Matthew Berger

I think that emotional responses are the best way to improve our artistry, while structure and routine improve our performance skills and understanding of musical language. I try to balance the repetitive exercises and challenges with laughs, surprises, and trying to get students to creatively listen to the colorful palette of sounds. In the process, I also want to learn what music inspires them as we work towards our specific goals as musicians. Guitar is my area of expertise (electric, acoustic, bass), and I perform in various genres, including jazz and fusion, pop, hip hop, metal and rock, folk as well as various types of world music. I think of song repertoire as our structure and language, rhythm as our grounding and exercise, and melodies and scales as our expression of feelings.