A 5-year-old Sadie sits on her mother’s lap for an early guitar lesson

Private Lessons

Songwriting | Guitar | Voice | Fiddle

There is nothing quite as gratifying to me as being able to encourage other people as they explore their relationship with music. I love to see the light in someone’s eyes when they feel powerful in their body and their voice. 

During my past 10 years of teaching songwriting, guitar, and voice, I’ve had the pleasure to witness growth in my students as they gain confidence in their skills, discover new sides to themselves that they didn’t know where possible, and become more grounded in their ability to be creative humans. 

My approach to teaching focuses on gentle experimentation. We work with what’s working and approach from different angles when things get stuck. Content is structured around what a student is interested in learning. I aim to maintain the flexibility and humility needed to offer support to my students in the ways that they need, as well as celebrating my student’s contributions to our time together. 

I would be thrilled to join you on your personal and musical journeys!

 

Songwriting

Songwriting is my favorite thing to teach! I offer private lessons and group workshops on the songwriting process. Since there are many ways to approach creating songs, songwriting lessons with me can be catered to the student’s needs and interests. I have a particular expertise in teaching students to write honest, narrative songs, using a mixture of free-writing exercises, composition techniques, and hands-on coaching.

Guitar

The guitar is such a versatile instrument, and there are many ways to approach playing and teaching. My approach focuses on accompanimental guitar playing. For beginners we generally start with posture, root position chords in the left hand and getting comfortable with strumming and fingerpicking techniques with the right. For more intermediate players we work on incorporating bar chords, using alternate tunings, melodic fingerpicking, and jazz voicings up the neck. Again, I’m happy to cater lessons to the genres/styles that the student is interested in.

Voice

Singing is an external expression of your internal voice, and that can be really intimate and sometimes scary. In voice lessons I encourage students to go easy on themselves. Using my background in classical and jazz vocal technique I observe students and give them pointers and exercises to help them figure out what might be getting in their way. Whether they’re dealing with tension somewhere in their body, a mental block, or ineffective breathing, we work together to figure out ways that singing can feel easy and joyful- just as it should be! I am open to applying these techniques to a variety of styles, including (but not limited to): classical, jazz, singer-songwriter, r&b, and other contemporary styles.

 

Student Testimonials

 

“Sadie is a great guitar instructor and just fun to hang with. I’ve been taking guitar lessons with her for a year and love it! Not only has she taught me basic guitar chords but she has also taught me strumming and picking techniques that have improved my playing. I like the fact that Sadie teaches songs along with her lessons and that she encourages me to suggest songs I would like to learn. Over this past year I have been able to grow my repertoire and improve my playing enough to reach my goal of playing guitar with my husband in our duo.” - Guitar student

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"Sadie is wonderful. I was a student in a group class of hers during a week-long music event and after those five days of her teaching I found myself wanting more of her insight. I switched from my previous vocal coach and became a student of Sadie’s - I found her style to be fun and helpful, catering to my personal needs for growth. As a singer/songwriter/guitar player I also appreciate her knowledge on those realms. It’s been such a relief to gain confidence in my singing!" - Voice Student

〰️

“I just finished a semester of songwriting lessons with Sadie and my mind is blown. She deftly honed in on the heart of my songs and helped me make them so much better. In just a few lessons, I re-wrote a song from 20 years ago that I love but needed an upgrade and was able to finish a new one. I can't wait to perform both of them. She also shared some of her fav songwriting hacks that I'm thrilled to add to my toolbox. If you have the chance to study with Sadie, DO IT!” - Songwriting Student

〰️

“Sadie is a great guitar instructor and just fun to hang with. I’ve been taking guitar lessons with her for a year and love it! Not only has she taught me basic guitar chords but she has also taught me strumming and picking techniques that have improved my playing. I like the fact that Sadie teaches songs along with her lessons and that she encourages me to suggest songs I would like to learn. Over this past year I have been able to grow my repertoire and improve my playing enough to reach my goal of playing guitar with my husband in our duo.” - Guitar student 〰️ "Sadie is wonderful. I was a student in a group class of hers during a week-long music event and after those five days of her teaching I found myself wanting more of her insight. I switched from my previous vocal coach and became a student of Sadie’s - I found her style to be fun and helpful, catering to my personal needs for growth. As a singer/songwriter/guitar player I also appreciate her knowledge on those realms. It’s been such a relief to gain confidence in my singing!" - Voice Student 〰️ “I just finished a semester of songwriting lessons with Sadie and my mind is blown. She deftly honed in on the heart of my songs and helped me make them so much better. In just a few lessons, I re-wrote a song from 20 years ago that I love but needed an upgrade and was able to finish a new one. I can't wait to perform both of them. She also shared some of her fav songwriting hacks that I'm thrilled to add to my toolbox. If you have the chance to study with Sadie, DO IT!” - Songwriting Student 〰️