Sarah W  
Instruments: Piano, Flute
Styles: Classical, Pop, Folk, Avant-garde

I have over a decade’s combined experience teaching music to K-12 and adult students of all levels, including four years of TA’ing college-level music courses. I have worked as a private flute and piano teacher, an after-school program instructor, a summer music camp teacher, and as a substitute music theory instructor at a community music school. While at UC Davis, I was a TA for several music courses, including introductory music theory, introductory music history, and intermediate ear training.

For young students, we'll start our first few lessons with rhythm and singing games to break the ice. These games also help train the ear. For flute students, we will then progress to the basics of breathing, tone production, note fingerings, and music reading. Once we reach the point where the student can read and play simple tunes, we will start using Trevor Wye's Beginner's Book for the Flute. For teenage and adult students, we'll discuss your goals in our first meeting and go from there, whether those goals are learning to play for your own enjoyment, or preparing to apply for college and/or summer music programs. I am happy to work on standard classical flute repertoire, contemporary flute repertoire, and music in non-classical styles. For young piano students, our first few lessons will be dedicated to posture, hand position, basic rhythm, and learning note names on the piano keyboard. We will then progress to music reading. I usually use Faber's Piano Adventures series for fun, level-appropriate pieces. We will also continue to play rhythm games and ear-training games in order to develop musicality. As with my flute students, I am open to a range of styles depending on the student's interests and goals.