Teacher Profile: Blake Madden

About Blake Madden

Blake Madden is a composer and multi-instrumentalist who has been performing and making his own music since he was 13 years old. His primary instruments are bass and guitar.

Blake grew up in Miami, Florida, but has also lived in South Africa, Japan, and New York. He began his music career with six months of guitar lessons, but then was mostly self-taught and self-developed for the next 15 years, playing bass in punk and avant bands and making extensive home recordings on cassette 4-tracks.

After feeling the limits of his skills and knowledge in his late 20s, Blake began to seriously study music theory and composition through the Pacific Northwest Film scoring program, as well as studying electric bass with Todd Kovell at Seattle School of Strings (where he later taught).

In that ten year period, Blake was the bass player and musical director for Seattle's premiere Prince tribute band, Purple Mane, and the bassist, lead singer, and principal composer for his own noir pop group, Hotels. Blake has performed live on KEXP, and at Seattle festivals like Bumbershoot and Capitol Hill Block Party.

Blake is able to incorporate his two disparate musical paths into his teaching style, connecting with students first on a DIY 'I want to make noise NOW!' level, then easing them into theory fundamentals based on his own memories of how humbling and challenging it can initially feel. Blake's favorite teaching moments are when he can explain a musical concept in a more digestible, relatable way so that the 'lightbulb' clicks on for the student.