HIGHEST RECOMMENDATION
Spencer makes learning the ukulele very accessible and a lot of fun! With his guidance I am liberating my inner musician and having a blast while I do it! My friends and family all are quite impressed with my quick progress too.
Each lesson includes me playing and singing what I'm working on while Spencer plays his ukulele and sings along with me. This is truly a joyful experience and precisely what I wanted from studying ukulele, though I didn't know I would get to this kind of experience so quickly. I can't quite believe I actually play and sing duets with a musical theatre actor who has been on Broadway! I am able to take the confidence and experience gained with him out into the world and connect with others by singing and playing music. Really, I think this is what I like best about Spencer's teaching -- the fact that connecting to self and others through music is the point.
Spencer is the perfect teacher for me, as a late- in-life beginner with lifelong musical interest, but no previous musical training. When I started my lessons, I had a lot of fear about whether I could really learn the ukulele --and also whether I could tolerate the feelings of awkwardness that go with being a beginner. I needn't have been afraid. He really has a gift for making you feel okay about making mistakes, even as he helps you to do things the right way and to feel ambitious about what you can do. I always feel supported and validated-- never criticized or pushed. Spencer has a system, but also allows me space to explore things in my own way. I like this interplay.
Maybe some people can learn ukulele from the internet, a DVD or a group class, but I find the individual attention and guidance, as well as the structure of a weekly private lesson, invaluable I thought music lessons might be tedious and while I admit that some things feel hard to do at first, I now see that just sticking with it and practicing really pays off. I find the weekly lessons motivating and helpful in making steady progress.
Spencer is a very down-to-earth, trustworthy, enthusiastic and generous person, who is an absolute pleasure to know. He loves music and he shares his joy, expertise and knowledge in a way that feels very attuned to my needs and interests . I feel extremely lucky and grateful to have found Spencer as my ukulele teacher and as my guide to understanding more about singing and musical theory too! read more