help with my playing. Nick is a crazy talented musician and I still look up to him as a big musical influence in my life. He helped me grow as a musician, and as a person and truly cares about each of his students.”

Maria Martin, Columbus, OH

“After a 5-year break from using my singing voice, I decided to try and tap back into practicing some old repertoire pieces along with applying healthy voice habits in my everyday speaking. After just one voice lesson, DeVante Draine was able to pinpoint where my strengths and my areas of growth were. He also gave me helpful technique exercises that I try to use daily. DeVante is reassuring in the lesson as he makes sure the singer feels comfortable and always insures vocal safety. I leave my lessons feeling great; vocally and my confidence level is higher than I could have ever imagined. I recommend working with DeVante if your goals are to sound and feel your best as a singer all while having unwavering instructor support and pure joy while practicing your art.”

Katie Bauer, Cincinnati, OH

“Nick Young’s teaching style helped my son make remarkable improvements in his character and musicianship.  Besides a warm and supportive demeanor, Nick brought mastery of educational techniques for individualized training to my middle-schooler.  My son felt appropriately challenged and motivated with Nick’s assistance, and Nick helped prepare him for several performances and not be overwhelmed with recitals, recordings and auditions.  As a busy parent, I appreciated Nick’s patient communication with me about my son’s progress and sharing of resources for community and character-building, such as the International Society of Bassist’s young musician’s program.”

Laura Woods, Columbus, OH

“My husband and I cannot say enough about our son Liam’s teacher, Doug Neel. We were blessed to find Doug about 18 months ago after Liam had a negative experience with a previous teacher. Doug has brought our son to a whole new level of learning. He teaches solid music theory while helping his students develop at their own pace. Liam looks forward to his weekly lessons and cant wait to show Doug how he has worked throughout the week on the material Doug gives him. Liam’s success in his guitar playing has spilled over into his academic and personal confidence . Doug is not only a superb and encouraging teacher but a very positive role model.”

Kambra Malone, Columbus, OH

“I called Reggie the “drum doctor” as he loves to dissect grooves and beats for better understanding crisper performance. We have worked on everything from “getting back to basics” to advanced concepts. He helps me take the ideas in my brain and apply them to the instrument. He is an excellent drummer and teacher! As a drummer of 30 years, I highly recommend Reggie to anyone looking to learn about making music with drums. He is extremely knowledgeable in many drumming styles and has studied the concepts of the masters. He is passionate about drumming and you can see his excitement as he brings up new concepts and ideas.”

Jared Keron, Columbus, OH

“Brent is a wonderful organ teacher. During my college years, he worked with me not only teaching methods and technique, but also helping me develop depth and breadth in my performance library. He prepared me to perform and accompany while instilling a drive for excellence. I consider him a mentor and collaborator and one of the reasons I am the performer and accompanist I am today. Thank you, Brent!”

Magdalena Petermann, Kenosha, WI

“Alix is the type of teacher you hope for! Not only is she professional and dedicated to her students, but she also possesses the remarkable ability of providing encouragement while simultaneously challenging them to grow as a musician. In addition, she always makes an effort to tailor lessons or find a piece of music or exercise that will help her students stay inspired and connected to their musical journey. As someone who did not have much of a music background, I was surprised at how quickly my harp skills have developed under Alix’s guidance. I feel so lucky to have found her and would HIGHLY recommend her to anyone interested in learning to play the harp.”

Jessica Griffin, Kittery, ME

“I took trombone lessons with Brent for over 5 years. He always pushed me to improve while giving the tools and encouragement I needed to succeed. I always enjoyed going to my lessons and really value the skills he was able to teach me.”

Abby Smart, Minneapolis, MN

“Dr. Nolte is an excellent educator and performer, I always looked forward to my lesson every week. He is very knowledgeable and was very generous with his time. He always went above and beyond expectations for me in our lessons.”

Adam Warnke, Stevens Point, WI

“Studying composition with Dr. Lai in my grad school (2014-16) was a life-changing learning experience. She was passionate about teaching all the composition techniques and inspired me with the art of emotions and thoughts in musical works.

Composing for Film and Arts Media had always been my dream, though I did not confide that to anyone until I met Dr. Lai. She told me that my music sounded like film score, and recommended me to apply for Film Scoring programs. I am eternally grateful for her support and my ultimate acceptance into the prestigious UCLA Film Scoring Program. It connected me to the network of film, music, and studio recording industry professionals (East West Studio, Village Studio, etc.)

This program granted me the opportunity to intern with Remote Control Production, a Hans Zimmer film music production (Crimson Tide, Gladiator, Inception, Pirates of the Caribbean, Lion King, et al). Truly an amazing experience, I was able to meet the award-winning composers, orchestrators, and sound engineers etc. who are similarly impassioned to scoring for motion pictures. My horizon expanded to the professional standard of film music production.

With Dr. Lai’s inspiration to professionally compose and sage career advice, I am a more determined person; able to work with different directors, and use music as an expressive medium for the range of emotions one must experience in film.”

Sally Kwok, Baltimore, MD

“Dr. Lai is a responsible, intelligent and passionate teacher. She is like a walking music library.

I first met Dr. Lai as a student at Education University of Hong Kong a few years ago. She taught various music theory and composition courses including: Classical theory, Jazz theory and Orchestration, etc. Although there were around 30 students in a class, she collected and marked our theory assignments every week, then patiently explained the common errors we made, to help us improve.

The pedagogy remained unchanged even in the recent online lessons. I am currently taking weekly AMusTCL theory lessons with Dr. Lai online. Similar to group class, she corrects my weekly assignment quickly and explains everything in details. The main difference is that she can now focus on my problems in depth and strengthen my skills more effectively, because the lesson planning is more personalized.

Besides, online lesson solves the problem of geographical distance. We can find anytime favors us both to have lessons 8,000 miles away from each other. How convenient!”

Cheris Ho, Hong Kong

“Meagan Cramm is a gifted viola and violin teacher, more than capable of engaging your child in their music education. She is always supportive and encouraging, find ways to motivate my child to practice and continue with her viola study. Working with Meagan has ensured that my child performs well ahead of her school peers.”

Karyln Geise, Columbus, OH

“Our 7th grade daughter has enjoyed taking viola lessons from Meagan Cramm for two years. During this time we have found Meagan to be a wonderful teacher; she is clear, kind, patient, fun, and sets a high but realistic expectation for weekly lessons. Under Meagan’s instruction, our daughter’s playing has improved dramatically, and her love of the viola continues to grow..”

Julie Boreman, Columbus, OH

“My daughter began taking private violin lessons with Meagan this year.  We have been so grateful for Meagan’s attentive and gentle approach to working with Lily.  She always understands exactly where Lily is with her progress and knows just how to push her without overwhelming her. We look forward each week to our time with Meagan. Her transition to virtual lessons was flawless and seamless. I often recommend Meagan as a teacher to my friends and family.”

Christy Camp, Columbus, OH

“I cannot recommend taking harp lessons from Alix enough. She introduced me to proper technique and form, and taught me how to read music again after years of not reading. Alix is always ready to move forward during lessons, but is always willing to spend more time on the things that you need them on. Additionally, Alix helped me pick out my first harp, a beautiful Dusty Strings FH36, after helping compare multiple harps at the local store, making sure that I got the one that was the right fit for me. If you are looking to start playing or are looking to continue your studies, Alix is one of the best teachers around.”

Salvatore Leggieri, Nashville, TN

“Ashley goes out of her way to provide her time to help our child improve in his cello skills. We appreciate her attention to detail, and her concern for our child’s musical growth.”

Naro Chun