Teacher Profile: Nate McLean

About Nate McLean

Nate McLean is an accomplished teacher, performer, and music engineer based in the Northern VA area. As a multi-instrumentalist, he teaches violin, guitar, and piano to students as young as age 5 through adults.

Nate began playing the violin at the age of 5 following the Suzuki method. He began his piano studies in middle school, and added guitar in high school. He regularly performs at gigs around the area on the violin and works as a music producer to release original songs on streaming platforms. His teaching style is fun and energetic, and is based on what learning style works best for that particular student.

Nate has taught violin to students of all levels ranging from complete beginner to advanced, working on vibrato, shifting, and advanced repertoire. He received a minor in music education at George Mason University, specializing in Suzuki Violin training for beginner students. He also studied specialized strategies for improving sound quality and tone for advanced violin students. He emphasizes relaxed muscles while playing regardless of the sound output, and strong fundamentals for tone quality and intonation.

As a guitar instructor, Nate has worked with beginner and intermediate students, working up through techniques such as bar chords, tabs, scales, and improvisation. He has strong strong fundamentals in jazz guitar and loves to incorporate active ear training, improvisation, and jazz theory with more advanced students. Nate has taught many younger students as complete beginners using the Alfred method books, slowly introducing concepts and building technique. He has worked with older students using Hal Leonard tabs, jazz, and basic method books as well.

In addition to teaching upper orchestral strings and guitar, Nate teaches piano and believes it is an excellent foundational instrument within all music study. He especially enjoys working with beginner and intermediate students who are developing a sense of note-reading

and music theory, working up though Faber, Alfred, or John Thompson method books. He incorporates strong fundamentals of playing technique aimed at remaining relaxed and powerful. He also emphasizes finger studies to help with dexterity necessary for chords, articulation, and finger patterns using both hands. For beginners, especially younger students, he uses a number of fun games to keep the student engaged.

Nate began teaching in 2013, and quickly learned that he had a love for working with kids. His mission is to create a positive and engaging learning environment for every student that he teaches. He is excited to continue to teach for LIYH and inspire more students.