WillYouLearn teacher · Piano · Guitar · Drums · Voice
Jose Urrea.
Multi-instrumentalist · Educator · Music therapist
Jose is a pianist, guitarist, drummer, singer and educator whose musical life moves easily across instruments and styles. At WillYouLearn he teaches piano, guitar, drums and voice, helping students build real musical skills while following the things that make them curious.
Teaches
Piano · Guitar · Drums · Voice
Education
PhD · Music Education / Music Therapy
NYU Steinhardt
In-home
Lower Manhattan · Select Brooklyn
About Jose
Four instruments. One musician.
Jose is the kind of multi-instrumentalist for whom piano, guitar, drums and voice are not separate worlds.
He plays piano, guitar, drums and percussion, sings, composes and performs. His musical work moves through Latin American music, salsa, rock, pop, classical music and contemporary performance.
That breadth can be especially useful for students who are still discovering where they fit musically. A piano student might explore rhythm at the drums. A singer can begin accompanying a song on guitar. A drummer can use the keyboard to start understanding harmony.
The point is not to collect instruments. It is to understand music from more than one angle.
Musician first
Across instruments, across styles.
Jose's musicianship is unusually broad. His work at NYU included performance across piano, guitar and voice, classical guitar, original composition and drums.
His playing also moves through original piano music, Latin repertoire, guitar and voice, live drums, conga and salsa, and ensemble performance in New York and abroad.
For students, that means the instrument never has to become a box. Rhythm, harmony, melody, singing and improvisation can all become different ways into the same music.
The lesson
Start with the student.
Jose's teaching is responsive rather than predetermined. He pays attention to the student in front of him: what catches their ear, how they learn, what motivates them and what kind of challenge will move them forward.
For one student, that might mean learning a favorite song by ear. Another might be working on reading, technique and repertoire. Someone else may want to improvise, sing while playing guitar, understand a groove or write something of their own.
There is still direction and there are still skills to build. But students do not have to fit a single predetermined path in order to become musicians.
Jose works with children, teens and adults and is particularly comfortable adapting to different ways of learning and communicating.
Music + people
Listening means more than hearing the notes.
Alongside his work as a musician and teacher, Jose is a board-certified music therapist and a certified Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapist.
His background has given him extensive experience working with people who learn, communicate and engage with music in very different ways.
For a private teacher, that translates into something simple but important: Jose has a large set of tools for figuring out how to reach the person sitting across from him.
WillYouLearn lessons with Jose are music lessons, not clinical music therapy. His music-therapy work is part of the experience and perspective he brings into the room as an educator.
Watch
Jose playing.
The easiest way to understand Jose's teaching is to hear him make music. His work moves between instruments and styles, but listening, rhythm and expression stay at the center.
Availability
Learn with Jose.
Jose is currently building his WillYouLearn teaching schedule on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays.
Wednesday
11 AM onward · flexible into the evening
Thursday
12–6 PM
Friday
1–7 PM
In-home lesson area
Throughout Lower Manhattan and select Brooklyn neighborhoods. Exact availability depends on Jose's teaching route.
Learn with Jose.
Jose teaches piano, guitar, drums and voice through WillYouLearn. Tell us about the student, where you are and what they want to play. We'll take it from there.