Saxophone Lessons in River Grove, IL

Instruments: Piano Guitar Violin Saxophone Clarinet Recorder Keyboard Acoustic Guitar

I am goofy kind of gal who is a kid at heart so, while I do not allow the students to goof-off during practice, I definitely encourage the children to have fun and take breaks. Learning a new skill is taxing on the brain so I do enjoy inserting some brain-breaks here and there, when necessary. I'm also a very big sticker advocate! Most children enjoy them, and I love rewarding them after completing a song we've been working on. Read More

Instruments: Piano Voice Viola Saxophone

I always knew I wanted to study music, and chose Illinois State to do so. While there, I participated in musicals, as well as concert choir and the women's elite chorus "Belle Voix." Since college, I have been writing original cabarets and performing live around the city of Chicago. It's my philosophy that one should never stop learning, so I study regularly with my voice teacher of eight years, Sandra DeAthos, take class at the Bloom School of Jazz (vocal performance and jazz piano), and with the Second City Music Conservatory. Read More

Instruments: Saxophone Clarinet

I really enjoy watching the week to week progress of a motivated student and sharing in their passion for the wonderful art of music! I remember when I was a young student and didn't understand why my teacher was having me prepare all those scales and arpeggios? Why couldn't he just make me play better. Well I realized many years later that it just didn't work that way. I had to practice the scales because just like professional sports teams work on fundamentals all the time to keep playing well, so do musicians need to work on fundamentals. Read More

Instruments: Piano Voice Saxophone Clarinet

Young students love playing the pop tunes, so I whole-heartedly accept them finding a book of broadway or pop tunes and brining it to lessons. For the older students, I always go to the Rose 32 Etudes for Clarinet, focusing primarily on the slower etudes to continue developing tone. Scales are also a must for all ages - I stress the importance of tone with these exercises because it's not just about the fingers. Read More

Instruments: Saxophone

I have been a part of the City Music program for the last decade, both in Cleveland and in Boston. Through that, I have been able to both receive and pass on an excellent music education. I was a mentor for younger students when I was college, leading me to be involved in the local high school big bands. I would lead rehearsals, saxophone sectionals, and work one on one with students to make sure they were creatively and mentally engaged and that they knew what areas they could work on to improve. Read More

Instruments: Saxophone Clarinet

for the beginner student, we will start off by going through things such as scales, arpeggios, and exercises to build a solid foundation. While doing this, I will have the student pick a song they like, whether it be pop, country, jazz, classical, and begin to learn it by ear to begin to develop solid aural recognition. Once the fundamentals are solid, we will move on to either working on a sonata or concerto or a transcription and a tune (depending on if you are a jazz student or classical). Read More

Instruments: Saxophone

Sharing my excitement about music is something I truly enjoy. By setting weekly lesson goals, and independent practice objectives, students will be able to grow at their own speed and maximize their musical potential! Read More