We're ready for the Lessonface Launch Party tonight at our Brooklyn headquarters! There will be live drum, guitar, voice, and ukulele online music lesson demos throughout the night. If you're interested, check out the party page for more details.
While the budget never seems to go down for Congressional salaries, budget cuts continually drain away music programs in public schools. There are countless studies that show why music education benefits students (as well as adult learners) in numerous manners, but that doesn’t seem to matter to our politicians. So, what are we going to do about it? Let music education disappear?
Perhaps best known as the guitar player for pioneering rock band The Jesus Lizard – whose albums Goat and Liar made Rolling Stone and Pitchfork's "Top 100 Albums of the ‘90s" lists – and possessing a musical resume comprising bands and collaborations with an enormous list of musical innovators, it’s no wonder Spin recently named Duane Denison to its list of 100 greatest guitarists. With tasteful and ferocious chops inspiring a legion of imitators, Denison continues to set definitive standards for aggressive, dynamic guitarists everywhere.
Learning is not code; you cannot be programmed to perfection. Sometimes that can be frustrating for musicians trying to improve, but it’s a good thing. Music doesn’t belong on a standardized test, after all. That being said, there are various approaches to teaching. There are military-like instructors, friendly older-sibling types who guide you along, and styles that fall all along the spectrum of possibility. The eclectic mix of teachers on Lessonface is very indicative of this diversity of thought.
It's not often you mix a decade of teaching experience and a Berklee education with youth and a budding recording career. But Ian Thomas McCulloch, 28 and from Austin, Texas, is not your average rocker. He's the frontman for Stonefeather, an LA-based funk-rock trio that just released its first full-length album, "California Air,” and one of the latest additions to Lessonface's stable of great teachers.
