Eric Stern

Within the form of private lessons, I have taught students as young as three and as old as eighty-one, for around seven to eight years. I specialize in jazz and blues, but am also fluent with up to intermediate classical, among other genres of music. I have taught both in studios in NYC and Miami, and privately as a freelancer. I currently am a teaching artist for BE BOLD, part of the Misty Copeland Foundation, providing free ballet education to underserved youth in the Bronx and Harlem. This year, BE BOLD started implementing a music framework, which gave musician teaching artists the opportunity to teach the ballet students basic concepts of music, including tension and release, melody, rhythm, pitch, range, and a variety of other things. Moreover, we also created dance games that connected those concepts to movement and dance, allowing the students to explore the concepts of music with their bodies. I know that I can bring lots of fun and creativity to allow students to explore music concepts in a creative way, but instead of dancing games, they will be exploring through playing their instruments, whether through exercises or music games.

As a private teacher, I employ a highly individualized approach to lessons, with the deep understanding that no two students are alike, and each student needs different things to be shown and said to them in order for them to prosper musically. In addition to an individualized approach, I also preach independence - I believe teaching the student to fish, rather than catching the fish for them, is what creates truly independent musicians, capable of not just playing on their own, but thinking on their own as well, which will benefit them in all walks of life, not just music. By focusing on independence, tailoring lessons to each students’ strengths and weaknesses, I will give my students the freedom to think independently and create music themselves, and allow them to experience the same joy and freedom in music that it gives me, every single time. I look forward to working with you!