Andrew F
Instruments: Clarinet
Styles: Classical
Andrew F
Instruments: Clarinet
Styles:
Classical
Where I Teach:
Ages Taught: 10-80
MM, San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Clarinet Performance BM, University of Puget Sound, Clarinet Performance additional study at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro
2016- Fellow, Round Top International Music Festival, Round Top, TX 2013/15- Young Artist, Eastern Music Festival, Greensboro, NC 2013- Winner, Puget Sound Concerto/Aria Competition 2013- First Prize, Beatrice Herrmann Young Artist Competition
I'm a San Francisco-based clarinetist, composer, and writer seeking to share my passion and training with students of all backgrounds, ability levels, and musical goals. I have learned from some of the finest players on the planet-- members of the San Francisco, Houston, Jacksonville, and Seattle Symphonies, as well as the New York, Los Angeles, and Berlin Philharmonic Orchestras. I have a decade of experience encompassing every role available to a classical musician, as an orchestral musician, chamber player, and soloist of both classic and contemporary repertoire.
My start in music was unexpected; I was set on a life in academia as a literature student when an honor band experience late in high school led me to swerve into a life in performing music. My teachers early on were very accepting and generous with me, as a student with vastly less experience than his peers, but I consumed their teaching ravenously. As a teacher, I began teaching young students as a summer job during my undergrad and later worked as a section coach for concert band clarinet sections in the Puget Sound area; during my graduate degree, I gave undergrads informal, routine lessons at their request, to supplement their own lesson experience. This unusual route to teaching has made me sympathetic both to highly advanced students working on challenging literature and students at the very beginning of their musical lives.
My only teaching philosophy is simple-- all learning comes from the student, not the teacher. If the student isn't engaged and having fun, no amount of teaching will have an effect! I like to tailor specific exercises to my students that most fundamental books do not have, giving them a level of individual attention that encourages fast, specific improvement. Students of mine typically leave lessons with a personalized set of exercises to help them achieve their goals. Additionally, I like to root my lessons in not just pedagogy and technique but also notation literacy and good internal time, creating solid and well-rounded players.
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.
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