Ricky has taught students privately for the past several years. He is competent when teaching guitar techniques, improvisation/composition, digital music composition, mixing and production techniques, orchestration, theory, notation, and more. In terms of character development, Ricky helps his students become more creative and freethinking individuals. Maintaining a fun atmosphere is often the number one priority. If a student feels like he/she is forcing their music, Ricky can help them turn music making into a more therapeutic experience.
Ricky took lessons for 10+ years and learned from many renowned musicians. Just some of these musicians are Miroslav Tadic, Stuart Fox, Woody Aplanalp, Jxel Rajchenberg, Julian Kleiss, Charles Anthony Gloria Fisher, Klaus Luchs, and Dan MacIntyre. At California Institute of the Arts, Ricky also studied with many other professional musicians. In addition to helping him compose and perform, they provided him with a deep understanding of music history across time and space, and a theoretical understanding of many different kinds of music. This helps him to better understand the musical interests of his students.
During the summer of 2015, Ricky was a band leader for several teenage groups that met at least every other day at Beam Camp, in New Hampshire. Pulling from his fairly extensive history playing in different groups, Ricky helped the kids learn to collaborate and make meaningful creative music together. Sounds coming from the rehearsal and performance spaces evolved quite noticeably over time. What was once chaotic and unpleasant became more balanced and pleasant.