Welcome to the website of Jonathan Weiss, an emerging professional composer based in New Haven, CT.

Testimonials

Jonathan’s deep generosity of nature… turns the classroom into an astonishingly generative space not just for himself, but for everyone.” – Ardis Butterfield, Professor of English, French and Music at Yale
Music is not just his field of study, but also how he has selflessly served others.” – Tina Lu, Professor of East Asian Languages & Literatures at Yale

Composition Lessons

Composing is fun, meticulous, and vulnerable all at once, and it is a practice that often requires intense emotional and mental concentration. Jonathan’s process-oriented, Socratic, and kind approach to teaching composition largely emulates that of his long-time teacher and mentor, Howard Frazin. Frazin focuses on growing a self-awareness of the inner dialogue between the subconscious and the conscious. The better a sense we gain of our inner emotional world, the better we can represent it on the page in a way that will resonate effectively with our audiences. It may sound daunting to probe into our emotions like this, but the fact is, the very act of creating new music is itself an act of transferring a part of ourselves into an abstracted musical form.

Jonathan is eager to work with composers at any level. He believes every composer is an interdisciplinary superhero, and emphasizes exercises like composing ekphrastic responses to non-musical art, writing up musical analyses (especially if the music is “bad” or hard to understand), and applying mathematical or structural principles to break out of creative ruts.

Music Theory & Ear Training Lessons

With three years of experience as a Music Theory Peer Tutor for Yale’s Department of Music, Jonathan is ready to nerd out with you about music theory (or, at the very least, help you enjoy this useful tool a bit more). He will meet you at your experience level and set goals with you for hearing melody, harmony, rhythm, instrumentation, or structure based on classical, jazz, or pop principles. He also offers targeted tutoring and support for students of AP Music Theory, leaning on the textbook Tonal Harmony, by Kostka, Payne and Almén.

Piano Lessons

Have you ever looked at a piece of sheet music and felt like your eyes were swimming in a sea of indecipherable runes? Or have you ever gotten so frustrated practicing a single measure that you were ready to quit piano? Jonathan has been there, and he is especially eager to help students who feel discouraged or stuck. Pianists aren’t robots. We are expressive artists, and human beings, and it is possible to practice our beautiful instrument with creativity, curiosity, and intuition. Jonathan is thrilled to provide tailored, person-centered piano teaching that does involves not only repertoire and scales (although those are great), but also ear training, improvisation exercises, and skills for managing emotions during practice.

The man who has many answers
is often found
in the theaters of information
where he offers, graciously,
his deep findings.

While the man who has only questions,
to comfort himself, makes music.

Mary Oliver