Clarinet Lessons in Tamalpais Valley, CA

Instruments: Clarinet

I like to ground my teaching in a line my own teacher, Carey Bell, often told me-- "if you make a mistake, no one dies!" Music is a challenging discipline in every respect, so I encourage my students to approach it from as positive and joyful a place as possible where mistakes are not a failure but simply a sign that further work needs to be done. Achievement in performance is only rewarding when the student takes ownership of their playing, so I do everything I can to allow clarinet to be a real and positive presence in my students' lives. Read More

Instruments: Trumpet Trombone Saxophone Flute Clarinet Ukulele Recorder Euphonium French Horn Tuba Music

I start lessons by warming up and doing exercises. For children, I do this in a listen and response setting. Then I will work through school songs or performance pieces, focusing on rhythms first, notes second and musicallity third. These 3 aspects lead to musicial mastery. I finish each lesson with an easy cool down. With in each lesson, I focus on musical styles that the students are interested in and work towards goals that the student set for themelves. Read More

Instruments: Saxophone Clarinet

I got my masters of music and performers certificate from the Eastman school of music. I perform in symphonies and operas all around the Bay Area, including Santa Cruz symphony, symphony San Jose, Oakland east bay symphony, berkeley symphony, Fremont symphony, California chamber orchestra, monterey chamber orchestra, monterey symphony, Vallejo symphony, Marin symphony, Mendocino festival orchestra, west bay opera, west edge opera, festival opera, western opera, Mendocino opera, San Jose ballet, Santa Cruz ballet and others. Read More

Instruments: Flute Clarinet

For flute, I use method books by Trevor Wye.  If the student is a beginner, I will start the student with the Beginners Book for the Flute by Trevor Wye (Book 1 and 2.)  Once the student is finished with these books, the student is now ready for the intermediate and advanced books by Trevor Wye.  It is a set of 5 books that focuses on each aspect of the flute, such as tone and technique. Read More

Instruments: Saxophone Clarinet

My experience in teaching is not only in the musical aspect. I was also a Spanish teacher for Centro Latino in Berkeley. Teaching music is like teaching another languages. In my specialties, clarinet and saxophone, the pause, breathing and acentuation have a very important part in phrasing the notes. The melody should flow "as we speak", in a normal way and with the right entonation. I have two children who are also musicians, an 11 year old daughter and a 13 year old son. Read More

Instruments: Piano Clarinet

I begin teaching from piano books published by Alfred. I also have the student learn their scales as well as give a weekly written music theory assignment. I incorporate styles and songs the student enjoys listening to or playing as well. I like to teach classical music. With this foundation, ALL other music is much easier to play, and helps tremendously with their sight reading skills. Performance recitals are recommended, but not required. Read More

Instruments: Saxophone Clarinet Music

I have twenty years teaching and I think the key to success is to enjoy when you play and have fun. I´ll give you the tools to advance at your own rhythm, making consistence progress, exploring the music you like. We will practice long note exercises to develop sound and pitch, play scales in many different ways and connect them in different chord progressions, play tunes at your level capacity, transcribe, analyze and play solos of the masters (Parker, Coltrane, etc.), and create your own solos and language. Read More