Richard Boukas

Apart from his teaching at New School University Jazz and Contemporary Music in New York City, New York Jazz Workshop and numerous guest artist residencies, Richard maintains a robust teaching studio dedicated to private and semi-private study in a wide scope of music disciplines and levels.

An internationally acclaimed educator with forty years of university teaching experience, Richard designs a custom-tailored course of study to serve each musician's unique interests and plot a solid path to higher levels of creative expression, technical fluency and theoretical knowledge.

Richard teaches all adult musicians: professional, college, pre-college and enthusiasts:

GUITARISTS, VOCALISTS, WOODWINDS, BRASS, STRINGS.

COMPOSERS, ARRANGERS

He is fluent in Portuguese and conversational in French, Spanish and Japanese.

MUSICIANS usually have multiple interests they would like to explore in the same lesson. 

For example:

• ESSENTIAL SKILLS: improvisation, ear training, theory, notational skills (sightreading, transcribing)

• STYLISTIC GENRES: Jazz, Brazilian or Classical music: repertoire expansion & memorization

• COMPOSITION, ARRANGING

All lessons are enhanced with musical handouts, scores, recordings, practice exercises with audio files, video links, etc. 

IN-PERSON and REMOTE LESSONS ARE TWO HOURS LONG.  

For optimum continuity, LESSONS and LESSON BLOCKS are scheduled at minimum every two weeks on the same day and time. 

Musicians who are visiting from abroad or outside the New York City area for a finite period of time can arrange special study intensives where lessons are scheduled with greater frequency (ex. weekly).

Prior to the first meeting, Richard requests background input from the student(s) by e-mail, identifying their short and longterm creative goals, stylistic interests and self-assessed skill levels in different musical disciplines. 
 

Materials are then carefully selected so that the first lesson is a substantive, focused session with a high degree of specificity and individualized attention.

Richard is very proactive in maintaining contact with students between lessons by e-mail. This additional contact between sessions promotes essential continuity and forms a dynamic mentoring relationship. Such contact includes answering lesson-related questions, reviewing assigned work, sending digital print, audio and video links as supplementary materials.

LESSON DOCUMENTATION and MATERIALS

All online lessons can be video recorded on ZOOM and downloaded by the student shortly after it is rendered.

For in-person lessons, the student is welcome to record the lesson as a voice memo on their smartphone.

To archive any digital materials (PDF handouts, audio files)
Richard sets up a private Google Drive folder for the student. 

NOTE: All lesson recordings, private lesson digital files and Google Drive links are for the exclusive use by the individual student ONLY, and are NOT for public distribution or dissemination.

ONLINE STUDY

In addition to sessions in his private studio, Richard offers Distance Learning via ZOOM.

As with all his in-studio teaching, online lessons are supported by
musical handouts, scores, practicing exercises and online critiques of student work.

PAYMENT is processed primarily through Venmo (@Richard-Boukas) on mobile devices within the U.S.

INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS

For international online payments, some transaction fees may apply. This cost is added to the lesson fee and paid by the student.

For more information, current RATES and to schedule a REMOTE LESSON:

E MAIL RICHARD

____________________

SEMI-PRIVATE and GROUP LESSONS
can be arranged for TWO and up to SEVERAL participants. Rates vary accordingly.

____________________

MAKE-A-MASTERCLASS

Do you have a group of fellow musicians interested in the same musical topics?

You can coordinate your own MASTERCLASS with Richard via ZOOM. 
Participants can live anywhere in the world!

During the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond, this is an economically viable and fun way to study.

The more musicians who enroll, the per-student fee is reduced.

For more details on organizing your MASTERCLASS:

E MAIL RICHARD

____________________

BLOCK DISCOUNT RATES

For musicians who wish to study on a regular basis, 

PREPAID LESSON BLOCKS of EIGHT HOURS (4 LESSONS) are available at a 10% DISCOUNT. 

CLICK for MORE INFORMATION and TERMS for LESSON BLOCK STUDY

__________________

TRIAL LESSON

Before booking a LESSON BLOCK, you can schedule a SINGLE LESSON at FULL RATE.