Paul has a heartfelt and inspirational passion for music. He is compassionate and communicative, always meeting me where I am.He is well prepared and present to whatever is in each and every moment. With effortlessness, he fluidly moves through lessons, adjusting course according to my challenges or triumphs along the way. His approach to teaching is intuitive and brings the music out from within. He always sets me up for success which continually builds my trust in myself as a musician, and most definitely makes it more fun.Paul is an exceptional musician and teacher who is playfully engaged. He has a deep knowledge of music theory and teaches it clearly through metaphor, humor, sound and felt sense.Working with Paul is a complete joy and feeds my soul (and my musical aptitude)!

Musical instruction, education, and collaboration at its finest! My 13 year old son has been taking ukulele and guitar lessons from Paul for 2 1/2 years. Each lesson brings another week of musical exploration and inspiration back into our home. I have been simply amazed at our sons knowledge of music theory, composition, and speed of skill growth. Paul knows just how to meet a student where they are, and how to gently inspire to the just right next step. As a mentor, he connects with students and families professionally, and with true care. We value Paul as an instructor, and member of the musical community. We highly recommend the instruction, instruments and services offered here.

Paul is the greatest music teacher Ive ever had. He makes learning fun and breaks it into chunks that are easy to understand. No matter what challenge I come to him with, he goes out of his way to help me understand it. Not only does he have an incredible understanding of music, he has a great understanding of teaching and how people learn. The result is an experience I wouldnt change for the world. 10/10 I would recommend Paul to absolutely anyone who is looking to take lessons.

If I could give 10 stars, I would. I have been to music teachers all over, and no one has helped me accomplish my goals like Paul! For over 10 years it was a dream to be able to sing well enough to perform or sing songs, and never felt like I was good enough or that I even understood music well enough. All that went out the window when I found Paul in May, just 4 months later I did my first open mic singing with Paul, and 2 months later, an open mic and sang by myself! Paul is an incredibly fascinating, talented, and kindhearted individual whose teaching techniques are beyond anything that you have seen before (and I say that with confidence not knowing who you are!). He has a way of helping you realize its not about being good, but just being yourself and in the moment. He explains concepts that at first, make you wonder how its connected to music.... then out of no where it clicks and you are doing it! And not only that, but I find myself able to take the concepts with me through any instrument or music genre. And on top of that he offers a community of other wonderful students to sing with and practice harmony, many instruments, and improvisation through The Musical Mandala - everything you need to start your musical journey. For the first time in my whole life, I feel that I have the tools to create music. I couldnt recommend him enough. :)

My 13 year old son has been learning guitar from Paul for over a year. During the pandemic they’ve been jamming together out on the porch. Paul has facilitated understanding how the notes and chords connect to eachother, while finding the joy in it and letting the music flow. Paul is teaching my son not to perform music but to create it and find it within himself. Paul’s deep love of music spreads to those around him. I can’t recommend him enough as a teacher!

Our ten-year-old son has been taking piano lessons from Paul for almost a year, and our 12-year-old is just starting guitar lessons. Paul is an excellent musician, a gifted teacher and coach, and a really nice, fun guy. Paul listens closely to his students and matches his teaching approach to what the students want to learn. He is equally adept at teaching music theory, sight reading, playing by ear, improvisation—I really feel like he is teaching our son the language of music and to understand its structure, and most of all to just love making music. Paul clearly has a passion for teaching music and I can tell is thrilled with the rapid progress of our son. He has adapted seemlessly to remote teaching and continues to improve the quality of his live on-line lessons, as well as follow-up videos to reinforce content of lessons and guide practice. Paul obviously puts significant time into planning ahead for lessons, as well as providing follow-up materials. He explains things in a way that is understandable, fun and motivating—he really knows how break things down into manageable steps. He is great with kids—his gentle, kind personality, and his smile and goofy sense of humor are infectious. We are very lucky to have The Musical Mandala in Bellingham.

Paul has been an amazing piano and music theory instructor for our son. He started playing relatively late compared to some of his friends, but Paul has brought out his intuitive understanding of patterns and his natural musicality. He is playing fluently much more quickly than we expected and Paul has been an inspirational coach, especially around improvisation and songwriting. We couldnt be more pleased.

Paul has an inspirational teaching style that encourages the strength of the musician to blend with music theory and practice. His style has increased my confidence and my desire to play and sing more music. He creates an incredible fun, adventurous, supportive and positive atmosphere to learn and play. I HIGHLY recommend him.

Paul is an excellent teacher and just a great person in general. He helped me immensely not only in achieving greater technical ability in my voice, but also to be more confident with it. And he is very knowledgeable about all things in music theory and is able to translate those concepts across several instruments easily. He is able to teach both basic and advance music theory concepts in a fashion that is very easy to understand.I highly recommend Paul to everyone from beginners just starting out to people just looking to expand your ability and music theory knowledge.

Paul is a unique teacher. He meets you where youre at with absolutely no judgement and then quietly pushes you forward. His enthusiasm for the voice is infectious and hes made this 47 year old wish Id found him many many years ago. If youre even a little bit terrified of singing but have always wanted to do it, then Paul is your man. Hell help turn your nerves into beautiful noises!!

Paul has a really easy going way of teaching that doesn’t get bogged down in technical terms. He teaches how to really sense and feel the music. It’s play. Playing with the voice and improvising. I mean, who doesn’t want to play? Overall, what I’ve gained from participating in The Musical Mandala is a deeper felt sense of music and also the confidence to believe that I CAN sing!

Paul is a brilliant teacher! He creates a welcoming space and makes music theory accessible through metaphor and creative excersices. His harmony series gave me the building blocks I needed to feel comfortable in choir and jam circles. It truly feels like a class for all levels of musicians and all different learning styles.

A gentle and effective way into the musical learning sphere, with accessible exercises using voice and ear to establish within oneself basic, necessary building blocks of music practice.

I like Paul Russell! He makes music fun! ❤❤