Paul Harris has been teaching guitar for four decades across two centuries in settings ranging from music store studios, to universities, to private conservatories. He began playing guitar at 12, and was teaching in Calgary by 18. Around this time he started playing guitar for a rock band that would endure in various formats to 1990, and which won the Calgary edition of Auditions ’87, a national battle of the bands competition. This led to three years touring across Canada with shows in such iconic Canadian venues as Vancouver’s Commodore Ballroom, Toronto’s Horseshoe Tavern and El Mocambo, all major Canadian universities, and innumerable music festivals. They opened for such 80s luminaries as The Tragically Hip, Johnny Winter, Georgia Satellites, Colin James, Blue Rodeo, Jeff Healy, Alannah Myles, Joe Ely, and the Crash Test Dummies.  In 1988 they recorded a six-song demo titled Low Tech, High Torque produced by Bill Cowsill (of The Cowsills).

In the early 1990s, Paul returned to the University of Calgary to study classical guitar with Jacob Salomons, a student of the Italian master Oscar Ghiglia, which included performing in masterclasses with David Tanenbaum, Benjamin Verderey, Dale Kavanaugh, and Lily Afshar. While continuing his guitar studies with Salomons, Paul shifted emphasis to study historical musicology at Calgary under the direction of Victor Coelho, earning a BA and MA focusing on lute repertories of the 16th century, and the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill under the direction of John Covach, with a Ph.D. dissertation on the aesthetics of the postpunk era. 

After completing his education, Paul was a Professor of Music History at Boston University for one year, and the University of Puget Sound (Tacoma, WA) for 12 years. In addition to teaching courses in almost every area of music history and theory, Paul presented his research at numerous national conferences and has published several articles and reviews in academic presses.

Paul now looks forward to refocusing on the playing and teaching of guitar, and spending more time out in the woods, on top of mountains, and amusing the cat.

Ages: All ages, but most students need to be at least 6 to hold even a half-size guitar, and around 10 to hold a full-sized instrument.

Teaching method:

Adaptive in accordance with the student’s goals and needs. Rock repertories are often oral traditions, whereas classical guitar students will benefit most from a curriculum similar to the RCM.

Genres:

All rock, contemporary, country, folk, and classical styles.

Group opportunities:

Students in popular genres are encouraged to collaborate with other musicians wherever possible, and classical guitarists have many chamber music opportunities.

Testimonials:

"Paul is great. Extremely patient, polite and kind."