My son started taking guitar lessons with Louis at DalMaestro in their [Manhattan UWS location] when he was just shy of 5, and we couldn’t be happier with the experience! Louis is incredibly kind, patient, and encouraging, and he has a wonderful ability to make learning both fun and engaging for young children. What impresses me most is how creative and thoughtful he is in his teaching. He incorporates games like Simon Says to help my son learn the parts of the guitar and play notes, has him listen for mistakes in measures that Louis plays (which has really helped develop his ear!), and even challenges him to identify whether chords are major, minor, diminished, etc. He has a great sense of when to push him a little further and when to change things up, and he’s particularly skilled at gently redirecting him when his five-year-old attention span starts to wander. Louis also makes a point of rewarding hard work by giving him opportunities to do the things he especially enjoys, like practicing his note writing. It’s clear that he really pays attention to what motivates each student and finds ways to build on their interests. In just a few months, I’ve been amazed by how much my son has learned and, more importantly, how much he genuinely enjoys his lessons. Louis strikes such a wonderful balance between making music fun and helping his students develop real skills. We feel very lucky to have found him and would highly recommend!
