800.827.6521
Created On: April 23,2017
Created On: April 23,2017
About Me
Amanda is a teaching, recording, performing, and touring musician from Southern California that has performed with various cover and original bands, musical theatre orchestra pits, nationally original music, and internationally with Big Band Jazz and on cruise ships. For over 26 years, she has been teaching music to students of all ages privately and in schools and has worked with numerous teaching and non-profit organizations to provide music education varying from guitar classes to entire ensembles, songwriting to recording, musical theater directing and composing, and vocal music to preschool. She has also traveled all over the US to provide professional developments for classroom teachers in high-poverty areas who want to integrate music into their lessons. Her teaching philosophy is to provide students the tools, techniques, and feel for using the many resources available to them online to progress to their desired goals. For students distinct needs and challenges, she provides customized lesson websites that are accessible on any device without the need to log in with the objectives for short-term and long-term goals laid out. This allows students to track their progress and have the means to practice what they work on during the webcam lesson time so that they can take ownership of their learning. Providing webcam lessons allows her to continue her passion for travel around the US while giving quality one-on-one lessons. Amanda is a versatile instructor on many instruments and various styles with guitar, piano, vocals, bass, flute, songwriting, recording and editing hardware and software, music notation, and advanced music theory. Real-world experience, combined with education in many different environments, means each student receives lessons most suited for their learning style from a young yet experienced educator!
Amanda J has over 27 years of music experience in the Albuquerque area.
Amanda J is proficient in and teaches Guitar Lessons, Bass Guitar Lessons, Keyboard and Piano Lessons, Vocal Lessons, Song Writing Lessons .Degree and Field of Study:
Master's of Education, Curriculum and InstructionJune 2018
Ottawa University
Bachelor's Degree, Human Services/PsychologyJanuary 2017
Ottawa University
Associates Degree, Fine Arts-MusicAugust 1999
Citrus College
What to expect in my Song Writing Lessons:
Beginner - Intermediate - Advanced
For those starting out with songwriting with little to no instrument experience, we take previous knowledge on their instrument(s) of choice and build songwriting skills with intuitive techniques, song form, and simple music theory using 3-4 chords and Major scales. Learning to arrange cover songs to make it their own comes before writing entire compositions but gets them ready for adding techniques to make their pieces more intricate. As students advance into intermediate songwriting, we write for specific genres, various Major & minor keys, and instrument-specific techniques. Advanced students will learn more chord theory for all genres, how to utilize recording techniques for composing, and expand skills for writing for other musicians.
What to expect in my Guitar Lessons:
Beginner - Intermediate - Advanced
Guitar is an instrument that can do more than just chords and riffs! Although we learn those concepts, beginning students start with melodies and rhythms, intermediate students do more with their chords by adding percussion techniques while learning to solo with their previous riffing knowledge, and advanced students apply the 12-note scale theory to learning and composing music. The type of notation we start with is tablature (TABs) and expand to include rhythm notation. Once students are able to apply different techniques to different songs, we expand to utilizing staff notation (music reading), composition, jamming/improvising, and more advanced techniques for various genres.
What to expect in my Bass Guitar Lessons:
Beginner - Intermediate - Advanced
Students who start on bass learn how the instrument is a drum with strings as the foundation for melodic, chordal, and percussion instruments. This is done by learning grooves that progress from simple to more complex with techniques that make the instrument sing while being percussive. The type of notation we start with is tablature (TABs) and expand to include rhythm notation. Once students are able to apply different types of grooves to different songs, we expand to utilizing staff notation (music reading), composition, jamming/improvising, and more advanced techniques for various genres.
What to expect in my Vocal Lessons:
Beginner - Intermediate - Advanced
BEGINNING: establishing good habits of breathing from the diaphragm, relaxing the throat, and utilizing air to sing instead of "hit" the note starts out our vocal lessons. Warm-ups using scale degree numbers and syllables with steps, skips, and controlled scooping eventually progress to solfege and harmonies. For repertoire, enunciation is a crucial habit that naturally makes the voice louder and words easily understood, and pieces are chosen collaboratively by myself and the student so that they are challenging but not discouraging. If students are interested in specific singing genres, such as Pop, Rock, Musical Theater, or Jazz, we then focus on techniques for those styles. INTERMEDIATE: vertical and horizontal range, belting, and versatility between various genres. ADVANCED: tone manipulation, compression (grit), and focusing on specific styles to master vocal techniques that will help a student succeed with auditions and gigs.
