A Brief Bio of James Weinberg, Music Teacher
After 7½ years of teaching at Belmont Academy, where he built his studio up to 40 students, James moved lessons to Holy Cross Anglican Church in Franklin in January 2008,
teaching on weekends and catering to the Brentwood-Franklin area. He currently has 20 students.
The question you're dying to ask...
No -- I am no relation to Uncle Max.
MAIN INDEX
Watch out for Raffiges!
A
native of Rochester, New York, I began piano lessons at age 5 with my
mother. In time I studied at a variety of private studios including the
Eastman School. After high school, I entered SUNY Fredonia as an organ
major, transferring to Stetson University in Deland FL. While raising a
young family, I entered Peabody Teacher's College in Nashville. Later I
trained as a Navy broadcast journalist, and once a civilian again, I
spent five years as a classical radio announcer & producer at WPLN.
In 1985, I completed a bachelor's degree in church music at Belmont
College (cum laude) and returned for a master's in music education, conferred in 1991. The area of emphasis for my M.M.E. degree was
Elementary/Primary Pedagogical Methodology (translation: how to teach music to kids in K-8). My internship was at Montessori Academy in Brentwood
teaching pre-school through 6th grade.
As
a teacher of piano, organ and theory, I specialize in beginning through
intermediate level, and accept students of all ages.
I also teach most styles, including jazz & pop. Theory and
improvisation are text (method) based, since I believe it's crucial to
have an intellectual comprehension of the principals of harmony, melody
and form. People who can play by ear already do so...may the force be
with them! I also do some vocal coaching, but this focuses on
interpretation rather than vocal production since I am an
instrumentalist.
You really don't know what
being an educator is all about until you've tried teaching music to a
group of 3 year olds! I've worked for local churches of every major
denomination as an accompanist, organist and
choir director. I hold membership in the American Guild of Organists and
am organist at Holy Cross Anglican Church in Franklin,
plus I work full-time for Vanderbilt in the Biochemistry Department. My
wife of 35 years, Carol, and I have two grown children, Benjamin and
Rebecca, two poodles (Bizet & Isaac) and two cats (Maurice &
Pierre). In our "spare time," you can generally find us at home in
Brentwood gardening and landscaping. Isaac in the Backyard
The greatest church musician who ever lived...age 35.
Bach later in life-- no one said this line of work was easy!
