"Hi! I'm Taylor, a professional music producer and DJ. I have been teaching and working with students since 2016. I tailor my curriculum and lesson plans individually to each student. I find ways to use their individual strengths to work on their weaknesses and I provide additional resources and practice assignments to reinforce skills. I create detailed lesson plans for each scheduled lesson including the example loops that I create for students to recreate.

I primarily focus on 3 main areas of the music production process: pre-planning, composition and sound selection, and mixing. Within the pre-planning realm, I discuss how to organize file folders, and how to keep single project files organized when working with the software, I encourage students to read articles and take notes, to take notes of tutorials, and to spend sessions just creating MIDI clips or audio loops to curate a portfolio of sounds and loops that they can use in future projects. In terms of composition, I focus on making sure that the fundamental elements of the track are present and sound as good as possible before moving onto FX and additional ear candy. The core elements that I focus on are making a catchy melody, a strong harmonic and chord foundation, a funky bassline, and detailed drum programming. When it comes to mixing I focus on the 4 primary stages of the mixing process: gain staging, EQ, compression, and sound adjustments (including reverb, delay, etc.).

In terms of my background, graduated from McGill University, where I engaged in a dual degree program to get a full music degree from one of the world's top conservatories and an education degree from the McGill Department of Education. I specialize in SEL-based strategies, inner-city learning experiences, and UX design in my lesson plans and curriculum. I own my own record label and I founded LPCA (Lesson Planning and Curriculum Assistance), a service to help educators provide the best quality lessons for their students." less...