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BA: Music Education - Cal State East Bay, Music Education, 2010
AA: Liberl Arts: General Studies - Berkeley City College, Liberal Arts-General Studies, 2009
Composer: 2017 - Composed "Musical Portraits #2" for San Francisco Composer's Chamber Orchestra 2010 - World Premier "Clay Army March" - American High School Concert Band, Fremont, CA 2011 - World Premier "Endless Rolling Round" - Vocal Round, Koldaly Summer Institute, Oakland, CA 2003 - World Premier "Clown Antics" Saxophone Trio, Lakewood Community
I am a Low Brass and Musicality Teacher passionate about developing excellent tone, technique and lip flexibility in brass players and Sight Reading ability in all my students. I graduated from Cal State East Bay in 2010 with a B.A. in Music Education. Part of my educational philosophy is stated: "It is Rapturous for me when a student realizes their own musicality by going past just playing the notes on the page, to actively expressing the Message (which could be a Thought, Emotion, or a Scene) that is inherent in the piece." In my teaching, I focus Duet and Trios to exercise Sight Reading ability and ability to Listen-to-blend-as-an-Ensemble. I teach Voice only in the capacity of encouraging Sight singing while teaching how to Sight Read.
My music teaching began when, in 1992, I limited myself to playing duets with a Trumpet playing friend. We arranged 50 hymns as Duets for Trumpet and Bass Trombone. I began to realize the value of playing in this small ensemble in terms of my ability to listen to blend. During this period, I developed a system for learning to Sight Read and Listen-to-blend-as-an-Ensemble which I have entitled Listening Awareness Levels 1, 2 & 3. I have used this system ever since will ALL of my low brass students.
I typically use Clause Gordon's "Systematic Approach to Daily Practice in Bass Clef", Arban's "Famous Method for Trombone" and Clark's "Lip Flexibilies". I have devised my own ideas about good brass technique in a document entitled "Optimal Brass Playing". I start beginning players on "Accent on Achievement" for Trombone (or Trumpet, or Tuba). To prepare students for recital performance, I have students play out of Alan Rath's "Introductory Melodious Etudes" and the Rochut Etudes books. In order for my student and I to play Duets, I have arranged Duet lines for all 64 of the Introductory Melodious Etudes. For adult brass players, I give the direction the student needs to meet his/her personal musical goal. After a significant number of lessons with me, my students come away as effective and great sounding brass players and excellent Sight Readers!
I have my student brass players play their assigned exercises that build their Tone, Technique and Lip Flexibility. Then, s/he would play the assigned solo, then s/he and I would play a Duet to exercise ability to sight read and listen-to-blend-as-an-ensemble. As I have stated earlier, my educational philosophy is: "It is Rapturous for me when a student realizes their own musicality by going past just playing the notes on the page, to actively expressing the Message (which could be a Thought, Emotion, or a Scene) that is inherent in the piece."
I have had several months of trombone lessons so far with Scott. In my experience, he has been fully willing to work on any area, be it sight-reading (he pairs this with sight-singing to help you get an idea of what you're playing), transcription, or other focuses. He is friendly and flexible, and I highly recommend him as a teacher, in person or virtually.
I have had four lessons so far with Scott, each lesson I am farther on then I was the prior session. I enjoy Scott's learning techniques and patience as we work together to my next milestone. Scott has an amazing level of experience and makes it much easier to further my knowledge. I strongly endorse Scott as an excellent choice for a music teacher. I also respect that Scott will work with your schedule.
Scott is someone who expertly emphasizes both the fundamentals of trombone playing and musicianship. I have had the opportunity to read his melodious etudes arrangements with him and his arrangements are expertly crafted to force the performers to work on listening, phrasing, intonation and sound quality all in one fell swoop. Scott's attitude is very warm and not condescending in the slightest. He is very positive while always encouraging the player to grow. If you are a low brass player who wants a deeper understanding on the intricacies of low brass performance and overall musicianship, you should absolutely give Scott a try.
Scott is an excellent musician and composer. I have had the privilege of performing several pieces he has composed and each has been a joy to perform. I highly recommend Scott as a teacher as his musicianship and wealth of knowledge will empower and inspire any student learning from him.
While I haven't experienced Scott as a teacher (and therefore shouldn't have assigned stars, but was required to do so), he has been a music-playing colleague of mine for a number of years, and from what I know about his playing I infer that he should be an excellent teacher. He is technically very good on trombone and Renaissance sackbut; he can push his instruments in amazing ways at both the low and high end of the pitch range, and is extremely musical -- great sense of phrasing and articulation, and always in tune. He is passionate about his instrument and music in general. Also I've seen him display great patience with a variety of personalities, a good quality for a teacher.
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