Saxophone Lessons in Bernardsville, NJ

Instruments: Saxophone Flute Clarinet

My greatest joy as a teacher is seeing students fall in love with music and find great joy and fulfillment playing their instruments! I pay close attention to the student's experience and tailor lesson content and goals to match individual needs and learning styles. I aim to cultivate an atmosphere of encouragement, commitment, inspiration and motivation that keeps students wanting to spend quality time with their instrument and learn to play the music that they most enjoy. Read More

Instruments: Piano Trumpet Saxophone Flute Clarinet Bass Guitar Recorder Double Bass Music

I began teaching in 2012 when I was awarded the Graduate Assistant position at Western Michigan University. As a G.A., I was responsible for teaching non-music majors saxophone lessons, theory and ear-training, as well as coaching ensembles. I also taught flute and clarinet at Paramount Charter Academy in Kalamazoo, Michigan to middle school students. It was a very rewarding experience to teach people of various ages, ability levels, and goals, and allowed me to refine my teaching methods based on the needs of each student. I currently teach music theory, piano, saxophone, clarinet, flute, drums, and composition at Belle Arti Center for the Performing Arts in Queens, NY. 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: Saxophone Flute Clarinet Piccolo Oboe

Depending on the individual needs goals of each student, I will customize lesson plans on a week-to-week basis. If there are no immediate goals for my students, I prefer to focus on classical technique and tone exercises that I compile through a variety of method books for each woodwind instrument. This includes but is not limited to: Moyse, Kroepsch, Baermann, Ferling, Shaw, Filas, Lacour, and many others. Classical technique is boring however, and I also believe that it should be applied towards learning real music that I will tailor to each student! Read More

Instruments: Saxophone Flute Clarinet

I believe that in order to engage a student in the learning process, goals must be clear. I begin by asking new students what they want to learn. Many students are not sure what they want to learn, and this is to be expected. In this case, some trial-and-error is necessary; if a student is bored by Bach, maybe its time to see how he/she can relate to learning a simple tune by ear maybe a jazz tune like Summertime, or maybe the latest single on the radio. Read More

Instruments: Piano Saxophone Harmonica

I start with theory and technique for beginning trainees, combined with songs that utilize the modes and scales that the trainee will be learning, thus combining the academic with the practical. More specifically, I feel that learning scales and modes are of vital importance to any musician (no matter the skill level), as such a thing is necessary not only for improvisation (which is very important as my background is in jazz), but also for writing music, which I feel that every musician should do in addition to playing other people's music. Read More

Instruments: Saxophone Flute

For younger students, I find that book based methods are very helpful, and typically I go through the Hal Leonard Essential Elements Series. Once the student has a firm handle of the basics of saxophone (fingerings, embouchure, dynamics, etc.) then I start having them read etude books, and prepare pieces for recitals and other performances or auditions. For adults, I like to teach based on a goal oriented program. For example, If I have a student who is only interested in learning the saxophone for the sake of playing "Yakety Sax" or "The Pink Panther Theme", then I will tailor the lesson plan towards learning that while still working on the fundamentals of Saxophone along the way. Read More