Tyler Parker

TYLER PARKER

(originally from Naperville, IL) is an experienced cellist and piano player whose musicianship led him to a full ride study at Florida State University. Tyler's teaching style focuses on the form and technique of the student.

Tyler believes that “music is constantly evolving with us. Therefore, we should evolve how we teach music”. In that spirit, he works with students to feel the music they are playing and expands to fit the needs and styles of each individual. 

Outside of the studio, you can find Tyler continuing his journey as a forever learner as a student of meditation and music engineering.

INSTRUMENTS.

Cello, Piano, Music Theory, Music Production, Digital Composition, and Audition/Performance Prep.

STYLES.

Classical and Modern Pop.

REQUIREMENTS.

Tyler accepts piano students of all levels and Intermediate cello students!

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TESTIMONIALS.

Coming soon!

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Rachel Ofotokun

Rachel Ofotokun

is a composer and pianist from Lilburn, Georgia. Rachel comes from a musical family and has been engaging with music and composition since age 6, starting with piano lessons and adding cello to the mix in middle school. She holds a bachelor’s degree in music composition and African studies from Emory University. Rachel enjoys classical, experimental, pop, jazz, gamelan, and afro-influenced music. 

Lessons with Rachel are incredibly flexible and goal-oriented. She focuses on building (and reaching) long and short-term goals based on a student's desires and working as a team to achieve them in the most fun way possible! Rachel believes music lessons should be an outlet and safe space where students can spend time pursuing something they want for themselves. As is our mission at Eclectic Music, Rachel works to decolonize the music classroom. 

Outside of the studio, you can find Rachel crocheting, tending to her plants, redecorating her apartment, and sipping tea. She looks forward to making empathic connections with her students!

INSTRUMENTS.

Piano, Playground, Cello, Songwriting, Compositon, Digital Composition, Music Production, Music Theory.

STYLES.

Classical, Experimental, Pop, Rock, Jazz.

REQUIREMENTS.

Students all ages & abilities welcome!

CONNECT.

TESTIMONIALS.

Coming Soon!

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Guy Strauss

Guy Strauss

has over 20 years of professional experience as a touring musician and session drummer for various major label and independent artists. He has been an educator for over 15 years, teaching private lessons as well as music classes at Academe Of The Oaks where he serves as the Music Department Chair. Guy shares his passion for music and his real world experience of being an active working musician with his students. Lessons focus on independence, technique, notation, rudiments, musicality and song based learning. 

As a performer Guy has appeared on film soundtracks and has played internationally opening for acts such as Elvis Costello, Muse, Cheap Trick, The Fray, The Wallflowers, The Cranberries, Blur and many others.

Guy holds an Associate of Arts Degree from Miami Dade Community College, and completed the certificate program at Drummers Collective in NYC. He has studied with many prominent drummers including Steve Rucker (University of Miami Professor , and Bee Gees drummer), Mike Clark (Herbie Hancock), Marvin ‘Smitty’ Smith (Tonight Show Band).

Guy’s goal is for lessons to be fun, educational and practical. His students will learn about rhythm, counting, reading standard notation, technique, independence, time keeping skills, dynamics, feel, song form, ear training and general musicianship. We will explore these concepts through written exercises, rudiments, books, and of course by playing along to songs. Once the student has developed a solid foundation, the focus will shift to more of the students personal musical interests and goals.

INSTRUMENTS.

Drums, percussion, piano, music production and band coaching.

STYLES.

Rock, pop, funk, R&B, jazz, blues, and world music.

REQUIREMENTS.

Ages 7 and up, all skill levels.

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TESTIMONIALS.

Coming Soon!

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Ethan Heyenga

Ethan Heyenga

has spent most of his life making music, since he first touched his family's upright piano at the age of four. Growing up as an only child with two dogs and an endless parade of cats for company, he would amuse himself for long periods of time by improvising scores to imagined films or listening to his parents' CD collection, where Bach and Beethoven bumped elbows with the Beatles, Ray Charles, Bob Dylan and Miles Davis.

