

Brendan's profile and their contact details have been verified by our experts.
Brendan
- Rate $74
- Response 1h
-
Students11
Number of students Brendan has accompanied since arriving at Superprof
Number of students Brendan has accompanied since arriving at Superprof

$74/hr
1st lesson free
Professional jazz and classical musician teaching improvisation from any level. An approach that meets you where you are and gets you playing as soon as possible.
Lesson location
- online
Super tutor
Brendan is one of our best tutors. High-quality profile, verified qualifications, a quick response time, and great reviews from students!
About Brendan
I am a pianist who gigs professionally on the pop, jazz, and classical scenes. I completed my BMus in Jazz and pop performance, and I'm currently completing my master's degree in Classical piano performance. As a teacher, I am versatile - I can offer lessons on Classical repertoire, Improvisation, and Music theory. Music is like a language, and my style focuses heavily on listening and emulating your favorite players, so that you can discover your own sound. I have played with pop and rock artists such as Calvin Love, Aladean Kheroufi, Justine Vandergrift, Trevor McNeely, and more. As a jazz leader and sideman, I've played with great players like Aretha Tillotson, Jacob Do, Jerrold Dubyk, and others. As a classical musician, I perform solo, and play collaborative art song with vocalists such as Erin Selin. Get in touch to get to know me and see if we're a good fit.
About the lesson
- All Levels
- English
All languages in which the lesson is available :
English
Improvisation is like learning a language - let's cut to the chase and work on what you're listening to. As a teacher, I prioritize your inner ear: then I incorporate rhythm, melody, harmony, and an effortless technique, all contributing towards your being able to improvise. I specialize in walking students through transcriptions, how to play them, analyze them, and of course, add elements or ideas into your playing. With an undergraduate degree in Jazz, I can accept any students from beginner to advanced improvisers. I'm also completing a master's degree in classical piano performance, so I can speak to classical improvising, or I can help classical players bridge the gap and improve their jazz playing.
Recommendations
Recommendations come from relatives, friends and acquaintances of the teacher
Brendan is a compassionate human being, an exceptional communicator, and a deeply committed artist. He always guides his students, as well as colleagues who seek his advice, with patience, humor, and deep insight. He has a great ear for musical detail, the ability to diagnose and solve technical issues, and the ability to distill complex music theory concepts into smaller, comprehensible bits for the uninitiated. I cannot recommend Brendan highly enough as a music educator.
Goodness gracious I could write a lengthy essay about how working and taking lessons from Brendan has improved my music skills but here are a few: 1) He is so patient. He does not rush me and does not expect me to play the concepts that we have done in lessons correctly on the spot. He understands that we are just students and learning but does these exercises to introduce the student. 2) Accessibility! He responds in a timely manner! I occasionally message Brendan at an unholy hour and typically he responds. It is really helpful when im practicing and have a couple of questions that have come up in my own practice. 3) Material and content of lessons. Ive never had jazz piano lessons before ( It was classical piano before) and the discoveries we make during lessons and out of lessons I feel are applicable to any jazz piano player. If im not particularly feeling a topic, Brendan will pick up on it and steer a little to try to introduce the information correctly in a different way. But eventually I will be listening and practicing on my own and what we had discussed, that wasnt interesting to me, will come up and then it makes sense why he covered it. I dont feel like my time is being tossed around when we are in lessons. We have fun during our lessons and have great discussion but it somehow ties back to the lesson of the day.
Brendan is an excellent teacher and musician. I've had lessons from many piano teachers in the past, none of whom I've felt have had such a deep knowledge of both piano technique and musicology; learning from Brendan feels like a series of revelations you wish you knew sooner. His enthusiasm for the piano is contagious, and he's approachable, friendly, and a great listener - lessons with him are always a blast. If you're looking to improve your piano playing and/or musicianship, you're in safe hands with Brendan!
Brendan is a very good teacher. I’ve been playing piano for the last 28 years. He has been a source of motivation, structured my practice, broke down complex concepts and simplified them for me. I think I’m in a much better spot and his constant help and support has been invaluable.
Brendan has been incredibly helpful in helping me piece together technique and theory to accelerate my jazz playing. He is able to come up with exercises that don't feel like chores to build foundational skills while also helping me explore my sound in different sylistic contexts.
Brendan is a piano teacher who encourages our sons interests, and challenges him. This year my son has more initiative to practice and truely seems to enjoy piano. Brendan is a great piano teacher and a talented piano player.
Brendan is amazing!!!! Brendan was my first piano teacher and truly helped me gain key concepts about playing the piano, but also about music in general. He taught me about scales, chords, technique, repertoire, improvisation, interpretation, harmony, and analysis. He pushed me to develop my own practice and helped me understand myself as a learner. He also encouraged me to gain my own understand of music through the venues that most interested me. Learning with him was fun! He is a super accommodating, kind person who listens to your specific needs as a learner and takes them seriously.
Brendan and I met just over five years ago and even then he was an outstanding musician, pianist and individual. We quickly became colleagues. I've always admired Brendan's dedication, work ethic, enthusiasm and acute attention to detail with everything he does musically and in life. I know Brendan McGrath to be an amazing teacher; he's extremely great at explaining things, has an extensive knowledge of the piano, and notices small things a lot of others normally wouldn't. I've learned a lot from Brendan.
Brendan and I have worked together for over five years, as a duo and in various quartet ensembles. He is a brilliant pianist and educator who is dedicated to his craft.
Having taken several lessons from Brendan myself, his lessons are clear, concise, and gives his students the material they need to succeed. I would recommend Brendan to anyone from any musical background and skill level that is interested in learning and having fun along the way!View more recommendations
Rates
Rate
- $74
Pack prices
- 5h: $370
- 10h: $741
online
- $74/h
free lessons
The first lesson with Brendan will allow you to get to know each other and discuss your needs for future lessons.
- 1hr
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