Trombone Lessons in Montclair, CA

Instruments: Piano Guitar Voice Violin Cello Viola Trumpet Trombone Saxophone Flute Clarinet Drums Bass Guitar Organ Synthesizer Harp Accordion Harmonica Lap Steel Guitar Banjo Ukulele Mandolin Recorder Lute Electric Violin Fiddle Double Bass Euphonium French Horn Tuba Piccolo Mallet Percussion Orchestral Percussion Shakuhachi Oboe Bassoon English Horn Conga Latin Percussion Keyboard Electric Guitar Djembe Classical Guitar Acoustic Guitar

Most recently Derek was the lead trombonist of the 2018 Disneyland All-American College Band. He has recently performed with Wayne Bergeron, Gordon Goodwin, Dave Holland, Randy Brecker, Dave Liebman, Jimmy Heath, Shaun Martin, Christian Jacob, John Beasley, Troy Roberts, Frank Greene, Brian Lynch, Jeff Jarvis, Steve Houghton, Jiggs Whigham, Sal Lozano, and John Clayton. Derek has had recent performances at Dizzys Club Coca-Cola, the Smithsonian Institute, and the New World Symphony. Read More

Instruments: Trombone Euphonium Music

Typically I like to emphasize fundamentals for my students since solid fundamentals is a foundation for everything else and is something that needs to be constantly maintained and can always be improved regardless of the student's level. In addition, I also take into account what the student is interested in and try to work on music that is engaging, fun, and within the ability level of the student. I use a variety of different method books to suit the need of the student as well as methods and exercises of my own. Read More

Instruments: Piano Guitar Voice Violin Trumpet Trombone Saxophone Flute Bass Guitar Organ Synthesizer Accordion Ukulele Mandolin Keyboard Electric Guitar Acoustic Guitar

I use a combination of different methods rather than one method. The parts to my approach is; 1) Exposure, by listening to high information music. 2) Discovery, becoming familiar with the chosen instrument by means of discovering how to make music with it and what are the possibilities with said instrument. 2) Association, by learning songs and pieces that the student is already familiar with. 3) Analysis, breaking apart songs and sounds that the student is familiar with to understand the theory behind it. 4) Aplication, by using the knowledge aquiered through learning familiar with to learn new pieces of music. Read More

Instruments: Piano Voice Trumpet Trombone Synthesizer Recorder Euphonium French Horn Music Keyboard

For the younger beginning students, I usually start with Alfred's Beginning Piano Series. Once the student has a grasp of the fundementals, I will begin introducing major and minor scales as well as solo repertoire. For my adult students I will see their level of ability and musical interests, find appropriate material based on their taste and formulate the lesson to include fun stuff as well as build proper mechanics.  For my horn lessons depending on the skill level I being with Essential Elements or the Arban book and build from there incorporating solos of the greats, and songs that they want to learn to play. Read More

Instruments: Trombone

I have taught trombone to all levels for over ten years. I worked with students in North Carolina and Chicago, and have taught trombone and music theory I like to give listening assignments as well, as it has been shown that students develop better technique when the music they practice what they are listening to. It also develops a historical understanding of the instrument, music, and musicians. My real world experience ranging from orchestras to dive bars. Read More

Instruments: Trumpet Trombone Euphonium Tuba

For students learning their first instrument and learning how to read music, I like to spend the majority of the time buzzing on the mouthpiece, breathing, as well as studying and playing easy warm ups such as Remingtons. This way students can build their fundamentals for their instrument at the same time they are developing better reading skills. For more advanced beginners I have them read easy etudes to develop their reading and overall musicianship. Read More

Instruments: Piano Voice Trumpet Trombone Saxophone Flute Clarinet Drums French Horn Oboe

I truly believe that all learning, while serious in nature, should be fun and exciting in methodology. Living in the age of technology, there are so many ways to make learning fun and interesting for students. Whether it be sharing information from Youtube, educational sites such as The Teaching Channel, using digital music apps such as "Smart Music" for assessment, showing a student how to record themselves on their smartphones, all of these things can be brought in to the instructional experience. Read More