Clarinet Lessons in Woodbury, NJ

Instruments: Saxophone Flute Clarinet

My methods vary greatly depending on the student's goals and experience. Through the first few years of study, an emphasis on the fundamentals of music and instrumental skills is required. This typically takes the form of a beginning method book. For students beyond this phase of study, advanced technique work takes the form of scale, chord, and interval studies. I couple these with the development of repertoire that fits the needs and goals of that student. Read More

Instruments: Saxophone Clarinet Oboe

My teaching method starts with whatever the school is using. I don't want to contradict their music teacher. If they don't have a teacher at school then I will recommend a method book depending on their level. I don't believe in teaching beginners that there are easy scales and hard scales. A mistake many teachers make is conditioning students to believe that a C scale is easy and a F# scale is hard. Read More

Instruments: Piano Saxophone Flute Clarinet Keyboard

Great music lessons are a mix of solid technique building and fun application of those skills. I always spend the first few lessons getting the student familiar with the basic technique of the instrument, and then quickly move on to duets, improvising, sight reading, solos, etc. that tie in with the current technique studies. Music can also be heard or read, so I try to strike a balance between reading music/theory and learning/improvising by ear. Read More

Instruments: Saxophone Flute Clarinet

I began teaching private lessons at the beginning of my time at Michigan State University. I have experience teaching all ages and skill levels including very young first timers up to experienced adults. In addition to private lessons, I have taught at the Apprentices in Jazz Workshop in Fort Lauderdale, Florida as a woodwind instructor, improvisation teacher, as well as big band director. While I am most experienced in Jazz, I love playing and teaching all types of music! Read More

Instruments: Piano Trumpet Trombone Saxophone Flute Clarinet Acoustic Guitar

First and foremost, learning any musical instrument should be a fun experience. With this in mind, each person's lesson is subjective and progresses according to the student's learning style; a beginning 5 yr old student's lesson will look much different that a beginning 14 yr old student's lesson. Each student will learn repertoire from a lesson book, solo repertoire and anything else that they may express interest in. As a student progresses, their repertoire will naturally become more challenging . Read More

Instruments: Piano Saxophone Flute Clarinet

From there we learn simple songs -- sometimes by ear, and sometimes by reading music (both are valuable skills to have). From there we learn how those songs we learned are built. This is the theory part. Once a student has a rudimental understanding of theory they can begin to compose their own songs! When this is done spontaneously people refer to it as improvisation, but don't let the names fool you. Read More

Instruments: Clarinet

I believe that the first thing you have to have is a good fundamental foundation. I always start with breathing correctly and assembling the instrument before playing notes. The core concepts I teach in the beginning are tone, dexterity, and tonguing. As for specific exercises, no two students are the same. I assign or create exercises based on the specific student's needs as a player. Read More