Online Music Lessons & Coaching
Play with confidence. Understand how music works.
Personalized, one-on-one instruction from a Harvard-trained Broadway musician, composer, arranger, and orchestrator—with professional credits including Bruce Springsteen, Kris Bowers, film, and television. Every lesson is built around your goals and the music you want to play, understand, or create.
What do you want to do with music?
Play - Build technique, confidence, and fluency on piano or guitar.
Understand - Train your ear and explore theory, harmony, improvisation, and musicianship—or get expert help with music theory coursework and exams.
Create - Develop your own music through composition, songwriting, arranging, and orchestration.
Notate - Learn Dorico, prepare clear professional scores, or transition from Finale with one-on-one guidance.
Learn to Think Like a Musician
Music makes more sense when technique, listening, theory, and creativity reinforce one another. I don’t teach them as disconnected subjects. We use the music you care about to see how ideas work, hear them, play them, and make them your own.
Lessons are built around your experience, goals, and the way you learn. Rather than following a one-size-fits-all sequence, we create a clear path that might combine repertoire, technique, ear training, harmony, improvisation, composition, or notation as needed.
Whether we’re learning a song, analyzing a chord progression, shaping an arrangement, or building a score in Dorico, the goal is the same: to help you make informed musical choices and work with increasing confidence and independence.
Professional Experience. Personal Instruction.
About Jesse
I began playing guitar at five and piano at nine, learning songs by ear and developing an instinctive understanding of how music works. I later studied both instruments with Berklee-trained musician Will Luckey, whose teaching gave me an early foundation in harmony, ear training, and practical musicianship. At Harvard, I studied composition with Elliott Gyger and Nicholas Vines and musicianship with John Stewart.
Since then, I’ve worked across nearly every part of music—performing as a guitarist, keyboardist, and singer, including on Broadway; composing and producing for theater, film, and television; and arranging, orchestrating, and preparing music for other artists. My credits include orchestrating music for Kris Bowers, writing additional music for television, creating a violin arrangement for Bruce Springsteen’s 2009 Madison Square Garden performance of “New York City Serenade,” and having music published by G. Schirmer.
I bring that complete musical perspective to every lesson—whether I’m helping a beginner build strong foundations, guiding an experienced player toward deeper understanding, or working with a composer or arranger from the first idea to the finished score.
SELECTED CREDITS & COLLABORATORS
My professional work has included performing on Broadway; arranging for Bruce Springsteen; orchestrating for Kris Bowers; performing with Kate Taylor; writing additional music for Mozart in the Jungle; contributing additional music and sound design to The New York Times Magazine’s 9 Kisses; and having music published by G. Schirmer.
Additional clients and collaborators
Adam Guettel · David Yazbek · Larry O’Keefe · Telly Leung · Celisse · Brian Lowdermilk · Nick Blaemire · Roger Neill · Ben Decter
Selected productions
SpongeBob SquarePants · Finding Neverland · Godspell · The Secret Life of Bees · Lempicka · Beetlejuice · Love Actually Live!
Why Online Lessons Work
Online learning brings the lesson into the same space where you practice, write, and create. We can work directly with your instrument, scores, software, and projects in real time—and everything remains right where you need it when the lesson ends.
Learn on your own setup
Work from the instrument or creative workspace you use every day. Learn on your own piano or guitar, or open the scores, software, and projects already in front of you.
Get immediate, personal feedback
This isn’t a prerecorded course or generic curriculum. I respond to what I hear and see, explain ideas in different ways, and adjust each lesson as we work.
Keep moving between lessons
You’ll leave with personalized notes, exercises, materials, or project goals so you know what to work on next—and why.
Your free introductory lesson gives us a chance to discuss your goals, try working together, and make sure your setup is comfortable. All you need to begin is a reliable internet connection, a computer or tablet with a camera, and whatever instrument, music, or software we’ll be using.
Choose the Format That Fits Your Goals
Some goals benefit from the steady rhythm of weekly lessons. Others call for focused help with a particular question, skill, or project. Choose based on how you want to work—not what you want to study.
Ongoing Weekly Lessons
45 minutes each week
$300 monthly tuition
For students who want continuity, accountability, and sustained progress over time. Your enrollment includes a reserved weekly lesson time, individualized instruction, and personalized notes, materials, and goals between lessons.
Individual Coaching Sessions
60 minutes
$100 per session
For focused help without an ongoing commitment. Bring an instrument, a score, a composition, a software workflow, or simply a question you want to explore. Book one session or schedule additional sessions whenever they would be useful.
Both formats are available for piano, guitar, music theory and musicianship, composition, songwriting, arranging, orchestration, notation, and Dorico—including academic support for music theory courses and exams.
Not sure which format makes sense? Start with a free introductory lesson and we’ll figure it out together.
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Yes. Lessons are live and one-on-one, with immediate feedback tailored to what you’re playing, writing, or working on. Online lessons also let us work directly with the instrument, scores, software, and creative setup you use every day.
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I work with children, teens, adults, and working musicians at a wide range of experience levels. You might be starting from the beginning, returning to music after time away, developing an existing skill, or looking for expert guidance on a professional project.
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No. We’ll begin with what you already know and build the skills that support your goals. Reading, theory, ear training, and technique can be incorporated whenever they’re useful.
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You’ll need a reliable internet connection, a computer or tablet with a camera, and the instrument, music, or software we’ll be using. During the introductory lesson, we can make sure your setup is comfortable and working well.
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We’ll talk about your experience and goals, try some actual work together, and decide what kind of lesson format would serve you best. It’s also an opportunity to make sure the online setup feels natural before you commit.
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Yes. I offer academic tutoring in music theory, including harmony, analysis, part-writing, ear training, and preparation for coursework, exams, auditions, and placement tests.
Frequently Asked Questions
