Piano Lessons in Peoria, AZ

Instruments: Saxophone

What advice do you have about practicing effectively?
Go in with reasonable goals. SLOW IT DOWN. Practicing involves a lot of movement pattern development and muscle memory. That can't be accomplished if the passage is being practiced at a tempo beyond where the student is completely comfortable. If a phone is used for a metronome and tuner (both of which should be used at EVERY practice session) the phone should be put into 'airplane mode' to prevent distractions. My overriding philosophy is this- FUNDAMENTALS NEVER STOP BEING COOL. Each practice session should include long tones with the tuner on a drone (tune with your ears, not your eyes) and technique work (scales, scale variants, and etudes ) prior to any repertoire. If time is limited, a slow series of scales prior to repertoire work is what I'd recommend.

When will I start to see results?
It's difficult to always see real results because you as a student are a little too close to the situation. I liken it to weight loss. The little improvements you'll notice at first. After a while, you might not notice them so much but others certainly will. This will continue as long as you study and play the instrument. The better you get, the more the bar is raised. If you get frustrated by a perceived lack of progress you must ask yourself this: Could I do this last year? Last month? It's a journey. Enjoy the victories and learn from the challenges. FAIL simply stands for First Attempt At Learning.

What musical accomplishments are you most proud of?
There are a few things that make me proud. I was the 2016 Concerto Competition winner at my alma mater as well as the performing artist of the year that year. My graduation the following December was a very proud moment. I'm proud to have gotten into a graduate program. I'm proud to have received endorsement deals from two different music companies. Mostly, though, I'm proud of the students I've taught and the relationships I've forged in the saxophone world. I have one particularly proud moment, though. University of Michigan Sax Professor and Grammy winner Timothy McAllister told me that I inspired him with my sound the summer he graduated from high school. That meant a lot.

Have any of your students won awards or been selected for special honors? How have they succeeded?
I've had students make regional and All State honor bands in Tennessee, Mississippi, and Kentucky as well as several University honor bands in the same region. It's a lot of fun to celebrate those accomplishments with my students. However, I'm more proud of those who simply choose to make music a larger part of their lives and continue the instrument after high school. One of my students, a young man who was awarded first chair All State in Mississippi as well as in several university honor bands decided he loved saxophone repair and has become one of the top repair technicians in Colorado and the entire Rocky Mountain area. The fact that I was involved in starting him down the path is very humbling to me.

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