What makes a good music student?
1. They listen and pay attention.
2. They practice.
3. They are willing to try new things.

Recommended albums in no particular order:
Kind of Blue (Miles Davis)
any Beatles album
Are You Experienced (Jimi Hendrix)
Giant Steps (John Coltrane)
Two for the Road (Joe Pass / Herb Ellis)

Two things you wish you'd never heard from a student:
"I forget why I can't remember that song."
"Did Beethoven play guitar?"

[ About Rik ]  Though violin was the first instrument Rik Ogden ever played, it's one of the few he doesn't play now. Rik has a degree in music performance and composition from UCSD (clarinet and guitar). He is a multi-instrumentalist music teacher, and a busy working musician around town.

Growing up, Rik learned guitar, and at his mother's insistence, clarinet too. "I learned clarinet because it was what we had around the house from when my older brother had taken lessons. I never thought the clarinet would be very useful, but years later when I got my first paid clarinet gig, I thought, 'Thank you Mom!'" His mother also encouraged Rik to expand his guitar repertoire beyond the Beatles, Led Zeppelin and Jimi Hendrix. "She made me learn 'Misty' and 'Girl from Ipanema' and show tunes! I would have laughed at the thought that one day I'd be in a pit band playing Broadway tunes."

These days, Rik does just that. Over the years, he has played countless shows with the Moonlight Theater, the North Coast Repertory Theater, the Lamb's Players Theater, and many other local groups.

Rik also plays with Semisi & the Fula Bula Band, the Tami Thomas Swing Band (at Viejas once a month), and in the past he has played with the Big Band Jazz Hall of Fame Orchestra. Rik has appeared on many different recordings, including "Hip Graffiti," by popular local musician Jay Myerson. Rik has performed his own original jazz compositions in the Rik O Trio.