There I was, twenty-two years old and done with music school, at least for the time being. One the one hand, I was “trained” to be a performing Euphonium (a small sized tuba) soloist. On the other hand, I had my “side hustle” as a guitarist. The rock band that I was in (“Orion”) was supposed to “make-it” but instead it was falling apart at the seams.
What do I do now? Option one was to continue hustling work playing guitar for recording gigs (few and far between), weddings (one every couple months at most) and gin mills (pretty regular weekend work at an astounding fifty bucks a gig). Option two . . . well there really wasn’t an option two that I could come up with at the time.
Then one day, one of my musician friends approached me and asked if I could give his younger brother guitar lessons. I said I’d give it a go even though up until then I had never considered myself a teacher. Fortunately for me, I had recently started banjo lessons with Roger Sprung, who had a very organized teaching method. So, I adapted some of his ideas for teaching guitar, while writing up some material of my own, and dusted off my old Mel Bay guitar books to make sure I could still read guitar music. After all of this preparation, I took the job teaching Tony’s younger brother Vito. You can find him and his music these days on Facebook at Vito Petroccitto.
Little did I know at the time, but my “favor to a friend” was the birth of my Option Two! I was suddenly a private music instructor with an ad in the Yellow Pages and all that good stuff (the Yellow Pages were made out of real paper back then!) Since that time, I’ve always had a roster of students on guitar, banjo, mandolin, fiddle, bass and any other instrument that I thought I could play well enough to teach to others.
Now looking back on that “accidental career” that began for me back in the 70s I realize what a profound effect it has had on my musical knowledge. That last statement might cause you to think I’m boasting, but there’s more to it than that. Each new student gave me a new challenge that would often make it necessary to do extra background work and research to meet that new student’s goals. As the years rolled on, this process continued for hundreds of students. I gradually developed a vast repertoire of ideas to help my students get the most out of their instruments. One day, I realized I could reach far more people via cyberspace than one student at a time every half hour.
And that brings me to present day. I now have my first book, “New Techniques for 5 String Banjo Volume 1” released. But this website is not just about the banjo. It is about sharing all the musical ideas that have “organically” come into my life since I began my teaching career. If you are a string instrumentalist, beginner or advanced or anything in between, I would like to think I have some new ideas or musical thoughts to share with you. My life’s journey has been a rewarding one as I continue to pick up more “music along the way.” Let’s take that musical journey together and see what’s out there!
