Mike is hands down the greatest music instructor I've ever had the privilege of learning from. I decided to take up drum lessons after about 15 years of messing around with bass and guitar and was incredibly fortunate to have stumbled upon Mike. I've been working with him for over two years now and musically, it has been a life-changing experience. Mike has a really incredible understanding of his instrument not just as a musician, but as a teacher. Through many decades of different types of music instruction, Mike is the first teacher I've had that can analyze when I say a particular pattern or structure is tripping me up to figure out why that's the case and then give me specific exercises to address the issue my brain and/or body are having. He manages to make even the most basic parts of practice interesting by explaining how they ultimately fit into the broader picture. In terms of teaching songs and catering to a student's interests, Mike has an incredible ability to find the uniqueness and talent in basically any song across multiple, varying genres. Overall, my time with Mike has not only allowed me to get better at drumming, but to have a much better understanding of music as a whole. As I told him recently (and I mean this as a complement), working with Mike has in many ways "ruined" listening to music for me as my brain now often gets pulled towards hearing drum parts and notating them in my head when I'm just trying to listen to a song :) I have nothing but great things to say about Mike as an instructor and look forward to continuing to learn from him for many more years to come! read more