Max Gise
Guitar
(513) 417-4543
maxgise@hotmail.com
Originally from Oklahoma, Max Gise has made his home in Cincinnati for the past three years. Most recently, he was a graduate assistant at the College-Conservatory of Music at University of Cincinnati, where he completed his Masters in Jazz Studies in June 2006. He began his collegiate career at University of Oklahoma in 1997 and graduated Summa Cum Laude with a bachelor degree in Classical Guitar Performance in 2002. While there, he was granted the Outstanding Classical Guitar Award, as well as the Outstanding Jazz Student Award.
Max developed his love for music at a very young age. Though his parents both worked in the medical profession, his father was an expert at Scott Joplin piano rags and his mother was well versed in singing and playing folk guitar. Max started taking formal guitar lessons with Dick Gordon Jr. in Tulsa when he was thirteen. A few years later, he joined a garage rock band with his school friends. And when Max was a junior in high school, he heard the album that would eventually direct his career path, jazz legend Wes Montgomery’s Smokin’ at the Half Note.
Throughout his years in college, Max gained substantial experience in both teaching and performance. He was Assistant Director of the Jazz Lab Band at College-Conservatory of Music in 2005-2006. In the summer of 2005, he was a guitar instructor with the Summer Jazz Camp at Northern Kentucky University. Before moving to the tri-state area in 2004, he taught lessons at McMichael Music Studios for three years. Notably, he was also Co-Director of the “Rock Clinic,” which was a program that assembled and directed student rock bands. Max also served as Youth Band Director at First Christian Church in Oklahoma City.
Max accepts students of all abilities — beginners through advanced — and is available to teach adults and children ages 10 and above. Lessons are personalized to each student’s interests and goals. Students are encouraged to select songs they wish to learn. Max teaches rock, jazz, finger-style, blues and classical styles. He also offers music theory, improvisation, reading music, and composition. Max wants to help develop the creative spirit in each of his students.