What to expect in my Keyboard and Piano Lessons:
Beginner - Intermediate - Advanced
Beginner-Intermediate-Advanced BEGINNING/LOWER INTERMEDIATE: with note names on piano with note-name notation that utilizes rhythms by rote (by ear) to establish internalized rhythm, body and hand positions, and finger positions. Alfred's Basic Piano method or Bastien Piano method levels are determined for the student after assessing how they did with the first part in order to learn music notation with notes on the staff and rhythms. Customized melodies for their rewards always utilizes note-name and/or music notation. Once students are ready for the challenge of changing positions, Hanon exercises 1-5 are introduced. HIGHER INTERMEDIATE/ADVANCED: Scales, applying music theory to repertoire and composing, and specific genre studies to expose the student to various styles of playing while finding what they would like to focus on most.
Formal Education:
1) Citrus College, Associates Degree in Fine Arts: Music major; 2) Ottawa University, Bachelor's Degree in Human Services with a minor in Psychology; 3) Ottawa University, Masters of Education: Curriculum and Instruction
Private Education:
Martin Winer, jazz guitar, 5 years; Tom Hynes, jazz guitar, 6 years; Les, rock guitar, 2 years; Alex Nester, rock/pop vocals, 2 years
Performing Experience:
Various professional cover and tribute bands; house band for late-night Mexican television show, "Noches con Platanito"; professional solo artist; national tours with original rock bands; international tours with big band jazz and orchestra; cruise ship gigs as an entertainer
Experience Teaching:
Private lessons-27 years; in-school curriculum-16 years; afterschool classes-16 years; professional developments (training teachers)-13 years
Age Group Taught:
- Young Adult Adult Child
Genres Taught:
- Rock
- Pop
- Musical Theater
- Metal
- Folk
- Funk
- Soul
- Reggae
- HipHop
- Blues
- Jazz
- Classical
- Country
- Acoustic
- Christian
- R&B
- Gospel
Availability:
Availability:
Media:
Review:
Billy Montgomery
08 Apr 2024
Miss Amanda, Has been teaching my daughter for over a year now. She is amazing. Explains things very well and understandable. You can’t go wrong with Miss Amanda. Billy
Emily
05 Jul 2023
I have really enjoyed doing both vocal and piano lessons with Amanda, she's very friendly, personable, and easy to get along with. She listens, is flexible, great with technology, organized, and an overall great teacher!
Dan Whitehead
15 Nov 2021
She had lots of positive energy and led the session with a combination of information and supportive gestures to put the student at ease. At the same time she listened well, and after I gave her a sample of my singing, she got straight to the aspect we could work on first. I'm about to buy 4 more lessons from her.
Yolanda Cosby
03 Jun 2021
Amanda J. was awesome. She was very encouraging and helpful. She made me feel at ease and comfortable. I didn't know what to expect. I am looking forward to my next lesson.
Madeleine
10 Dec 2020
Amanda is so great! She's such a wonderful teacher and truly goes the extra mile. She's so devoted to helping students learn, she lets students text her outside of their lessons with questions and is always so quick to respond with answers. She approaches lessons with realistic yet challenging standards and brings so much positivity to my day. On top of that, she's also really good at playing guitar! Her goal is to help students eventually be self-sufficient learners, which I think is fantastic. 5 stars all around!
Isabel
03 Sep 2020
As a fellow educator, I must say that Amanda gets it! I come from a family of singers, but always felt like "the odd man out" because my family never taught me how to sing. At 30 years old, I finally had the courage to sign up for singing lessons and I must say that coming across Amanda was a blessing! She is super patient and knows how to push your boundaries without making you feel uncomfortable or awkward. I always look forward to my lessons with her. Thank you, Amanda!
Megumi
01 Aug 2020
Sorry my mistake, not 3 stars, MORE THAN 5 stars!
Megumi
01 Jul 2020
Amanda is uniquely encouraging, energetic, positive, and organized. As parents, it is sooo nice to receive comprehensive analysis about our daughter's progress directly from Amanda, right after each lesson. She is very talented, as evidenced with the myriad of instruments she can teach, including vocals, and she is outstanding at teaching all of them while also connecting with our daughter to ensure her comprehension and continued interest and fun! We are so lucky to have found Amanda and hope to continue having our daughter learn from her for years to come!
Michele Page
05 Feb 2020
My 16 year old son has been taking lessons from Amanda J. since he started playing guitar 3 years ago. Amanda is super patient, upbeat and encouraging! Amanda's knowledge about so many different types of music is amazing! She truly cares about my son's progress and challenges him to continue to grow. I highly recommend her for any lessons that she offers, you won't regret it!
Bridget Wesley
17 Nov 2019
My 15-year-old daughter has been taking voice lessons with Amanda for the past 3 months and what a difference! She already had a good foundation but Amanda has helped take my daughter's voice to the next level and gave her more confidence to audition for solos. My daughter wants to make a career out of stage performing and with Amanda as her coach, I think she can get into a great school to help her talent blossom.
