Teacher Profile: Tristan Gianola

About Tristan Gianola

Tristan Gianola, guitar teacher, is an active musician on the Seattle music scene, both as a guitarist and composer. During his studies at Cornish College of the Arts he composed for and conducted numerous ensembles, both vocal and instrumental, taught ear training and music theory to fellow students and led and performed in Classical, Jazz and experimental ensembles. During his time at Cornish he studied composition with Emily Doolittle, Janice Giteck, Wayne Horvitz, Jarrad Powell and guitar with Dave Peterson.

Tristan performs regularly in multiple the Seattle area including his own original ensembles, and steps in as guitarist, composer, arranger and more for a wide variety of projects. On guitar he has specialized in metal, free improvisation, jazz, progressive rock, country, funk, R&B, folk and more. Current bands he plays in include Beth Fleenor's Boom Boom Band, Sydnee Ranee Band, SpiceRack, various Top 40 Funk bands, Ben Marx Ensemble, Being John Mclaughlin (tribute to Mahavishnu Orchestra) and his own strange but fun 80's-Rock-meets-Avante-Garde band. Past projects include Torture Garden, Music of Mancini, Music of Barbra Streisand & Karen Carpenter, Scary Music Ensemble, Film Improvisation Ensemble, Spontaneous Rex, Mullet and many more.

As a composer he has composed and arranged for orchestra, big band, wind ensemble, opera, chorus, string quartet, rock bands and various chamber ensembles. Always looking for more music to play, Tristan enjoys playing and sharing music experiences with anyone in any context, and enjoys spending his time listening and seeing music just for the fun. When it comes down to it for him, there is nothing like playing good old Rock & Roll.

When teaching guitar lessons Tristan works on developing the student by not only teaching them technically, but also by supporting them with encouragement.