I started taking mandolin lessons from Walter when he was finishing up his music degree at U of W River Falls and teaching at Brickhouse Music. Every lesson from Walter was valuable, from the practical to the theoretical, and I made great strides at playing my mandolin. One of Walter's most valuable lessons was on how to pick out a new instrument to play, in Walter's words, "never buy a new mandolin without playing it first". I bought an Audey Ratliff F5 style bluegrass mandolin built in 1997 from it's previous owner in St. Cloud, MN, and I played it before purchase. It was an awesome sounding mando when I bought it 5 years ago, and sounds great to this day, thanks Walter, and I will get up to Turner Street Music Hall one of these days real soon.

Walter was my guitar teacher for some years and he helped me advance from an amateur hobbyist, to having the ability and confidence to record and perform instrumental guitar pieces as a professional. I utilize his teaching every day. He was always pleasant and positive, and worked hard and patiently to help me develop musically. as well as professionally, as a working performer. Despite my longterm flaws as a musician, I always felt respected and encouraged, and his teaching brought out the best in me.

Turner Hall is a great venue for singers, very lively aucostics. Big enough for crowds if up to 300, with every seat getting all of the sound.

I have been taking guitar lessons from Walter for four years, two in person and two by zoom. Never missed a beat going from in person to zoom. Walter keeps me focused and challenges me with new music. He is always upbeat, encouraging and a great teacher and maybe even a bit of an entertainer 🙂 I highly recommend him to anyone.

Walter is an excellent muscian and teacher. He explains concepts and technique well, and he stresses understanding the theory. I had a lot of bad habits from trying to teach myself and he has been very supportive in providing suggestions on how to improve. I appreciate his patience and humor. I recommend him highly.

Walter is a Fantastic teacher! I've been taking lessons for flat picking on the guitar for two years now. I started with Walter in person but then had to switch to the internet because of the pandemic. Be assured, lessons online are just as good as being in person. Walter has patiently guided me the direction that I want to go and added his knowledge to make me a better guitar player than I thought I could be. If you really want to understand your instrument and music, take lessons with Walter. You will not be sorry!

I started out with in-person lessons and after the pandemic struck, we moved to zoom lessons. Walter is always keeping me sharp and on my toes with new and challenging things to do all the time. Walter is really fun to work with and is always making things interesting for me, I enjoy our lessons a lot. I know that in the future Walter will help me get better and better at playing cello. Walter is an awesome teacher to work with, he will making learning your instrument far more understandable and fun!

I began Zoom lessons with Walter during the pandemic after struggling to learn guitar using Youtube and the Fender app. Walter's focus on technique has been critical to my advancement, and his ability to observe my playing and provide helpful instruction virtually has been amazing! I was able to have one in person lesson, which was amazing, and made me wish I lived locally to be able to take advantage of excellent in person lessons. If you can't make it in person be assured that your lesson will still be of the highest quality!

I started lessons with Walter two years ago, As a somewhat older adult (82) he continues to be supportive of my goals, able to come up with lesson plans to support them and best of all, gives kindly critiques of my progress or lack thereof. As the pandemic ended our in-person time together, our Zoom sessions are excellent.

I would not hesitate to recommend a close friend to have him as a teacher (I have, actually). I always look forward to my weekly half hour with him and you would too!