My Teaching Philosophy
Patience gives the power to practice; Practice gives the power that leads to perfection.

Mark only teaches bass student and believes that for best results, and best value for your lesson dollar, bass students should study with a bass specialist. The foundation of my teaching, and my own daily practice, is as follows:

• Development of your core.

  This element addresses body/bass concerns such as posture, balance, range of motion, large muscle group awareness, and breathing. The core is where your power and tone comes from, and is a central part of my teaching. To find your voice on the bass, the student must become one with the instrument ... a process that can take years of practice.

• Development of your ear, voice and sense of rhythm.

  Ears are to the musician as eyes are to the visual artist. Being a musician (vocal or instrumental) requires a highly developed ear. Generally, if a student cannot match pitch with their voice, then they will be challenged to play fretless stringed instruments in tune. Rhythm sense is independent of what instrument one plays. Mark’s gentle approach awakens the students voice, ears, and inner rhythm sense, with the goal of developing the student’s ears and rhythm sense to the highest level possible.

• Development of your left hand and right hand technique, especially bow technique.

  Typical 1-2-3-4 guitar, violin or cello style fingering approaches do not work on upright and electric bass, and are considered to be “poor technique” for the bass player. Right hand plucking, slap/pop and bowing techniques are unique and highly developed for bassists. Mark teaches both German and French bow, ultimately letting the student decide which bow to play with. Right hand technique (tone production), be it bow or plucked, is where the artisty lies for all string players. Students in my studio are taught that tone production is king.