Tate Peterson | Instructor Bio

What Instruments do you teach?
Guitar, Piano, Bass, Drums, and Ukulele

What is your teaching philosophy?
Even when a student is working hard on a difficult skill or concept, it should always be with a goal of something fun or inspiring – whether it is a song that you love or a style that you aspire to. Music is a spiritual journey. Music is a language that must be spoken with others in order to grow.

How long have you been teaching music? At YMP?
I began teaching music while still in college around 2001, and I started at YMP in Fall of 2012.

What do you expect from your students?
The main thing I expect from students is an open mind. In other words, I hope students will come to music class every week ready to learn new ideas, make mistakes, break old habits, and have new experiences. These things are essentials to exploring the vast world of music.

About Tate
Musicianship just happened for Tate. He knew when he sat at the piano picking out little melodies that he really enjoyed it, and he knew that when he learned a song that he loved it was a great feeling. Tate took piano lessons from about ages 7 to 11. Around the time he entered his teens, he realized his deep enjoyment of playing meant that he wanted to be a musician. He began guitar lessons at age 13 and continued this study course until he graduated from university.

Tate graduated with a B.A. in Music from the University of Oregon in 2005. Tate’s favorite band has always been The Beatles, his favorite composer is Debussy, and he loves classic blues, R&B, jazz, soul, and most other American roots-music styles. He is very often influenced and inspired by his own students and their joy of playing the music they love. In his free time, Tate plays guitar and sing in several Portland area bands and leads and manages his own band, The Resolectrics. In addition to regular gigs with his various groups, he also plays frequent solo gigs on acoustic guitar and vocals.