Offering guitar lessons at an individual, 4-week, and 12-quarter rates beginning at $40 with tuition assistance available. Learn more about rates and Dr. Zisa’s approach to teaching here and his Collegia Musica curriculum below. Contact Dr. Peter Joseph Zisa to schedule your first lesson.
Phone: 503-307-4907
Email: ZisaAcademy@gmail.com
Lesson Pricing
Collegia Musica’s curriculum includes solfeggio, music theory, composition, and improvisation (partimento). Its associated teachers are experienced performers and educators. The summer curriculum includes solfeggio, rhythm (drum circle), music theory, improvisation, and vocal and instrumental lessons.
Student-Centered Instruction Encouraging Play and Parent Participation
Step-by-step instructions are student-centered. The Collegium encourages parental involvement in the lessons. Each lesson is a learning step. Students are given music activities to practice and enjoy playing. Students are asked to practice and play 20 minutes daily for the first month. They are welcome to play as long as they want. The first lesson focuses on skill development: body position, guitar holding, and left-hand finger coordination exercises. They are also encouraged to discover tunes and make musical melodies on the guitar.
Students learn about musical tones, rhythm, and four notes: Do, Re, Mi, and Fa. They are instructed on how to position the guitar and their hands. They will develop and establish solid guitar skills using a few simple exercises. Their rhythm training begins with focusing on quarter notes (1 second) and two eighth notes (two tones, each equal to half a second). Students participating in the drum circle will count and play various rhythmic drum patterns. By the first month, children will know six notes on the guitar by name, play two simple chords and two simple tunes by memory.
Parents are encouraged to participate in their children’s learning experience by playing music together at home. In this way, music becomes a fun family and friend activity. The skill-development exercises help students develop finger strength, finger coordination, and finger independence. Improvement in playing skill depends on daily practice (15 minutes daily).
Dr Zisa’s Teaching Philosophy
My goal as an instructor is to help student experience the pleasure of making music.
My fundamental goal as a teacher is cultivating the love of learning and playing music. My teaching philosophy is that learning to play guitar begins with developing the necessary physical skills; this is best accomplished when the first experiences are simple, attainable, and enjoyable. Students’ success in skill development builds confidence and feeds the desire to learn more and become more skilled. Students who enjoy the experience of making music are more invested in practice.
Play time is enjoying music-making, a time to be enjoyed and treasured for a lifetime!
For me, studying music is more than learning to play agreeable tones in a scripted manner. The study of music is multifaceted; it is an expressive performing art. Students are encouraged to be creative and expressive when making music. I suggest students should play (for themselves and with others) at least as much as they practice. Playtime and practice time are not the same. Practice is focused on self-improvement, problem-solving, and attaining artistic refinement. Playtime, in contrast, is for enjoyment! It may include role-playing and expressing emotions with dynamics and tone. Playtime may include improvising, picking tunes out by ear, and playing music with friends. I believe music playtime is as important as practice. If one enjoys music playtime, they will be more likely to practice to improve.
Dr. Peter Joseph Zisa is an award-winning performer on the six and eight string guitar. Reviewers and audiences across the U.S. and abroad describe Zisa’s musicianship as “dynamic, sensitive, authentic, inspiring and emotionally expressive”. Zisa is grateful for his studies with David Grimes, and with legendary performers Maestro Andrés Segovia, José Rey de la Torre, José Tomas, and Oscar Ghiglia, who have contributed to his musical development.
Early Training and College Years
Zisa’s training on guitar began when he was ten years old with jazz guitarist Mike Sparr. After hearing Maestro Segovia perform, Zisa turned his attention to classical guitar, studying under Guy Horn, and began performing for audiences when he was thirteen years old. In his college years, Zisa performed extensively at universities and music festivals throughout southern California. In 1979, he was awarded first place in the annual Solo Classical Guitar Competition sponsored by the American String Teacher’s Association and was a semi-finalist in the Young Concert Artist Competition in 1983.
Masters and Doctoral Studies
Zisa holds a Masters Degree in classical guitar performance and a Ph.D. in Education. Zisa’s master’s thesis on Manuel Ponce’s Variations Sur “Folia de España” Et Fugue provides a performance analysis of one of the most influential 20th century works in the classical guitar repertoire. Maestro Segovia, in an interview with Zisa, described Ponce’s Folia Variations as a seminal work which best demonstrated the musical and technical capabilities of the guitar.
Zisa’s doctorate study examined the pedagogic impact of composing activities on the learning experiences of adult community college students. The study investigated whether composing activities would help students better understand and enjoy learning music theory. The study results indicated composing was helpful to adult college students, even those without music training. Ninety percent of the students reported they found composing an engaging, creative, and meaningful experience. Composing turned out to be a powerful motivator among adult students. This was especially noteworthy because 90% of the students had little previous music background. Composing, as a pedagogic tool, is to music theory what writing is to the study of grammar and syntax. There is a paucity of pedagogic materials instructing theory teachers at the community college and university on how to integrate composition in their lessons. In response, Dr. Zisa is currently working on completing a book to help music theory educators create compositional activities that make the learning content enjoyable, fascinating, and creative.
Recent Music and Educational Initiatives
Now a professor of music at Pacific University, Zisa has authored more than a dozen books and articles on topics ranging from music history and music theory to guitar pedagogy and education. His lecture-performances include programs on the music of Johann Sebastian Bach, Santiago De Murcia, Fernando Sor, Nicolò Paganini, Francesco Tárrega, Alexandre Tansman, Manuel Ponce and Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco. In 2007, Zisa formed the world-music ensemble Thousand Waves, featuring Yukiko Yamaguchi on koto and LeeAnn McKenna on flute, with its program theme “West Meets East,” and also instituted the Season of Lights Concert, an annual winter holiday tradition in the city of Portland, Oregon that brings together local musicians at The Old Church for a special, one-night-only musical event benefiting local charities. Zisa is an active supporter for the development and growth of the arts in the community and personally committed to supporting charitable organizations particularly those which benefit children and young people.
In the Spring of 2016, Zisa returned to Japan to give the keynote address for the five-year anniversary 2011 Earthquake-Tsunami and premiere an original composition dedicated to the city of Hiroshima. He also performed works by Vivaldi, Carulli and Ibert with classical guitarist Kazuhiko Yamada and flutist Naoko Hamamoto. An especially moving moment during Zisa’s time in Japan was his visit to the Peace Memorial in Hiroshima.
“Visiting the Peace Memorial was a powerfully moving experience. The stories of the individual lives tragically lost and the devastation of the entire population and landscape of the city was tremendously painful and sad to absorb and relive. How poignant it is to consider how little human leadership in the world has changed. Reflecting on the Peace Message of Hiroshima 70 years later, it is less important to blame the judgment of national leaders of the time than to accept the responsibility here and now to speak out bravely in defense of the innocent and do everything in our power to stand opposed to the tragic brutal taking of life; to be ‘as a voice crying out in the wilderness’ for peace.”
Zisa performs on a 1982 six-string and 1984 eight-string guitar, by master luthier Jeffery R. Elliott.
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