Peter Mark Princiotto

Music instructor,
author, transcriber, and archivist 

Pete began teaching music in 1974 as a senior at Langley High School
in McLean, Virginia, when a fellow classmate, Jon Brundage, asked Pete
to teach him guitar. (They have since played together in rock bands at
their high school reunions.) During 1976-77, Pete taught bass guitar
to Michael Manring, when Michael was in his mid-teens. "Michael, from
the day I met him, was already on the path of being a devoted,
inquisitive and creative musician," says Pete. "Michael never wavered
from that path and so he has become the most innovative bass
guitarist on the planet." By 1979, Pete had built up a roster of more
than thirty students, whom he taught at their homes, at his residence,
and at the Music & Arts Center.

In June of 1980, Pete established his own home studio on Spring Hill
Road in West McLean, where he has continued to teach since then.
Pete has taught guitar, piano, bass guitar, theory, and improvisation to
several thousand students over the years, and he has sometimes
taught mandolin, banjo, hammered dulcimer, double bass, composition,
and arranging. Many of Pete’s former students have gone on to pursue
careers in music, including Vyktoria Keating (who has toured with
Jethro Tull), Steve Hansgen (Minor Threat), Nerrisa Nields (The Nields),
Blake Althen (Human Factor), Julie Murphy (Eddie From Ohio), and
Mike H. (The Bravery). Since the 1980s, Pete has also taught bass guitar
and guitar to students attending Northern Virginia Community College
in Applied Strings. In 1986, Pete began to also teach groups of students.
In 1997, he began rehearsing and producing projects for rock-based
ensembles. In 1991-92 and 2002-07, Pete taught guitar classes and 
private lessons in guitar, bass guitar, double bass, and mandolin at 
The Madeira School. In 2003, Pete’s home-based teaching business
became known as Spring Hill Music Instruction LLC. Pete continues to
teach private music lessons and now offers weekly workshops at
Spring Hill Music Instruction LLC.

Since the 1980s, Pete has been compiling an extensive music library
at his studio, which includes more than 1,000 of his transcriptions and
arrangements of songs. In 1988, three of his transcriptions and
accompanying articles were published in Bass Player (September/
October issue), and he has since been published several times in Bass
Player. In 1990, Pete completed and published the chart The Natural
Audible Harmonics or Overtones of the Bass Guitar (a fourteen-year
project). In 1998, he sought out every issue of several leading
publications for guitar, bass guitar, and keyboard to use as references
in his instruction. In 2003, through Spring Hill Music Instruction, Pete
published Learning Tools for the Aspiring Musician, which is in essence a
reference manual (mostly for bass guitarists and guitarists). Each book
is customized for the student from more than 100 "tools" that evolved
for the most part from lessons Pete has taught over the years. In
2004, also through Spring Hill Music Instruction, Pete published an
easy-to-use Grand Staff, which is an educational tool that he developed
in collaboration with his former piano students Christine and Kathleen
Ryan. In July 2006, Pete was on board with National Guitar Workshop,
teaching bass guitar in New Milford, CT, and as an assistant director in
McLean, VA.

To purchase learning tools (PDF files) on fundamentals of music and other
items, go to springhillmusicinstruction.com. Note: if you previously
studied with Pete, you may contact him to receive free updates of any
handouts or transcriptions that he gave you. The updates have been
carefully edited and expanded to shed more light on concepts and to
serve as essential learning tools for musicians.