Teaching

 I teach private music composition, songwriting, piano and voice lessons at my home studio in Brooklyn, NY. Lessons are structured around the personal goals of the student, and, whether a novice or a master, our work is primarily to explore music and enjoy ourselves while doing it!

Composition and songwriting students will write original work, and we may consider any of the following aspects together: melody, harmony, counterpoint, voice-leading, accompaniment writing, writing for piano, vocal ranges, orchestration, motive, texture, the marriage of words and music, development of character, rhyme, scansion, prosody, storytelling elements, and music for picture.

Voice and piano students will work on material we think is fun! We may explore musical in classical idioms, rock & roll, popular music, jazz, Broadway, and more. We may also develop skills in the following areas: sight-reading, aural skills, transcription, improvisation, listening comprehension, and music notation.

If you would like more information on lessons, includes availability and rates, send an email to bcavanaghstrong@gmail.com or fill out the form below.

Testimonial from Aron C., voice student:

I love working with Brian because he is extremely sensitive to my sensibilities and has developed my voice with clear exercise, instruction, and new exciting material. I leave every session on cloud nine, I feel better about myself because I spent an hour doing something that makes me happy with someone who wants to cultivate and make productive that experience.

Testimonial from Jess S., songwriting student:

As a songwriter, I was not only looking to strengthen my piano skills but to bring my original compositions to the next level. Brian was the ideal teacher to help me do that. His teaching ability was everything I hoped it would be. He is an incredibly skilled pianist and composer who knows how to effectively communicate his knowledge in a kind and effective way. He introduced new music, new techniques, expanded my mind and challenged me to create new and better pieces. I appreciated both his structure for lessons and also his flexibility to go with what I was excited to do that day (which ranged from working on accompaniments to building out tracks in Logic). I highly recommend him for beginners or more advance students.