He often tricked his first piano teacher into playing a piece for him once to demonstrate, listening and learning by ear- he didn't like reading music, and found it easier to learn that way. He would also change notes in pieces he knew, wondering what it would sound like if it were done differently. In middle school, he picked up the saxophone, discovered jazz, and found a new outlet for the creative impulse in improvisation.

A teenage love affair with jazz led to Berklee College of Music and six years spent in Boston, rehearsing and gigging with brilliant musicians and teachers, studying jazz and Celtic music and beginning to write and produce songs. Since leaving Boston in 2017, Ethan has finished five EPs of his own and helped his students record and release a combined three EPs, plus ten or so singles.

Ethan believes that improvisation and composition are essentials for all musicians- analogous to speaking and writing for natural languages. A system of education that fails to develop those capacities in musicians is almost worthless- the same as teaching children to do nothing but recite essays and poems. If the idea is to set someone up for a musical life, they need to be able to follow their ears and express their own ideas.

With that in mind, Ethan aims to help each student develop a project-based practice that includes all four arts of music- improvisation, composition, arranging and performance/interpretation- and the "fifth art," listening. The idea is for each student to become a creative, thoughtful and self-sufficient musician who can fold music into their life and their life into their music- a defender of humanity- and to smile and laugh the whole way through.

INSTRUMENTS.

Guitar, Saxophone, Piano, Songwriting and Voice

STYLES.

Jazz, rock, pop, folk, classical (piano), the various "indie" styles

REQUIREMENTS.

Students ages 6 and up

CONNECT.

TESTIMONIALS.

"I have studied saxophone, jazz piano/theory, and songwriting with Ethan for over 2 years, and he is the best music instructor I've ever had. He cares so much about his students and helps us thrive. Not only is Ethan my teacher, he is a friend and a mentor."

-Isabelle, student (age 17)

"It is not hard to find a teacher who teach your child music notes, piano hand position, and all the theories. But it took me a long time to find Ethan who also teaches my child to feel music, express his feelings through music, and how to enjoy having music in his life."

-Chelsea, parent of Remy (age 6)

"Of all the instructors I have ever had, there has never been one that I felt cared about my growth as a musician as much as Ethan. Not only did he help my growth as a saxophonist, but myself as a musician and enjoyer of music as an art. He helped me find what I wanted to sound like and the music I wanted to make."

-Ethan, student (age 18)

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William Sandberg

William Sandberg

is a multi-instrumentalist and composer. He can always find a way to make music with whatever is available, whether it's an instrument or not (though he has a lot of instruments too). Whether a violin, a cereal bowl, or the sounds of summer cicadas, it's all an instrument to him. He's a fan of musicians like Chris Thile, Imogen Heap, Hiromi Uehara, Motoro Faam, Muse, Prokofiev, Andy Akiho, and so many more!

William graduated with a Masters in Music in Composition from the University of Wisconsin - Madison. He is an active composer and performer and has stumbled into performance opportunities in Tokyo, Seoul, and Taipei, as well as intentionally in the continental US. He especially loves collaborating with other musicians and sharing in his passion for music with everyone he meets. He likes to tell stories with his music, starting from a core emotion. He loves to listen to his listeners' interpretations of his music, creating their own stories from his music based on their own experiences.

William wants to inspire a love of music and encourage exploration and experimentation in each of his students. He started violin when he was 5 years old taking lessons from a strict Russian teacher because his mom told him to. This granted him a strong technical foundation. However, when he was given an electric guitar at the age of 15, he discovered his own love for music. William's goal as a teacher is to provide the structure and technical skills he learned from his classical training; not as restraints, but as support in guiding his students' on their musical journeys.

INSTRUMENTS.

Electric and Acoustic Guitar, Mandolin, Piano, Violin, Viola, Cella, Electric Bass, Ukulele, and Voice

STYLES.

Folk, Rock, Jazz, Indie, Pop, Metal, Classical, and Contemporary

REQUIREMENTS.

Students of all ages & abilities welcome!

CONNECT.

TESTIMONIALS.

Coming Soon!

LISTEN.

TIME TO LEARN MORE!