Guitar
Mitch Melodia is a Colorado transplant from New Hampshire with a Bachelor of Arts degree from Keene State College. While attending, Melodia received the Robin Dizzard Award for exceptional work in the American Studies department. All the while, he packed his schedule with as many music theory, technology, and history classes as he could while studying with professors of guitar, drums, and voice. During his collegiate career, he met up with a few other musicians and music majors on campus while practicing, arranging, and occasionally recording in the various rehearsal rooms of the music wing of the art building. Meeting those in and outside of the Music program led to recording, performing, and touring with a band around New England at various venues and festivals in and outside of the Granite State. The group gained so much momentum that the band eventually moved to Boston to break into the larger music market in the bigger city. While searching to make connections with other bands and musicians, Mitch befriended various students studying at Berklee College of Music. He was able to jam, rehearse, and perform with a few musicians studying there and became really good friends with two students in particular getting a place together in Colorado. With his friend's encouragement, Mitch flew out to Colorado.
As fate would have it, Mitch starting teaching right away and was given the task, and treat, of being the one of the two directors for a group of students learning and playing through the entirety of Physical Graffiti; a monumental double album by his favorite band Led Zeppelin. Although teachers were not required to learn any much less multiple parts of the songs of the shows they were directing, Mitch dove head first into learning guitar parts, bass parts, occasional vocals, harmonies, and some (keyword some) drum parts. Multiple tracks featured three or four guitar parts and sometimes harmonies not found on the original recordings that Mitch transcribed and taught to the cast members. This demanding but fun creative challenge occasionally lead to around or over 10 people on stage to cover all instrumentation and vocal harmonies.
That particular project instilled a newer way of hearing and approaching music for both future directing projects and recording music itself. The other co-director for the show graciously gave Mitch free, private, "mini lessons" on how to be a better drummer. Better armed as an individual rhythm section, Mitch continued to practice, arrange, and compose various instruments for multiple original songs he wrote that turned into an album. With solo and group projects requiring an increasing amount of time, effort, energy, focus, and dedication, Mitch began to pursue making music and teaching on a more personal, private, and professional level.
His first guitar teacher Jason Lane had an immense impact with both his teacher's willingness and ability to meet students at seemingly any experience level on various instruments. It was an approach that Mitch has since carried to every student in finding the balance of gaining a sense of where students are at and gradually leading them continuously improve and develop from where they were previously.