A Juilliard graduate, Stewart Hoffman’s broad musical experience ranges from performances with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and Canadian Opera Company to gigs playing drums and jazz vibraphone. A dedicated educator, Stewart has over 30 years of experience teaching orchestral percussion, jazz vibraphone and jazz, rock and pop drum lessons in Toronto, Canada.
Stewart teaches private drum lessons, percussion and vibraphone lessons from his Toronto studio and is a member of the private teaching staff at Crescent School. He presents percussion clinics on both sides of the border for both teachers and students.
Stewart’s book, The Band Teacher’s Percussion Guide: Insights into Playing and Teaching Percussion has recently been published by Oxford University Press. (See Full Biography)
- Rock and jazz drumming
- Concert snare drumming and percussion
- Vibraphone, xylophone, or marimba techniques
- Jazz improvisation on mallet instruments
- Reading skills on all instruments
Take Private Drum Lessons in Toronto
Stewart’s drum lessons are first and foremost musical experiences, with power, speed, flexibility and independence skills all studied in order to meet musical ends.
While each student’s goals and interests play a large part in the planning and direction of his or her drum lessons, Stewart places a strong emphasis on the development of a secure and relaxed technique on both snare drum and drum set.
Drum lessons may include the study of:
- rock and funk grooves
- jazz independence
- drum breaks, fills and the development of solos
- snare drum rudiments
- advanced reading and drum charts
Band and Orchestral Percussion Lessons
Students interested in band and orchestral percussion study snare drum and mallet techniques. The goal is to achieve a technique that is both secure and relaxed. Developing reading skills and studying solo works for all instruments (which may include important orchestral excerpts and works for multiple percussion) are important components of the program.
Students of mallet percussion (xylophone, vibraphone, marimba) may chose to study 4-mallet techniques, music theory and vibraphone dampening and pedaling techniques.
With undergraduate and graduate degrees in music from the Juilliard School in New York City, Stewart is highly qualified to prepare students for arts-based high schools, university or college entrance auditions.
Jazz Vibraphone and Improvisation
Fundamental to jazz vibraphone performance, along with reading skills and 2- and/or 4-mallet techniques, is the study of improvisation. Students begin improvising with the blues, and continue with popular song and the classics of the Great American Songbook.
Listening skills are developed through ear training, studying jazz theory, chord-scale relationships and chord voicings. And all musical skills will be enhanced through careful listening to the music of great artists of the past: from Lionel Hampton to Milt Jackson and Gary Burton; from Charlie Parker to Stan Getz and Bill Evans . . . or any great artists that may serve as an inspiration.
- Half-hour, 45-minute or 60 minute lessons available
- Students of all ages and experience are welcome
For more information, call 1.416.462.9615, or email info@stewarthoffmanmusic.com
Location
Stewart’s music studio is located in Toronto between the Greenwood and Coxwell subway stations just south of Danforth
