Warren McDonald
About
Warren McDonald began his musical journey at an early age. His early influences were his mother who was trained as a classical pianist / visual artist and father who played Johnny Cash and Ventures tunes on the guitar. Growing up music was always in the air. From Debussy, Ravel, Tchaikovsky to folk, country, pop and rock artists of the day.
Warren played in his first bands during Junior High School. He continued playing in local bands through his high school years. After high school there was a shift towards formal classical studies at the college level. As a student, he was fortunate enough to study with Frank Kimlicko at Tyler Jr. College and Enric Madriguera at Eastfield College.
A highlight of his college years included a trip to Spain and Italy for further musical studies under the guidance of Professor Enric Madirguera now at University of Texas Dallas. During the trip Warren was able to perform in masterclasses taught by virtuosos Jose Tomas and Alirio Diaz.
Warren earned his Bachelor of Music Degree at the University of North Texas, Denton, TX, considered by many one of the top ranked colleges of music in the United States. In addition he twice completed teacher training in the Suzuki guitar method under the direction of Frank Longay, Norma McNamara, Bill Kossler and Seth Himmelhoch at Inter Mountain Suzuki Institute in Park City Utah.
Warren is also a member of the Plano Music Teachers Association which offers many opportunities for his students to participate in recitals, festivals, performance and composition competitions, theory and music history exams and the like.
He has been teaching music since the early 1990s starting at Allen Music, Brook Mays Music Company, Music Conservatory of Texas and now as a studio owner in Allen, TX. Warren has participated in numerous groups and performed in diverse stylistic settings including folk, acoustic, classical soloist, jazz, blues, pop and rock.
I take time to learn about students; specifically about their goals and area of interest related to music and guitar. From there I can formulate an plan to help students achieve their musical goals. I teach rudiments, theory, note reading, tablature and learning by ear based upon what will help each student achieve progress as quickly as possible. I do not have a one style fits all students approach. I work with each student to help them learn how they learn best.
Bachelor of Music Degree
University of North Texas
Denton, TX
Suzuki Guitar School
Teacher Training
Intermount Suzuki Institute
Park City Utah
For Elementary Grade students I like "New Dimensions in Classical Guitar for Children" because this book teaches children rudiments of music, playing simple melodies and chords. It's very age appropriate. For students wanting to learn to read traditional music notation I use the MEL BAY expanded method which works very well. For more advanced students that are interested in Jazz I like the Berklee books.