About Me
I have been a full-time private music teacher for over a decade, and in that time I’ve developed some reliable systems to get good results for any student; regardless of age, skill level, goals, or style of music.
I hold a Bachelor of Music from Vancouver Island University and a Music Performance Diploma from Mount Royal University, and that education has helped me a lot, but the main thing that makes me a good teacher is my 20,000-plus hours of on-the-job teaching experience.
Over the years, I’ve helped thousands of students achieve their goals: Some have gone on to pursue music in University programs, some have written and released original music they’ll be proud of forever, some have toured the United States with School of Rock’s prestigious All-Stars programs, but the big thing is that all of them have unlocked the ability do things they didn’t think were possible. I’ve watched my students accomplish their goals over and over, and I’ve seen them gain a new confidence in themselves and their abilities.
My Four Pillars of Musicianship
Teaching so many instruments, ages, skill levels, and styles of music, I can’t rely on a single method for everything so my focus is on applying general principles to specific goals. A big one is my focus on 4 main elements of being a musician:
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Technique:
This is the physical part, the actual ways in which you use your instrument and your own body. In playing an instrument at any level, you need as much of what’s happening to be as automatic as possible, and developing your technique is one of the best possible ways of taking the mental load off your brain.
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Music Theory: This will be your musical language that you can use to communicate with others and with yourself. I don’t teach theory the “classical” way, using outdated terminology and rules that haven’t been relevant in 400 years. I teach a quick and easy way of understanding the music you want to play, a way of recognizing patterns and shapes that will allow you to use things you already know to quickly get things learned and internalized.
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Ear Development: This is a huge one and it goes hand-in-hand with the first two pillars. If you can clearly hear what you want to do, you’ll be able to do it. A word you’ll hear me throwing around a lot in lessons is Audiation, and it’s defined as “hearing music not physically present, with understanding.” When you develop that skill, it becomes your superpower and it will, more than anything else you do, help you get where you want to go.
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The Mental Game: This final pillar often gets overlooked in music education. The reality is that music is hard, and it takes a really long time to learn. Anybody selling a quick fix or shortcut is lying to you. If you want to learn to play an instrument, you’re signing up for thousands of hours of focused deliberate practice, with all the frustrations, plateaus, and uncertainty that come with those hours. But that’s what a good teacher is really for. All the scales, theory, exercises and tutorials in the world are available for free on Youtube, it’s awesome. What I really offer you is that fact that I’ve been where you are, I got through it and I’ve since gotten hundreds or thousands (I never counted) of students through their hurdles too. Everybody can do this if they stick with it and do things in ways that make sense, and everybody includes you.
Of course, four little blurbs don’t even scratch the surface of all my methods, systems, tricks, and experience. I always tailor lessons to the individual student, and we’ll come up with a plan together. I do plan to put up some quality video content that will go into much more detail but please feel free to contact me with any questions or inquiries:
Cell (text preferred, I get a lot of spam calls): 403-462-9801
Email: dmccartneymusic@gmail.com
Social Media (IG, FB): @duncanmccartneymusic