Teacher Profile: Josh Cergas

About Josh Cergas

Josh Cergas is an American composer, guitarist and keyboardist from New York's Hudson Valley. He graduated Cum Laude in 2015 with a B.M. in Music Theory and Composition from New York University's Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development. While in school, he scored films that have debuted at film festivals including the Tribeca Film Festival as well as the Los Angeles Film Festival. He has composed solo and chamber works that have premiered throughout the New York Metropolitan area. After receiving his degree from NYU, he moved to New Orleans where he worked as a paraprofessional at The Chartwell Center teaching music fundamentals to developmentally disabled children during the day and gigging in the French Quarter at night. He relocated to downstate New York to teach music theory at the Storm King School and joined the faculty of the New Windsor Music Academy, maintaining between fifty to sixty private students a week.

Cergas began studying music with private piano instruction at five years old. By ten years old he was taking guitar lessons that spanned the pedagogical spectrum of classical and electric playing techniques. At fourteen he began studying composition and by sixteen he was preparing to commence an undergraduate degree in music. Along the way he has studied with many instructors including Mike Beninger, Martin Smith, Matti Kovler, Jerica Oblak, and David Arner.

Cergas' approach to music education revolves around the core principle of fostering a sense of interest in music by dividing lessons into thirds; technique, reading, and what the student wants to play. The technique and reading portions are comprised of materials provided by Cergas to give the student the literary ability and technical dexterity to accomplish the most important component, to be able to play the songs they are interested in.

Outside of teaching, Josh Cergas has performed extensively as a solo classical guitarist, and as an ensemble player on both electric guitar and keyboards. In mid 2020, he relocated to the Washington D.C. / Northern Virginia to pursue a J.D. from George Washington University Law School with the intention of working alongside musicians to help secure them fair and just compensation for their societal contributions.