Maurice is an excellent guitar teacher: patient, thoughtful, committed, yet laid back and communicative. He has taught my youngest daughter (now 11) for 2 years now, and she has improved amazingly over this time. When she started, I wanted her to have the opportunity to learn to play guitar properly, to develop good practice habits, and maybe to learn to read music. Finding Maurice has been the key to all of this and much more. Maurice is rigorous and careful in his instruction about the mechanics of guitar playing: he does not let bad habits take root, and is consistent about the importance of all aspects of playing the instrument correctly. Despite the fact that he is demanding, he connects well with students - he communicates effectively with my daughter without patronizing her, holding her to high standards while encouraging her to have fun as she learns to play. He has introduced my daughter to a wide range of music (which he provides), and has inspired her love of guitar playing to the extent that I don't even have to remind her to practice, which is quite amazing. Maurice also travels to teach his students, so my daughter's lesson takes place in our home. Given our busy family life, this is also a huge help. Maurice is terrific - I highly recommend him as a guitar teacher! read more

Maurice Balk is a graduate of Berklee College of Music with an education degree, and also posses a Fine Arts degree from Alfred University. He has been teaching from his studio, conveniently located in the middle of Carrboro, for the last 14 years. He accepts students at all levels and ages. Maurice provides his students with printed supplemental material (transcriptions, worksheets, theory and stylistic overviews) for each lesson he teaches. He creates this material himself from his own knowledge and extensive library, and tailors it to the individual needs of his students. His teaching philosophy stresses a deep understanding of music fundamentals, technique, systems for the organization of information. Maurice's ultimate goal is to develop his students into skilled guitar players and confident improvisers. read more

Maurice is a gifted musician and highly knowledgeable about both the guitar and music. I started with him about a year ago. As a beginning student and as an adult, I had reservations about taking up the guitar. Maurice was most encouraging and uses his gentle soul in teaching and providing the support I need as I continue working through learning the guitar. He is flexible in his approach and has been most willing to provide guidance as I raise questions about various types of music from jazz to rock. I am most pleased with my progress--thanks to Maurice I now play once a week with a group. I highly recommend Maurice. read more

Maurice is a great guitar teacher and musician. He has come to our home to teach my now 12 year old daughter, who had never before touched a guitar. A year and a half later we are amazed at what she can play! Maurice is gentle and encouraging and yet challenges. He has transcribed some classical pieces we were interested in, and has introduced great jazz and blues works into our lives. If you want to learn guitar, you can't go wrong! read more

I've been taking lessons with Maurice for about a year. He's a knowledgeable and patient teacher with deep skills as a player and music educator. Lessons go beyond learning individual songs to address mastery of fundamentals - and ways of overcoming bad habits and other challenges. I wholeheartedly recommend Maurice to anyone who is truly interested in becoming a better guitarist. read more

My boys have been taking lessons with Maurice for over a year and love it! They have made great progress and are pretty good little guitar players now. They started when they were 5 and 7 and he's been great at advancing them both and keeping them interested and excited. We'd recommend him to anyone! read more