Teaching testimonials
When I first started composing in high school, I spent a summer taking lessons with Phillip Golub. He not only helped me initiate, develop, and refine my compositional practice, but introduced me to the work of some of the coolest avant-garde composers, who I still listen to today. He's an amazing jazz and classical theory teacher, and taught me some piano too! He's an incredible teacher, musician, and mentor.
-Isaac Pross (high school composition student)
We highly recommend Phillip, who taught composition to our son Leo when he was in high school. Phillip is a gifted composer and pianist who shares his extensive knowledge and passion for music. He is very professional, organised and inspiring with excellent communication skills. Under Phillip’s guidance, Leo made great progress and was later accepted in the Sanders Composer Fellowship Program at the Los Angeles Philharmonic. We are grateful that Leo had the opportunity to be his student!
-Pascale Vaquette & Les Major (parents of high school composition student)
For half a year, Phillip taught me composition, improv, and performance. Phillip is an incredibly talented, knowledgeable musician. In teaching, he demonstrated a strong intuition for distilling his experience into what I needed most at any given time. In his guidance, Phillip managed to strike a balance between technical & theoretical rigor and an openness to different ways to think about creativity and composition. More than anything else, it was clear that Phillip truly cared about me and my creative journey—he has stayed in touch with me and even brought me to see performances!
-Daniel Giebisch (Harvard student in creative music course)
As my first composition teacher, Phillip opened my eyes to a broad world of contemporary classical composers & provided me with the tools needed to conceive and execute concert pieces. Phillip provided tailored feedback on my compositions that challenged me while allowing me to develop my personal voice. Many of the scores we studied remain as part of the bedrock of the music I write today & I couldn't recommend him more as a composition professor for high school aged students!
-Leo Major (high school composition student)
During my time in college, I was fortunate to have Phillip as a teaching fellow for two courses taught by Professor Vijay Iyer. His contributions as a teacher and musician and his depth of knowledge about Jazz, Creative Music, and composition were central to my experience in both classes. He taught lessons during sectionals that he'd designed himself, and through active listening, discussion questions, transcription activities and more I always understand the course materials from an entirely new perspective. He was also always incredibly attentive to what students were working on musically, and was never hesitant to workshop our music with us even outside of class hours. Phillip is clearly engaged and committed as an instructor, and anyone interested in deepening and broadening their knowledge of music would be lucky to be his student!
-Miranda Agnew (Harvard student in creative music course)
Phillip has been my piano teacher for 4 years and he helped me make a lot of progress from a total beginner to an intermediate player. He has great knowledge in music and he's been very encouraging for me to keep challenging myself with new pieces. During his classes, he combines both teaching technical skills as well as interpretation and rendering of the music. He always breaks down the most difficult music passages into workable pieces, and the process has been really rewarding. Thanks to him, I'm able to play my dream pieces like sonatas by Beethoven and nocturnes by Chopin. I highly recommend him to anyone who wants to try learning to play the piano!
-Paul Li (adult classical piano student)
We tried many piano teachers for our kids. Phillip was by far the best. He made it fun, while still teaching concepts. He allowed my daughter lots of time to improvise along with him - there were many times when I walked by and thought - "Wow - they could be performing in a cafe - they sound amazing, even though my daughter has limited experience." Phillip is the only teacher who's lessons my daughter looked forward to. She asked for more! We wish more teachers were as creative, thoughtful, and fun as Phillip.
-Amy Roschelle (parent of piano student)
I’ve been with Philip for over a year now and making great progress on all levels. He provides the perfect mixture of instruction on technique, ear training, improv and theory. Challenging enough so as to not get bored but within reach of my abilities which keeps me interested and motivated to progress. I’m looking forward to expanding my knowledge and abilities even further in the coming years
-Marty Cawley (adult blues piano student)
I had Phillip as one of my music instructors at Harvard, and the depth of his knowledge was really instrumental in helping me gain a new understanding and appreciation of a huge range of musical styles. I especially appreciate practicing transcriptions of early jazz with him, and learning how to understand rhythm and pitch in an entirely new way.
-James Caven (Harvard student in creative music course)
I got to work with Phillip Golub when he was a teaching fellow with Vijay Iyer’s creative music composition workshop at Harvard. It was only my second semester at the college, but Phillip immediately made me feel like I fit right in with the other students, some of whom were much older. His teaching style allowed him to impart lots of helpful information to us without ever establishing a feeling of enforced hierarchy. I always left class feeling like I learned something, that he had pushed me to explore new avenues of thought regarding creative music as well as the course materials. For the final project, we ended up collaborating on a piece together along with my classmate Miranda. It was amazing to have the teaching fellow working alongside us to create a new piece; I still have the recording of our final performance. I’m grateful to Phillip for his rigorous attention to detail in creating a comfortable and constructive learning environment in the classroom and beyond.
-Julian Miltenberger (Harvard student in creative music course)
When Phillip used to arrive weekly to do 60-min individual sessions with our two children, as soon as he walked through the door the kids would erupt in squeals of delight, fighting for the chance to greet him and share what they had practiced/tried/or learned that they couldn’t wait to show him. As parents, what we loved most about Phillip’s approach was the way he adapted to each of their unique learning styles. We saw pretty dramatic improvement in their note-reading comprehension and their overall musical confidence. We were especially delighted when they composed their own songs! We highly recommend Philip and our only complaint was that he moved!
