Music theory lessons in Toronto

Thank you so much - I had a very good experience I want to share! Adam I highly recommend Ananda as a language and music teacher. I am at an intermediate Brazilian Portuguese level and (sadly) an enthusiastic perpetual beginner at guitar given a lack of necessary intrinsic ability. She excelled teaching both for the daily 3 hour lessons I had over 3 weeks. Portuguese instruction: Ananda was not dogmatic and met me where I was. She was able to personalize all our lessons. She used current tools of language acquisition - with much spontaneous and directed conversation using comprehensible input. However, she supplemented this with reading aloud together with translation of texts including geography, poetry and other prose. Ananda also drilled me in grammar when she saw this was necessary, even when it meant revision of shaky basics. All of this was with great humor and tolerance to my infelicities. We also went on fun outings, making use of the markets and parks in Porto to improve my working knowledge of Portuguese. Music instruction: Ananda also worked with me on my guitar playing. She has deep knowledge as both a performing musician of early lute music and a composer. She taught me in Portuguese, which meant my learning solfège, how to sound out rhythm and figure out harmony. She also taught me enough tablature to allow me to accompany her in some early lute music. We also worked intensively on Bossa Nova rhythms, as well as other Brazilian rhythms. She has a passion and love of music that is a delight to behold and infectious. Despite my continually straying from the rhythm and messing up chord changes, she made me feel my musical journey is im

My review is based on two 60 minute online lessons but also on communication outside of the lessons. Mirko comes across as a genuinely nice guy. When messaged, he responds quickly. Last night I had a small question regarding a piece from our lesson, that I wished would be answered prior to our next meeting and he answered in a very timely fashion and to full satisfaction. If you're someone who wants to build a solid foundation, then I think that you don't need to look any further. Like a concrete slab floor that needs hardening prior to further construction, he doesn't rush through material but makes sure that you're ready before the next stage. As I was not a total beginner, Mirko would start at the lowest or near the lowest entry point after I showed him a range of the things that I was familiar with. So a good starting point for me was a simple I-M rest stroke alternation exercice on the first string and he gradually increased the difficulty. He also introduced me to a short piece that I haven't heard before and right now I can play 40% of it and the plan is to play it fully by the next lesson which is a very realistic goal. When it comes to conveying techniques it would be too early to make a comment because as I already had acquired a reasonably good technique, we didn't focus much on it (yet). I will conclude by saying that if you're someone who doesn't like structure and only wants a taste of everything that a guitar has to offer but not really fully digest anything that is presented in front of you, then skip this teacher. I ,for one, am happy that I found Mirko.

I have been taking private lessons from Joao for more than 6 months and I am completely thrilled with it! Although I am a beginner in piano, I can see that Joao is very knowledgeable in his field. What I like most is that he utilizes technology very effectively to help me understand tricky theoretical concepts. He also prepares tailored exercises for me, which makes me feel very valued. He really puts his time in preparing homeworks and supplementary documents even before and after the class to be sure that I understand what he is teaching. Joao is also quite responsive. He is very flexible in terms of the course content and willing to adapt to my changing needs over time. Still, as a teacher, he keeps in mind what foundations I need to build and he does not lose track of what I want as an ultimate goal, so he comes with a structured curriculum that I realize over time. I can only recommend Joao if you are looking for a dedicated piano teacher who loves what he does.