Andrea
13 Nov 2019
My 9-year-old daughter enjoys meeting with Amanda each week. She does a brilliant job via webcam of giving her voice lessons. Amanda is engaged, enthusiastic, challenging, and very professional. I have seen tremendous improvement in my daughter's singing abilities and she continues to love to sing thanks to Amanda! I highly recommend!
Alicia
11 Nov 2019
My 9 y/o daughter recently started voice lessons with Amanda. Amanda is so upbeat and positive and kept my daughter engaged. She put my daughter at ease in the first few minutes of her first lesson. We look forward to seeing her progress. We highly recommend Amanda.
Melean Remoquillo
10 Nov 2019
Amanda is a game changer! My daughter loves interacting with Amanda! She has learned so much with just a few months of being taught by her. She's easy to work with and we just love her! Never ever retire!!
Kelly
22 Jan 2018
Amanda was so helpful and fun. She explains and demonstrates things clearly and in a way that i can definitely duplicate. Very excited to continue with her!
Lita Albright
27 Jul 2017
Amanda makes me feel that I can do this (piano, singing). Her lesson plans are easy to follow and she makes sure I understand. She is very friendly and open. I plan to continue after this session with her as my instructor.
Peng Zheng
11 Jul 2017
Amanda is an amazing teacher. She taught my son's piano a year and a half, my son and I both like her so much. She has a lot of passion and different teach style and she love kids. We really miss her so much.Hope she can come back again.
Michelle Farage
10 Jul 2017
My daughter took lessons with Amanda for 2 years before she moved away. She taught my daughter how to play the guitar, sing, music theory and recording programs, she helped her with piano and ukulele at times too. She is an absolutely phenomenal musician and teacher. She is very professional and organized, I loved that she would email me updates and videos from the lessons. I love that she is technologically inclined, she utilizes and shows students useful Music technology! She has a very positive attitude and she was very inspirational for my daughter! She is fun but firm, she always goes above and beyond to always puts her student's needs first. Amanda has helped my daughter prepare for countless shows and auditions and provided her with her very first performance opportunities that I know she will never forget! She has been such a blessing in my daughters life and we are so thankful to have had the opportunity to learn from her and get to know her! I can not say enough wonderful things about her!
Tara, Anthony, Vincent, Lila
09 Jul 2017
My family has known Amanda for about 5 years, when she started to teach my oldest son (then 5 years old) music. I have no musical background and neither does my wife. About 2 years ago, she began to teach my daughter (then 5 years old) music. My son and daughter are very different and they learn very differently. A lot of people have commented on how great of a musician she is, which is very true. Amanda is very talented indeed. However, what makes her a truly remarkable music teacher is her TEACHING ability. I know very skilled artists and professionals who are great at whatever it is that they do, but find it difficult to teach. A completely different set of skills. In my opinion, I am more impressed with her teaching skills and her ability to teach in a variety of ways. This became apparent when I saw her with both my son and daughter, catering to their individual abilities and needs. Combine this with Amanda’s caring, compassionate, heart and you have a rare combination of attributes. She became a mentor to both our kids and we were all heartbroken when she left California, although we completely understood her reasons. Both of my children’s musical abilities grew and even more important, it kindled a love and appreciation of music for both of them. Anyone with kids will be lucky to have her as a teacher, mentor, and friend.
Estrellita Albright (Lita)
09 Jul 2017
I had my first lesson with Amanda. I find her to be friendly and dedicated. She makes learning fun.
LuAnne Morrow
25 Jun 2017
Amanda was the first guitar teacher our son had and she not only taught him the basics of guitar she also instilled in him the importance of practice. Amanda was so willing to let our son follow his own intrigue to learn new songs and took the time to record samples for him to practice with. She was dedicated and positive and his playing improved dramatically. There was not a time when he did not want to go to a lesson with Amanda. Amanda wanted our son to succeed and pushed when needed but also praised and recognized his effort. We miss her!
Aimee Hopkins
19 Apr 2017
Amanda is amazing! She started working with us when she was only 24 and she already played 7 instruments and was a natural teacher! Since that time I have seen her grow into a master teacher at a very young age, and inspire children of all ages in everything from singing to playing piano, guitar, bass, and ukulele, and writing songs, singing and recording rock songs, making music videos, travelling around the world through song, and even doing musical theatre! Amanda is a multi-talented, multi-faceted, multi-literate musician who can play and teach many musical styles and many learning styles. She is kinesthetic, auditory, and visual, highly creative, intuitive, kind and gentle with her students, and very encouraging. Amanda is also an experienced musician in her own right, and has composed, toured, gigged, and travelled extensively, sharing her gifts with the world. Any student, family or school will be lucky to have Amanda! I am excited to see what she does next!
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