Jake’s Private Studio
Elite music coaching from the founder of Practicing Musician — the platform reaching 831 school districts in 90+ countries.
I designed the curriculum, composed the sheet music, produced the video tutorials, and built the methodology behind one of the world’s most widely adopted music education platforms. Now I’m opening my personal studio to a small number of dedicated students who want more than a music lesson — they want transformation.
Jake’s
Private Studio
Elite music coaching from the founder of Practicing Musician — the platform reaching 831 school districts in 90+ countries.
What Makes My Studio Different
I designed the curriculum, composed the sheet music, produced the video tutorials, and designed the private lesson and mentorship methodologies behind one of the world’s most widely adopted music education platforms — 2,821 educators across 831 school districts in 90+ countries trust this methodology. 150+ music educators volunteered their own time to build within this framework. The platform’s video content has a 66% completion rate — nearly double the industry average. Now I’m opening that methodology to 10 private students.
Most music lessons follow the same pattern: show up, learn from your teacher, do your best to mirror their demonstrations, go home and try to remember what your teacher demonstrated, then practice mostly bad habits until next week.
My approach eliminates that cycle entirely.
I blend flipped classroom methodology with research-backed foundational learning theories — the same approach that I designed to power Practicing Musician’s private lesson program. Between sessions, I assign carefully curated video content targeting your exact needs. You watch, you practice with a clear visual model of correct technique, and you come to our session prepared. That means every minute we spend together is focused on high-value, personalized feedback — not demonstration you could have watched on your own.
When we first tested this model, our Senior Director of Education — Stephen Nelson, whose orchestras at Sprague High School won a Grammy and over 50 first-place competitions, including being named “Top High School String Orchestra in the World” at the Vienna Youth and Music Festival — was skeptical. Then his students started outpacing every student he’d taught in three and a half decades.
The result: faster progress, fewer bad habits, and dramatically more efficient use of your time and investment.
A note for non-musicians: Neuroscience has identified performing music as one of the most cognitively demanding activities the human brain can undertake — engaging more simultaneous brain systems than virtually any other task. The principles that produce results in this demanding context transfer directly to any discipline where focus, precision, and performance under pressure matter. Read the research behind this claim.
2,821 educators trust my methodology
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150+ educators volunteered to build within it
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831 school districts
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90+ countries
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66% video completion rate (2x industry avg)
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2,821 educators trust my methodology ✳︎ 150+ educators volunteered to build within it ✳︎ 831 school districts ✳︎ 90+ countries ✳︎ 66% video completion rate (2x industry avg) ✳︎
What I Teach
I offer private coaching across three tiers, covering everything from advanced drumset technique to the deeper dimensions of musicianship that most teachers never address.
TIER 1 — Instrument Mastery
Drumset
Advanced technique with the flipped classroom method. For serious students who want accelerated progress on their instrument.
$150 / 30 min | $250 / 60 min
TIER 2 — Musicianship & Wellness
Open to musicians on any instrument and non-musicians seeking peak performance
Musical first principles & applied neuroscience | Music as yoga | Health for musicians | Targeted strength training | Targeted flexibility training | Performance anxiety & mental game | Mindfulness through music | The neuroscience of musical practice | Why music is the highest liberal art | The theory of relativity (in music)
$400 / 30 min | $650 / 60 min
TIER 3 — Transformation & Program Design
Strategic coaching for musicians, educators, leaders, and anyone using music as a catalyst for transformation.
Music and recovery | Music and spiritual formation | Curriculum design for educators | Homeschool music program design | Entrepreneurship for musicians | Building a music program from scratch | Multi-instrumental development
$600 / 30 min | $900 / 60 min
Who This Is For
My studio serves serious musicians seeking breakthroughs they can’t find elsewhere, high-performing professionals who want to apply the neuroscience of mastery to any domain, educators and homeschool parents building world-class music programs, individuals in recovery exploring music as a disciplined practice for transformation, and anyone drawn to the intersection of music, neuroscience, faith, and human flourishing. You don’t need to play an instrument to benefit from many of these sessions. You need to be ready for honest, rigorous, transformative work.
Learn why the neuroscience behind these sessions applies to any high-performance discipline.
This is My Protocol
This is the same research-based methodology that 2,821 educators across 831 school districts in 90+ countries trusted enough to adopt — and that 150+ music educators volunteered their time to build. Practicing Musician’s content has a 66% completion rate — nearly double the industry average. The same neuroscience framework. The same flipped classroom system. The same first principles that music educators in 831 school districts use with their students every day. The difference: I designed all of it. And in these sessions, I apply it directly to you — one-on-one, personalized, with the full depth of 25+ years of experience, a psychology degree, an executive MBA, a yoga certification, experience lecturing Ph.D. and Masters students, and the primary-source insight that comes from rebuilding a life from the ground up. 10 students. That’s it.
Discovery Session
Every student begins with a Discovery Session ($100 / 60 min) where I assess your current level, understand your goals, and design your personalized path forward. This isn’t a sales call — it’s a real coaching session, and you’ll leave with actionable insights whether or not you continue.
Not ready for one-on-one coaching? My free Fundamentals of Music Mastery courses on Practicing Musician cover 15 instruments and are available to everyone, forever. If you'd prefer guided instruction at an accessible price point, Practicing Musician also offers private lessons with highly experienced, highly vetted teachers trained in the same methodology — four sessions for $90/month.
Availability & Exclusivity
I accept exactly 10 private students. Between leading Practicing Musician and ClimbHigh.AI, these spots represent the only way to access the methodologies I’ve spent over a decade developing — directly, one-on-one, from the person who built it. When all spots are filled, a waitlist opens. Every student receives my full attention, session recordings, and a truly personalized experience.
Lessons are conducted via Zoom. All sessions are recorded and provided to you for review. (See confidentiality policy below.)
Lesson lengths: 30 minutes | 60 minutes
What People Are Saying
“I met Jake about 3 years ago through my work on the Model Cornerstone Assessments that go with the National Core Arts Standards. I was intrigued by the project [Practicing Musician] because of its flexibility to incorporate many modes of comprehensive music teaching.”
“I recently worked with Jake at Practicing Musician… I was impressed by how well thought out the process was and how easy it was to learn… I received very detailed and in-depth training materials and very helpful, clear feedback… It was true collaboration, and I imagine he would bring that into every interaction.”
Each month, I share the neuroscience, first principles, and hard-won insights that don’t fit in a 60-minute session — drawn from the same research and experience behind a platform trusted by 2,821 educators across 831 school districts in 90+ countries. Free. No spam. For the 10 students in my studio and anyone else ready to go deeper.
Confidentiality Notice
All Zoom sessions in Jake’s Private Studio are recorded and provided to the student for personal review and practice reference. By booking a session, you agree to the following:
Lesson recordings are strictly for the enrolled student’s personal use
Recordings may not be shared, distributed, uploaded, or published in any form — including social media, YouTube, file-sharing platforms, or any other public or semi-public medium
Recordings may not be used for commercial purposes
Jake Douglass retains ownership of all lesson recordings and reserves the right to revoke access if this policy is violated
Violation of this policy may result in immediate termination of the student-teacher relationship without refund
This policy protects both the student’s learning environment and the proprietary teaching methodologies used in sessions. If you have questions about this policy, please contact jake@practicingmusician.com.