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Private Lesson Policies

My personal wish list regarding the student:
  1. Lesson fee: 30 EUR/ 60 min, 40 EUR/ 90 min.
  2. Cancellation/ rescheduling: illness/ personal emergency call/ message by 09:00 AM the day of the lesson, other reason 24 hours notice.
  3. An uncancelled missed lesson is charged for at the full lesson fee.
  4. Arrival in time, at least a few minutes before lesson time.
  5. Preparation: recommendation minimum 30 min a day, 7 days a week.
  6. Instrument and materials: complete and in working order and shape.
  7. Materials: some books and CDs required.
  8. Healthy attitudes: humility, openness, positivity, humor.
What the student can expect of me as an instructor/ teacher/ inspirer:
  1. I teach general guitar playing in the "afro-american" music tradition - jazz, pop/ rock.
  2. I offer insights into several important key areas of the "afro-american" music tradition - the blues, jazz swing, brazilian and afro-caribbean rhythm music, country, reggae, r&b, soul...
  3. I offer insights into several important key areas of jazz - blues, minor blues, modal jazz, rhythm changes, the jazz waltz, bossa nova, jazz standards, bebop, free jazz, cadences, licks, song forms...
  4. I provide material that helps the student develop versatile technical skills. I try to open the student's eyes to different musical styles and to help the student become at least capable of faking in as many styles as possible.
  5. I teach common standard concepts and techniques for improvisation. This involves "soloing" as well as ensemble playing without more written music than traditional lead sheets.
  6. I try to help the student to find his/ her own thing and to develop the personal "voice" in order to be able to express the own personal feelings with music and to tell the own personal stories.
  7. Lesson material will be tailor-made and well-prepared in advance both one lesson at a time and according to a greater master plan.
  8. Requests are welcome regarding lesson material or subjects worked on.
  9. I encourage learning standard music notation. I teach music theory, arranging, composition/ songwriting...
  10. I provide all the necessary equipment except for the student's own guitar. We will at all times have access to a tuner, cables, an amplifier, a CD player, a drum machine, a metronome, music stands, pens, empty staff paper, empty guitar fingerboard templates...
  11. Questions and discussions are welcome, in fact encouraged, not to say required. Any amount of them, preferably per e-mail, "on the house" - no extra charge.
  12. I take my responsibility as a role model very seriously. I do not merely "talk the talk", I also "walk the walk" - I practice and keep learning myself, I play gigs regularly and I live and breathe music, 24/7/365, and I enjoy it, in fact I can't even imagine living any other way.
  13. I encourage healthy habits and a healthy lifestyle. I know what it is like to be a musician and I can give a realistic picture of life as a musician.
  14. A regular student gets a 10% discount off the lesson fee. As a regular student is regarded one who buys at least 5 lessons.
  15. Referral system: recommend me and give me a new regular student and you get a free 60 min lesson.
  16. Cancellation/ rescheduling: illness/ personal emergency call/ message by 09:00 AM the day of the lesson, other reason 24 hours notice.
  17. Healthy attitudes: humility, openness, positivity, humor.
  18. Music should first and foremost be fun, for both of us. I will do my best to provide positive experiences - to have fun with YOU!

© 2006 Tomas Karlsson. All rights reserved.