Son of the violinist, teacher, and composer Marty Laster, music has been a passion of mine for as long as I can remember. As a child, inspired by Ringo, I started out playing pots and pans before getting a “real” drum set, then switched to guitar in middle school after being inspired (or fooled) by how easy the great Jimi Hendrix made it look. Knowing that I wanted to pursue music as a career, I added piano to my skill set to dive into music theory and composition.

At the advice of my private composition teacher Daron Hagen, I attended City College with a major in music and minor in philosophy, graduating magna cum laude in 2016. Also proud to add that I was selected by the faculty for the Presser Scholar award for excellence in music. Since then, I’ve been helping dozens of students from 7 to 70 all around the NYC area actualize their musical goals one lesson at a time, one note at a time.

I have an extensive knowledge of music history and repertoire spanning many genres, though my specialties oddly happen to start with B’s: Beatles, Bach, Beethoven, and blues. However, I’m still very supportive of artists starting with other letters.

For more information about my creative work as a songwriter, arranger and composer for art music and film, check out my other website, michaellaster.com.