Ted Wirt - BIO

Ted Wirt came from a musical family of professional and ametuer musicians. In elementary school starting in 3rd grade, Ted played recorder, clarinet, piano, and tenor sax. He joined the high school band in 6th grade. In high school, he formed a jazz/rock band with friends and became a working musician immediately following high school. This coincided with study at Berklee College of Music and later Westfield State College. Ted sang in the chorus and played in the Jazz Rock Ensemble (saxophones and woodwinds) and Wind Philharmonia (bass clarinet, oboe). He also played gigs with college friends at this time. After college, Ted worked teaching lessons at local music stores and worked as an instrumental music instructor at St. Thomas School in West Springfield while performing local big band and R&B gigs. After five years, he moved up the Valley for an eight year assignment at Mohawk TRHS in Shelburne Falls teaching vocal and instrumental music grades 3-12. During this time he pursued a Master's Degree at Westfield State College in Moderate Special Needs. This led to an assignment at Landmark College in Putney, VT as a language instructor and developed a full music program at the college as Music Programs Director. During this time Ted also developed NewEnglandLiveMusic.com and performed extensively with New Orleans saxophonist Charles Neville.

The most important thing is to help the students be comfortable,
every student brings some type of strength

My Approach to Teaching

The most important thing is to help the students be comfortable. Every student brings some type of strength. I seek to help my students build upon those strengths using a lot of positive reinforcement. I play music with my students in the lesson with pre-recorded tracks. This helps them develop tone, pitch, and timing instinctively. Sight-reading proficiency developed by playing duets helps introduce students to the many different styles of music. I encourage students to memorize and share their musical talent in the community. In 2010, Ted returned to Massachusetts working in Special Education at Greenfield High School and teaching music at the Rose Dixwell School of music in Charlemont and Falcetti Music in Springfield. In 2019, after 40 years of teaching, Ted retired from public school work but continues live appearances with NewEnglandLiveMusic.com and instrumental music lessons.