Music Lessons
Understand Music. Create Music. Hear Music Differently.
Private music theory and composition lessons tailored to your musical goals.
Whether you’re trying to finally understand harmony, preparing for a music theory exam, developing your skills as a composer, or simply want to understand the music you’re playing on a deeper level, Ars Harmonica offers individualized instruction built around how you learn.
[Book a Lesson]
Music Theory That Actually Makes Sense
Music theory shouldn’t feel like a collection of rules to memorize.
It’s a way of understanding why music works.
In lessons, we’ll connect the concepts on the page to the music you actually hear, play, and write.
Depending on your goals, we can work on:
- Harmony and chord progressions
- Roman numeral analysis
- Figured bass
- Counterpoint
- Voice leading
- Chord inversions
- Cadences
- Scales and modes
- Key signatures
- Intervals
- Non-chord tones
- Harmonic analysis
- Ear training
- Sight singing and musicianship
- Form and phrase structure
- Composition and arranging
You don’t need to learn everything at once. We’ll focus on the concepts that matter most for where you are right now.
Lessons Built Around You
There isn’t one curriculum that works for every musician.
A beginner may need a completely different approach from a conservatory student preparing for a theory exam. A composer may need help solving a harmonic problem in a piece they’re writing rather than completing another worksheet.
That’s why lessons begin with your goals, your current level, and the music you’re working with.
Beginners
Build a strong foundation in notation, scales, intervals, harmony, rhythm, and musical vocabulary.
Students
Get help understanding material from a current music theory or musicianship course—and develop the skills to work independently.
Advanced Musicians
Dive deeper into harmony, counterpoint, analysis, voice leading, form, and other advanced theoretical concepts.
Composers
Develop your musical ideas through harmony, counterpoint, form, orchestration, analysis, and detailed feedback on your own compositions.
Composition Lessons
If you write music, your own compositions can become part of the lesson.
We’ll look at your music together and ask questions such as:
What is the piece trying to do?
How is the harmony supporting that idea?
How does the form shape the listener’s experience?
Where could the musical material be developed further?
What techniques can help you turn an idea into a finished piece?
The goal isn’t to make your music sound like someone else’s.
It’s to give you the theoretical and compositional tools to make your own musical ideas clearer, stronger, and more intentional.
Learn From Real Music
One of the most effective ways to understand theory is to see it operating inside actual music.
Lessons can incorporate repertoire and musical examples alongside exercises, so concepts like harmonic function, voice leading, counterpoint, and form aren’t just theoretical abstractions.
Want to hear some of my own work?
Explore my composition portfolio:
[View the Ars Harmonica Composition Portfolio]
A Practical Approach to Music Theory
Theory becomes useful when you can actually do something with it.
Rather than simply memorizing terminology, lessons emphasize active problem-solving:
See it.
Read and analyze the musical material.
Understand it.
Figure out what is happening and why.
Hear it.
Connect the written theory to your musical ear.
Use it.
Apply the concept to your own playing, analysis, or composition.
Online Private Lessons
Lessons are conducted individually in a focused, supportive environment.
We’ll work with the materials that are most relevant to you—whether that’s a textbook, class assignment, score, composition, exam preparation, or your own questions.
You don’t have to already be “good at theory.”
You just need to be willing to engage with the music.
What Are You Working On?
Maybe there’s a concept you’ve never quite understood.
Maybe you’re preparing for an upcoming theory exam.
Maybe you’re writing a piece and don’t know how to solve a harmonic or structural problem.
Maybe you’ve played music for years and want to finally understand what’s happening underneath the surface.
Whatever brought you here, we can start there.
[Book a Private Lesson]
Ars Harmonica
Music theory. Composition. Musicianship.
Helping musicians understand the structure of music—and use that understanding to become more capable musicians and creators.
[Book a Lesson]