HOW SCOTTY TEACHES MUSIC

A LIFETIME OF MUSIC EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE

 “I never actually set out to be a music teacher.  My mother was a symphony violinist and started me with piano lessons when I was 6 years old.  I began playing clarinet in 5th grade and took up guitar in 1964 when The Beatles hit America.  I soon discovered that music was a powerful vehicle for creativity and self expression that enhanced all aspects of my life.  So many of the great friends I’ve made and the great times I’ve had have revolved around music.  I try to convey that same joy and passion in every lesson I teach.

 From the beginning, I say I was “the kid who had to know”.  That’s just how my mind works.  That’s what has made me an effective teacher.  I could see there was a SYSTEM to the way music works and if I understood that system, I would be able to do anything I wanted with my music.  I particularly wanted to write my own songs ... play by ear ... jam and improvise. I took music theory classes and played in the school band through high school and into college.  I attended classes at the Hartt School of Music from 1972 to 1976 and took private lessons with Dan May, Richard Brookens, Dave Tegellar, John Todd and others.  Perhaps my greatest teacher was the late-great Dick Wetmore ... renowned jazz violinist, composer and arranger who lived here for many years and was a mentor to so many young players. 

I began to see that music is very much like a LANGUAGE.  This is an exciting way to look at it because you already know quite a bit about language ... correct?  That means you already know a lot about music too.  You just need someone to help you UNLOCK that knowledge.  That’s what we do here at the school and the rewards are very real.  You could eventually play as well or even BETTER than your favorite musical heroes.  Many of our students go on to become local, regional and even nationally known artists and educators. 

Music is actually EASY to understand if you get it explained to you the right way.  The reason people think it is complicated is that it is often TAUGHT SO BADLY.  Many teachers and music programs present their information IN THE WRONG ORDER.  You wind up with a scattered and fragmented vision of music instead of seeing it for the simple, evocative, elegant system that it actually is.  Over my 35 years of teaching, I believe I have figured out THE CORRECT ORDER in which to explain concepts in music so you will see "The BIG Picture".  

I continued developing this “music as language” approach when I began teaching in 1984 ... first out of my house and then a 20 year stint as head of music education at Charlie’s Music Store in Hyannis, MA here on beautiful Cape Cod.  The program grew and evolved over time.  We have helped literally THOUSANDS of students on their way to musical fulfillment.  We tailor our approach to each individual student’s goals and have programs designed for all ages, styles and experience levels. 

Our private guitar lesson program eventually evolved into our famous home study program for the guitar.  The course consists of 32 hours of video instruction on DVD as well as 150 pages of printed support material including nearly every scale and chord fingering known to man.  It’s a complete college level education in a single box.  We have sold thousands of them all over the world since our launch back in 2000.  Check it out at www.AbsolutelyUnderstandGuitar.com .  You can watch the first 4 hours of video lessons on the website for free!