"I tell my students that the best thing to say when somebody asks you if you play this kind of music is yes, because then you can get the gig. So when you’re at Berklee you should learn as many different things as you can. Matt Garstka is a guy I use as an example. He was the drummer in the first heavy metal ensemble, and he plays with the band Animals as Leaders. They’re one of the top progressive bands in the world. He was rated all sevens. You don’t get all sevens just knowing how to play heavy metal; you have to know all the different styles."

"We all have a destiny, and I try to make students realize that each of them is an individual unique unto itself and you don't have to run anyone else's race. Sometimes I get students that are overwhelmed because there are so many great players at Berklee. So I just try to connect the fact that if we can find the one unique part abut us, that's what's gonna make you separate from the masses. The upside is that we all have something to contribute. No matter what. I think each student has something that the world can only get from that particular student. It's up to that student to, with integrity, work and develop that skill to bring it to fruition."

"In my MP&E classes, I try to look at many of the small details of production that otherwise would have a tendency to go unnoticed. In my ensembles, I like to be 'part specific.' I look at how the drums and bass are interacting. I look at how the harmonic instruments are interacting. Are they playing in appropriate registers? Are the parts complementing or fighting each other? Once we get the tune up and running, the players have more liberty to embellish their parts—within the framework of the tune. The song comes first. All improvisational ideas are drawn from the song."

"Attitudes can have a huge impact on the speed at which we learn. A dangerous attitude is when a student labels and oversimplifies a musical concept and dismisses it too easily because the term might not sound impressive. In a recent ensemble, a good bass player was having trouble improvising over a tune in G minor. He didn't have a focus in his approach, so I recommended he try G minor pentatonic. He said he didn't want to play 'autopilot pentatonic.' That stopped everything for me. 'You can't discount pentatonic,' I said. 'It's probably 85 percent of the language of this music that we're playing. Learn the language of pentatonic first, innovate later.' A mindset like that is a trap I want to help students avoid."