William Motte
About
Greetings Students!
If you're reading this, congrats! It means you're interested in taking your musical artistry, skills, and knowledge to another level. I lived and worked in New York City for many years, where I attended Mannes College of Music at the New School, studying with Michael Newman and Frederic Hand of the legendary Metropolitan Opera. I was fortunate to receive training from these masters of the craft, as well as countless performers and educators like Carlos Barbosa Lima and Martha Masters through masterclasses and workshops.
In my time performing in New York I was lucky to work with other notable artists like Michael Sheridan and the great Gypsy Jazz master Stephane Wrembel. After some time spent traveling, the Covid 19 global pandemic has led me to San Jose, Costa Rica, where I continue working on artistic projects and the Spanish language.
My teaching style can vary greatly depending on the students desires. A passion for music and development of relaxed and accurate technique is central to all teaching! To be flexible while maintaining focus, I like to offer one of these three categories of teaching as a starting point:
I. Music heavy. This option is for students who want to play certain songs that they like, but struggle with basic fundamentals of technique and rythym skills to generate the music they already love. These students aren't so interested in the theoretical aspects of music and don't necessarily care to write their own.
II. Mixed music with theory/fundamentals. This is what it sounds like. You love music, you want to learn to play it, maybe you want to write it, but you also want to understand it. A little bit? I recommend this method, or the following method, for students who want to write songs, continue learning pieces and songs without a teacher, or just understand some of the deeper principals that construct western music.
III. Theory/fundamentals heavy. Perhaps you already know an instrument fairly well, you play guitar or piano, you feel you have a nice voice, you've even written some songs. This option is for those who specifically want to explore the technical aspect of music theory, as well as expand their harmonic vocabulary to write, play, and understand more complex musics, be it through classical, folk, or jazz inspirations.
Bachelor of Music in Classical Guitar Performance from Mannes College, the New School for Music.
Friend of the Guitar Foundation of America
Generally, we work on the music you want!
For serious advances in technique and guitar mastery, I recommend Scott Tenants "Pumping Nylon". I will provide musical pieces and custom excercises for students as our lessons progress.