-Gina & Basonge James ( (parent of piano student)
When I first started composing in high school, I spent a summer taking lessons with Phillip Golub. He not only helped me initiate, develop, and refine my compositional practice, but introduced me to the work of some of the coolest avant-garde composers, who I still listen to today. He's an amazing jazz and classical theory teacher, and taught me some piano too! He's an incredible teacher, musician, and mentor.
-Isaac Pross (high school composition student)
We highly recommend Phillip, who taught composition to our son Leo when he was in high school. Phillip is a gifted composer and pianist who shares his extensive knowledge and passion for music. He is very professional, organised and inspiring with excellent communication skills. Under Phillip’s guidance, Leo made great progress and was later accepted in the Sanders Composer Fellowship Program at the Los Angeles Philharmonic. We are grateful that Leo had the opportunity to be his student!
-Pascale Vaquette & Les Major (parents of high school composition student)
For half a year, Phillip taught me composition, improv, and performance. Phillip is an incredibly talented, knowledgeable musician. In teaching, he demonstrated a strong intuition for distilling his experience into what I needed most at any given time. In his guidance, Phillip managed to strike a balance between technical & theoretical rigor and an openness to different ways to think about creativity and composition. More than anything else, it was clear that Phillip truly cared about me and my creative journey—he has stayed in touch with me and even brought me to see performances!
-Daniel Giebisch (Harvard student in creative music course)
As my first composition teacher, Phillip opened my eyes to a broad world of contemporary classical composers & provided me with the tools needed to conceive and execute concert pieces. Phillip provided tailored feedback on my compositions that challenged me while allowing me to develop my personal voice. Many of the scores we studied remain as part of the bedrock of the music I write today & I couldn't recommend him more as a composition professor for high school aged students!
-Leo Major (high school composition student)
During my time in college, I was fortunate to have Phillip as a teaching fellow for two courses taught by Professor Vijay Iyer. His contributions as a teacher and musician and his depth of knowledge about Jazz, Creative Music, and composition were central to my experience in both classes. He taught lessons during sectionals that he'd designed himself, and through active listening, discussion questions, transcription activities and more I always understand the course materials from an entirely new perspective. He was also always incredibly attentive to what students were working on musically, and was never hesitant to workshop our music with us even outside of class hours. Phillip is clearly engaged and committed as an instructor, and anyone interested in deepening and broadening their knowledge of music would be lucky to be his student!
-Miranda Agnew (Harvard student in creative music course)
Phillip has been my piano teacher for 4 years and he helped me make a lot of progress from a total beginner to an intermediate player. He has great knowledge in music and he's been very encouraging for me to keep challenging myself with new pieces. During his classes, he combines both teaching technical skills as well as interpretation and rendering of the music. He always breaks down the most difficult music passages into workable pieces, and the process has been really rewarding. Thanks to him, I'm able to play my dream pieces like sonatas by Beethoven and nocturnes by Chopin. I highly recommend him to anyone who wants to try learning to play the piano!
-Paul Li (adult classical piano student)
We tried many piano teachers for our kids. Phillip was by far the best. He made it fun, while still teaching concepts. He allowed my daughter lots of time to improvise along with him - there were many times when I walked by and thought - "Wow - they could be performing in a cafe - they sound amazing, even though my daughter has limited experience." Phillip is the only teacher who's lessons my daughter looked forward to. She asked for more! We wish more teachers were as creative, thoughtful, and fun as Phillip.
-Amy Roschelle (parent of piano student)
I’ve been with Philip for over a year now and making great progress on all levels. He provides the perfect mixture of instruction on technique, ear training, improv and theory. Challenging enough so as to not get bored but within reach of my abilities which keeps me interested and motivated to progress. I’m looking forward to expanding my knowledge and abilities even further in the coming years
-Marty Cawley (adult blues piano student)
I had Phillip as one of my music instructors at Harvard, and the depth of his knowledge was really instrumental in helping me gain a new understanding and appreciation of a huge range of musical styles. I especially appreciate practicing transcriptions of early jazz with him, and learning how to understand rhythm and pitch in an entirely new way.
-James Caven (Harvard student in creative music course)
I got to work with Phillip Golub when he was a teaching fellow with Vijay Iyer’s creative music composition workshop at Harvard. It was only my second semester at the college, but Phillip immediately made me feel like I fit right in with the other students, some of whom were much older. His teaching style allowed him to impart lots of helpful information to us without ever establishing a feeling of enforced hierarchy. I always left class feeling like I learned something, that he had pushed me to explore new avenues of thought regarding creative music as well as the course materials. For the final project, we ended up collaborating on a piece together along with my classmate Miranda. It was amazing to have the teaching fellow working alongside us to create a new piece; I still have the recording of our final performance. I’m grateful to Phillip for his rigorous attention to detail in creating a comfortable and constructive learning environment in the classroom and beyond.
-Julian Miltenberger (Harvard student in creative music course)
When Phillip used to arrive weekly to do 60-min individual sessions with our two children, as soon as he walked through the door the kids would erupt in squeals of delight, fighting for the chance to greet him and share what they had practiced/tried/or learned that they couldn’t wait to show him. As parents, what we loved most about Phillip’s approach was the way he adapted to each of their unique learning styles. We saw pretty dramatic improvement in their note-reading comprehension and their overall musical confidence. We were especially delighted when they composed their own songs! We highly recommend Philip and our only complaint was that he moved!
-Gina & Basonge James ( (parent of piano student)