Peter Joseph Zisa, EdD

About the Author

Dr. Peter Joseph Zisa is an award-winning concert guitarist, composer, writer, and educator. He holds a Doctorate in Education and a Masters in Music. A masterful classical performer, Zisa is adept in many styles of music - from blues, jazz, rock, folk, and to country, gospel, Latin, and flamenco. Zisa has been an educator for over thirty years working with K-12 as well as colleges and universities in both California and Oregon - teaching Guitar, Music History, Theory, Pedagogy and Psychology of Music, including twenty years of mentoring music therapy students at Marylhurst and Pacific Universities.

Throughout his music career, Zisa has used music to help adults with dementia and Alzheimer’s disease to provide comfort to hospice patients and their families, and to conduct specialized music activities for children with autism and attention-deficit syndrome. Zisa understands the use of music as a clinical tool is not uniform among the varied population music therapists and educators serve. The teaching method this book presents is specific to the needs of music therapists and educators, and is the culmination of twenty years of tested methodology. Drawing upon his extensive experience as a musician and a teacher, Zisa offers a guitar teaching method that prepares the aspiring music therapists and educators to meet the requisite skills goals with as little as 45 minutes of practice a day.