Justin Thomas Wall

I’m a conservatory educated musician with over 30 years of experience playing and writing, from folky fingerpicking to rock/metal, classical composition and film scoring to professional home studio recording. I have 7 years of private tutoring experience at a music store and now from home in Amherst, Massachusetts. 

I found my calling into music as a teenager and went off to conservatory, where I quickly discovered that teaching was a part of that calling. I was the "music theory nerd" many of my peers turned to with questions, and I enjoyed the process of helping them see what I saw, and sometimes figuring out things I didn't know yet together.

I spent my summers in the Berkshires, Massachusetts, working as a stagehand for the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s Tanglewood Music Center, where I was fortunate enough to have backstage conversations with luminaries like famed cellist Yo-Yo Ma and be immersed in music around world-class musicians.

After a few years as a public school substitute teacher in the suburbs outside Washington, D.C., I began teaching private lessons at that music store in Maryland for six years.

I spent 7 years living in Germany where I met a gifted filmmaker who loved my music, and began doing some film scoring, which utilizes all my musical abilities from playing guitar and piano, writing music in an extremely wide variety of styles (from gentle love songs to psychedelic rock  to recording/mixing/mastering in my professional home studio.

Works include a feature length film adaptation of Goethe's "Faust" and the short film "Und Raus Bist Du"; we currently have a cartoon in development which the German version of PBS has indicated they want to begin airing in 2026.

Previous clients include the James-Simon-Galerie in Berlin and many projects for the Freie Universität Berlin. Film scoring utilizes all my musical abilities from playing guitar and piano, writing music in an extremely wide variety of styles, and recording/mixing/mastering in my professional home studio.

I returned to the US in late 2022 and moved back to Massachusetts, sorely missing teaching. I began teaching private lessons from my home in Amherst, and am looking to expand into teaching online lessons.

From the beginner to the advanced, everyone has different aims with music and different ways of learning. I strongly believe in following where my students are being led by the muse, and believe my strength as a teacher lies in being able to see many different paths towards understanding and progress, and getting a feel for the approach each individual responds to best.

Whether you just want to enjoy playing by yourself at home as a hobby, rock out in a band, or take a deep dive into music theory/songwriting/composition/arranging (and even home recording or film scoring), I take sincere joy in helping you get there; it’s not just a job for me, but part of my life’s purpose.