

Brendan's profile and their contact details have been verified by our experts
Brendan
- Rate $36
- Response 1h
-
Students11
Number of students Brendan has taught since their arrival at Superprof
Number of students Brendan has taught since their arrival at Superprof

$36/h
1st lesson free
- Songwriting
Composition and songwriting lessons from a professional composer! Learn the mechanics of music making that will allow you to express yourself through song.
- Songwriting
Lesson location
Super Prof
Brendan is one of our best Songwriting tutors. They have a high-quality profile, verified qualifications, a quick response time, and great reviews from students!
About Brendan
I have over a decade of experience writing pop songs, composing and arranging for jazz ensembles (from trio to big band), and performing my own songs on guitar and keyboards for live audiences. I've also written and performed classical art song, solo piano compositions, and duo works. As a composition and theory instructor, I'm also able to help you understand resources you've found yourself, whether those resources are theory textbooks, classical pieces, or harmonic treatises. My experience teaching theory at the university level allows me to help students through the basics of harmony and classical form.
About the lesson
- Beginner
- Intermediate
- Advanced
- +6
levels :
Beginner
Intermediate
Advanced
Proficient
Children
1st year
2nd year
3rd year
4th year
- English
All languages in which the lesson is available :
English
If you've ever wanted to express yourself through music, overcome writer's block, or learn the mechanics of harmony and composition, get in touch with me.
I use guided listening, score study, and theory knowledge to help a student through the mechanics of composition and songwriting.
As a teacher I believe in cutting to the chase - I want to look at the type of music you want to write and guide you through it. Let's analyze the music of your favourite artists and discover what they're doing.
Review
All of our reviews are collected by us and are 100% reliable. They correspond to a real experience lived by students with Brendan.
Perfect! Brendan is extremely knowledgable in all areas of musical composition and is great answering complex question in a way you can understand.
- Brendan's response :
View more reviews
Recommendations
Recommendations come from relatives, friends and acquaintances of the teacher
Brendan is a compassionate human being, an exceptional communicator, and a deeply committed artist. He always guides his students, as well as colleagues who seek his advice, with patience, humor, and deep insight. He has a great ear for musical detail, the ability to diagnose and solve technical issues, and the ability to distill complex music theory concepts into smaller, comprehensible bits for the uninitiated. I cannot recommend Brendan highly enough as a music educator.
Goodness gracious I could write a lengthy essay about how working and taking lessons from Brendan has improved my music skills but here are a few: 1) He is so patient. He does not rush me and does not expect me to play the concepts that we have done in lessons correctly on the spot. He understands that we are just students and learning but does these exercises to introduce the student. 2) Accessibility! He responds in a timely manner! I occasionally message Brendan at an unholy hour and typically he responds. It is really helpful when im practicing and have a couple of questions that have come up in my own practice. 3) Material and content of lessons. Ive never had jazz piano lessons before ( It was classical piano before) and the discoveries we make during lessons and out of lessons I feel are applicable to any jazz piano player. If im not particularly feeling a topic, Brendan will pick up on it and steer a little to try to introduce the information correctly in a different way. But eventually I will be listening and practicing on my own and what we had discussed, that wasnt interesting to me, will come up and then it makes sense why he covered it. I dont feel like my time is being tossed around when we are in lessons. We have fun during our lessons and have great discussion but it somehow ties back to the lesson of the day.
Brendan is an excellent teacher and musician. I've had lessons from many piano teachers in the past, none of whom I've felt have had such a deep knowledge of both piano technique and musicology; learning from Brendan feels like a series of revelations you wish you knew sooner. His enthusiasm for the piano is contagious, and he's approachable, friendly, and a great listener - lessons with him are always a blast. If you're looking to improve your piano playing and/or musicianship, you're in safe hands with Brendan!
Brendan is a very good teacher. I’ve been playing piano for the last 28 years. He has been a source of motivation, structured my practice, broke down complex concepts and simplified them for me. I think I’m in a much better spot and his constant help and support has been invaluable.
Brendan has been incredibly helpful in helping me piece together technique and theory to accelerate my jazz playing. He is able to come up with exercises that don't feel like chores to build foundational skills while also helping me explore my sound in different sylistic contexts.
Brendan is a piano teacher who encourages our sons interests, and challenges him. This year my son has more initiative to practice and truely seems to enjoy piano. Brendan is a great piano teacher and a talented piano player.
Brendan is amazing!!!! Brendan was my first piano teacher and truly helped me gain key concepts about playing the piano, but also about music in general. He taught me about scales, chords, technique, repertoire, improvisation, interpretation, harmony, and analysis. He pushed me to develop my own practice and helped me understand myself as a learner. He also encouraged me to gain my own understand of music through the venues that most interested me. Learning with him was fun! He is a super accommodating, kind person who listens to your specific needs as a learner and takes them seriously.
Brendan and I met just over five years ago and even then he was an outstanding musician, pianist and individual. We quickly became colleagues. I've always admired Brendan's dedication, work ethic, enthusiasm and acute attention to detail with everything he does musically and in life. I know Brendan McGrath to be an amazing teacher; he's extremely great at explaining things, has an extensive knowledge of the piano, and notices small things a lot of others normally wouldn't. I've learned a lot from Brendan.
Brendan and I have worked together for over five years, as a duo and in various quartet ensembles. He is a brilliant pianist and educator who is dedicated to his craft.
Having taken several lessons from Brendan myself, his lessons are clear, concise, and gives his students the material they need to succeed. I would recommend Brendan to anyone from any musical background and skill level that is interested in learning and having fun along the way!View more recommendations
Rates
Rate
- $36
Pack rates
- 5h: $162
- 10h: $323
online
- $36/h
free lessons
This first lesson offered with Brendan will allow you to get to know each other and clearly specify your needs for your next lessons.
- 30mins
Other tutors in Songwriting
Dr Ethan Lustig
Los Angeles & online
- $100/h
Ari
Los Angeles & online
- $85/h
Sierra
Los Angeles & online
- $90/h
- 1st lesson free
Kieran
New York & online
- $55/h
- 1st lesson free
Theo
Athens & online
- $50/h
- 1st lesson free
Jesse
Post Falls & online
- $60/h
- 1st lesson free
Maira
Miramar & online
- $100/h
Zak
Los Angeles & online
- $75/h
Jaime
Boston & online
- $80/h
- 1st lesson free
Jeff
Fontana & online
- $82/h
John
Beverly Hills & online
- $60/h
- 1st lesson free
Andres
Ocala & online
- $18/h
- 1st lesson free
Chris
New York & online
- $90/h
- 1st lesson free
Nina
Port Washington & online
- $39/h
- 1st lesson free
Pierre
San Francisco & online
- $65/h
- 1st lesson free
Ömer
Bowling Green & online
- $35/h
- 1st lesson free
Liv
Los Angeles & online
- $85/h
Trevor Beats
West Hollywood & online
- $45/h
- 1st lesson free
Lucas
Brooklyn & online
- $30/h
- 1st lesson free
Timothy
Countryside & online
- $25/h
- 1st lesson free
-
See Songwriting tutors