Borland Educational

Books

DK: Help Your Kids with Music
Great starter book for novices on everything from notation, pitch, rhythm, intervals, melody, and harmony to form, styles, voicing, and more. Easy to use solo or with a teacher.

Music for Sight Singing
Robert Ottman's famous introduction to rhythm training, conducting, sight singing. Lots of graduated practice material. Older used editions are just as good and less expensive.

Rhythmic Training
Starer's book offers practice with more complex meters, divisions, and polyrhythms for students with basic knowledge of rhythm and notation. A classic resource.

Modus Novus
Lars Edlund's famous (infamous?) work for students of atonal sight singing and ear training. A much feared little book. Challenging, to say the least.

Alfred's Essentials of Music Theory
Introduction to music theory and ear training for beginners. Book and two CD's. Yet another classic music program resource.

Bach Riemenschneider
371 Bach Chorales and 69 Chorale melodies with figured bass. Enough material to keep hard working music students productively engaged for years. Free pdf here.

Gear

Midiplus AKM322 MIDI Keyboard Controller
Midi controller fits in a suitcase. 32 velocity-sensitive keys, piano-like feel, DAW, arpeggiator, pitch/mod, octave/transpose. Every music student needs a small keyboard like this one.

KLIQ MetroPitch
Three-in-one device: visual and audio metronome (multiple beats and rhythm patterns), tone generator, and instrument tuner.

Little Martin Guitar
3/4 size, big Martin sound, great playability, and easily portable. Excellent for small hands, travelers, beginners, and pros alike. Competing Baby Taylor guitar here.

Other

Rick Beato
Amazing musician and music teacher. Awesome instructional materials. Fantastic YouTube channel. If you're serious about popular music and music study, check him out.

Reddit Music Theory Forum
Wide-ranging reddit forum. Discussion threads cover just about all aspects of music theory and composition. Useful list of best theory apps and books here.

Best Ear Training
Music teaching site timtopham.com provides recommendations for aural training apps. More recommendations here. Beato course here.

MuseScore
Free, open source music notation software makes composing and publishing beautiful music almost easy. See: Mastering MuseScore and Mastering MuseScore Online.

Tabulature
Musical notation for fretted instruments indicating fingering rather than pitch. Common centuries ago, it's making a comeback with guitar/bass tabs. Additional info here and here.

Reviews

“Standardized tests are a necessary step in applying to colleges, and, with his support, I was able to achieve the scores I needed to be competitive. I am currently finishing a degree in physics at the University of Chicago and am immensely grateful for his help four years ago. His test taking strategies have also been very useful on the GRE while applying to graduate school physics programs. Thank you again, Chris!”

Ben F. (Student: 2013)

"[Chris’s] methods are extremely effective and he is one of the kindest, most supportive men I have ever had the pleasure of knowing.

"Working with him has been one of my best academic experiences and I congratulate Chris on his hard work and dedication to the success of his pupils."

Harrison M. (Student: 2017)

“His competence, compassion and ethics as a tutor are exemplary.

"Chris is a wonderfully friendly, sincere and caring human being. His personality is delightful, making the sessions enjoyable.”

Judy S. (Client: 2006)

"The students benefited from [Chris's] assistance, and we found him very personable, helpful and eager to learn new teaching techniques and philosophies.

I feel he would be an excellent addition to any tutoring staff."

Linda N. (Employer: 1980)

"I enjoyed working with Chris because he could explain things I did not understand and make them clear to me. Chris was very patient when it took me a while to understand things."

Martha S. (Student: 1993)

“Chris is a phenomenal math, PSAT, and SAT tutor. I studied with him for over three years and am so grateful for all of his invaluable knowledge and the confidence that he instilled in me as a math student.

"Now, years later, the same standardized test-taking skills that he taught me for the PSAT and SAT are helping me immensely in my LSAT prep.

"Chris is patient and efficient in his teaching. I would highly recommend him to everyone!”

Gary C. (Client: 2016)

"Chris Borland tutored my son and did an excellent job. He obviously is a very well qualified teacher and I recommend him without reservation."

David C. (Client: 1980)

Chris is also incredibly supportive, and recognizes when confidence is lagging. He holds his students accountable by giving them specific work and challenges and also rewards their gains, and is able to pivot his teaching style if a certain way of explaining things isn't working.

"I highly recommend Chris to any student who is studying for a standardized test ..."

A.S.M. (Client: 2021)

Most importantly, you taught Joey to understand that hard work does reap its own rewards. Joey did well enough in school and on the SATs to gain acceptance to a number of UC Schools, of which he chose UC Davis to attend. Thanks Chris for you effort and diligent tutoring of Joey the last three years, we really appreciate all that you did for him.

Larry L. (Client: 2005)

"Chris tutored my son for the SSAT test and … it was worth every penny. My son responded very well to him and developed learning strategies that [he's] using to this day."

Michal V. (Client: 2014)

"[Chris] has a keen sense of the orderly nature of learning, and did a particularly good job of helping students with the organizational work needed to excel at math ... one of the best young teachers I've seen."

Bruce S. (Administrator: 1985)

"[Chris] is patient, understanding, enthusiastic and always guides Andrew in the learning process with a very positive attitude. If Andrew gets distracted, Chris is able to guide him back to the subject at hand by being assertive, yet respectful. His focus on Andrew's progress has resulted in a very noticeable improvement in Andrew's skill level in Algebra, his attention to detail, his neatness, and his self-esteem..."

Karen C. (Client: 1999)

"Chris Borland has provided test prep tutoring for two of our three children, one for the SSAT and then the ACT, and the other for the SSAT. They both dramatically improved their scores as a result of his tutoring and were accepted to their first-choice schools.

Jennifer C. (Client: 2020)

"Fantastic tutor. We set a goal for my SAT score, and with Chris's help I got there. Has years of experience and knows the test inside and out. Cannot recommend more highly."

Jack R. (Client: 2014)

Chris is patient, knowledgeable and was helpful in identifying my weaknesses and addressing them. My work with Chris on test prep also helped me in the classroom resulting in improved grades both my junior and senior years. He is easy to work with and never made me feel stupid. I highly recommend Chris Borland for test prep and math tutoring.”

T J (student: 2018)

"Chris Borland tutored my l4 year old twins for several weeks before they took the SSAT test for entrance into private schools. He has a very good rapport with kids and makes the sessions fun and interesting.

Chris's strategies about standardized test taking proved to be excellent. Both boys improved their scores significantly and openly attributed their success to their work with Chris..."

Anne C. (Client: 2003)

“Worth every penny!

"As the high school application process in SF is already stressful and time consuming, I was looking for an efficient strategy for my B/G twins to prepare for the SSAT. Chris has deep experience with test prep and presented a very clear, efficient, and effective strategy for the twins to follow. His approach resulted in a huge increase in test results.

"We would highly recommend him to anyone for standardized test prep!”

Irene L. (client: 2018)

Knowledge is Power