Mike Ranelli
About
Ignite your musical journey! Eastman School of Music graduate, percussionist and licensed music educator with years of pro orchestra experience (National Symphony, Washington National Opera & more!) offers dynamic virtual lessons in drums, percussion, piano and beginner brass/woodwinds. Let's make music together!
Teaching Style
I teach beginning to advanced percussion, beginner to intermediate piano, and beginner to intermediate woodwinds and brass.
On ALL instruments, I emphasize fundamentals: music reading skills, posture, technique and tone quality to set up any student for future success.
For woodwinds and brass: I approach these from the band director perspective - achieving good sound and reading skills so that the student may be successful in a elementary and middle school band program and enjoy performing with others.
For Drums and Percussion: I take a “total percussion” approach to teaching. I help students become complete musicians by developing fundamental proficiency on all major percussion instruments. My students will succeed in diverse musical situations, including concert band, orchestra, jazz band, marching band, percussion ensemble, and solo performance.
Curriculum
For percussion, I use too many method books and exercises to list here. For woodwinds and brass, I can either suggest a method book, or, if you're in a school band program, we can work with the method book you're currently using so that you can be on top of things in band class.
For Percussion, here's an outline of the curriculum you can expect:
Rudimental snare drum - proper grip and stroke, memorize and execute all 40 rudiments, perform solos in the rudimental (a.k.a. marching) style
Concert snare drum - develop a musical approach to drumming, to include sensitive dynamics, phrasing
and understanding of complex rhythms
Mallets (xylophone, marimba, bells) - read treble and bass clef, learn scales and arpeggios, proper
technique, perform solos in the classical style, memorization. 4-mallet studies for more advanced
Students.
Timpani - develop proper grip, stroke, rolls, sound quality, and tuning technique (ear training)
Drum Set - develop strong sense of time, coordination and independence. Proficiency in basic styles (jazz, rock, funk, latin, etc), fills, soloing, etc.
Accessories (cymbals, triangle, tambourine, concert bass drum, latin percussion) - Concepts of quality sound production and musical execution on all instruments
Sight Reading - music reading skills will be emphasized on all of the above instruments!
A word about the drum set:
It is natural for students to be attracted to the drum set. However, please be aware of my view that that developing dexterity, sight-reading and rhythm skills on a single drum is an essential prerequisite to success on the drum set. If you expect to “just learn drum set,” I may not be the right teacher for you. The faster you progress on snare drum and mallets, the more we can get into drum set!
Practice
Success is a habit! Regular practice is very important to the success of your child. Without it, even the most talented student will not improve much. Students should expect to practice a minimum of 20-30 minutes, three to five days per week. Advanced students with an interest in pursuing music in college should expect to devote at least an hour per day. I will work with each student to develop a practice plan. Parents can play an important role by following up on student practice.
Credentials & Affiliations
Graduate of the Eastman School of Music - Bachelor of Music in Applied Music (Percussion). Studied with: John H. Beck, John R. Beck, John Tafoya, Erik Forrester, Don Ranelli.
Certified music educator in Maryland (pre-k through 12th grade).
Member, National Association for Music Education (NAfME) and Maryland Music Educators Association
Adjudicator: Numerous honors and all-state auditions, as well as Solo and Ensemble Festivals.