Andy John

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Bio

Andy has had a wide and varied musical career playing many instruments and many styles. His musical debut occurred in first grade when he learned how to play “Sailor’s Song” on the autoharp with his father. He also taught Andy to play the recorder, often playing duets or trios with his sister, which he still does to this day. In fourth grade he began taking piano lessons and in fifth grade played clarinet in the school band. In seventh grade he learned to play bassoon and played in the orchestra. He also started taking guitar lessons. He was also in the marching band and joined the stage band. After high school he decided on music as a career and studied jazz guitar with Mark Boling and received a BA in 1994 in Studio Music and Jazz. He also studied with famed educator Jerry Coker, Donald Brown, and classical guitar with Lily Afshar.

He has been teaching and performing constantly ever since, playing a variety of instruments in a variety of settings. He has toured and recorded two CDs with his jazz trio Klarcnova, which has been together since 1998. He recorded a CD and toured with Ruby Slippers. He has toured Canada and recorded two CDs with The Lithuanian Empire. He recently finished recording the second album with Bandana Klezmer and plays bass in his rock and roll band, Carolina Rex. Check out his website and blog at www.anjomusic.com.

Lessons with Andy

He enjoys the challenge of teaching students of all ages. Learning a musical instrument takes dedication but all lessons with Andy are guaranteed to be fun or your money back! All students of Andy are encouraged to demonstrate their talents in the AMS student recitals held twice a year.

For his youngest guitar students he often teaches slide guitar to acquaint the player with general coordination and rhythm. This allows them to sing and play at an age that they would not be able to play in the traditional manner. For his older beginning students the lessons consist of reading and learning to play songs. For the more advanced students he focuses more on theory and improvisation; first by learning tunes that the student is familiar with (including the guitar solo) and then using what they have learned to improvise on related songs.

Other instruments:

• Harmonica lessons also include technique, reading, theory, and improvisation. Ukulele lessons will concentrate on reading chords and learning songs and singing.
• Didgeridoo is covered in one or two sessions and concentrates on circular breathing, overtones, vocalisations, and coordinating polyrhythms.
• Lessons on the Baroque recorder concentrate on reading and fingering and interpretation.
• Banjo lessons cover basic techniques for claw-hammer or Scruggs style, learning accompaniment patterns, and playing standard repertoire.

“I teach a variety of skills to my students. Everyone who takes lessons with me can be sure of getting a well rounded education. I believe learning to read music is essential to understanding music and communicating with musicians but I also believe that reading music is not the same thing as playing music. I cover the basic tools of music making: chords and harmony, scales, theory, and proper technique. All my students are encouraged to bring in music from their own collections to learn. Although I teach many styles, I concentrate mostly on jazz, blues, rock, and country.  Please contact me if you are interested in lessons”  

-Andy John

Testimonials

“Andy is such a great teacher.  Our son is only 7 years and Andy is very talented at keeping it fun and entertaining for him.  Andy is very pleasant to be around and we are really enjoying him as his teacher.”
-Alice