Guitar Lessons in Santa Clara, CA

Instruments: Piano Guitar Voice Violin Cello Viola Trumpet Trombone Saxophone Flute Clarinet Drums Bass Guitar Ukulele Recorder Double Bass Euphonium French Horn Tuba Piccolo Mallet Percussion Orchestral Percussion Shakuhachi Oboe Bassoon English Horn Music Keyboard Electric Guitar Classical Guitar Acoustic Guitar

What does a normal practice session look like for you?
Since I play so many instruments practice sessions are usually pretty brief on each instrument besides my primary. I try to always start with a warm-up of either scales or exercises. Sometimes depending on time Ill skip right into sight reading as a warm up from an etude book or random excerpts. I then move into my method books to work on a specific technique. I spend about 2-5 minutes on each of these steps so that the bulk of my practice can then be applying these skills into repertoire which can go anywhere from 15-45 minutes. I try to practice a minimum of 30 minutes a day on voice and bassoon and 15 minutes or more on a secondary instrument usually picking a new one each day.

When did you decide to become a professional musician? Was it a gradual decision or was there a defining moment for you?
When I was little I always had the childhood dream of becoming a famous singer. I decided I wanted to become a band teacher when I was only in 7th grade due to how much I enjoyed music, helping others learn music, and learning multiple instruments. While I always loved singing it wasn't until my time performing in my high school musicals that I knew I had to major in both band and choral education.

If you weren't a musician what do you think you'd be doing instead?
I originally intended to double major in music and either Japanese or Astrophysics! As a Japanese American teaching Japanese is still something I could see myself doing in the future.

What is your favorite style/genre of music to play and why?
Folk music from all over the world is my favorite music to perform because I love learning about other cultures and languages so for me it's a great way to combine two of my favorite things into one. American folk music is some of my favorite stuff to sing and play on guitar.

If you play more than one instrument, how did you decide to start playing the second? (Or 3rd, 4th, 5th, etc)!
I knew very early on I wanted to be a band and choir teacher so I started learning any instruments I could get my hands on starting in middle school. I actually switched instruments a few times before settling on bassoon as my primary to which my band teachers told me "if you can play bassoon you can play anything" and I took that statement and ran with it!

Does music run in your family? Tell us a little about your musical family members.
I am the first professional musician in my family. My father was a bass player but it wasn't a major part of his life. He and his high school best friend would jam out together in their basement where myself and his friends daughters would be tasked with playing random instruments just for fun.

Why did you choose your primary instrument?
I've been singing as long as I could remember but it didn't start to become my primary instrument until high school. When I started in school band I played flute and quickly got bored of it and so my teacher asked me to switch to bassoon. I picked it because it looked and sounded funny and quickly fell in love with the quirky, challenging instrument.

If you have a Music Degree, what is it in (Performance, Education, Musicology, Theory, Composition, etc) and why did you choose that degree?
I have a Bachelors of music in Instrumental/Choral/General Music Education. I chose this because I knew early I wanted and loved to teach music. I hope to pursue higher education in music theory, composition and/or pedagogy.

What is your dream piece to perform and why?
For voice my dream piece is actually the musical role of Elphaba from Wicked. My dream bassoon piece would be the clarinet piece Rhapsody in Blue which is much more difficult on bassoon!

Do you use specific teaching methods or books? (Ex: Alfred, Bastion, Suzuki, Hal Leonard) Why did you choose them if you did?
I love to use essential elements for the majority of the instruments I play. For bassoon I like to use different Weissenborne and Milde as well as a method book my professor made for me and my fellow college bassoonist. For voice I love to use 4 minute mastery and sight reading factory for young singers. I pull most of my solo repertoire from all different sources via IMSLP, especially for classical repertoire however I also just have an abundance of repertoire readily available.

What do you think is the hardest thing to master on your instrument?
On bassoon I think the hardest thing to master is the full range of the instrument due to the crazy range spanning from below the bass clef to the top of the treble clef and the challenging fingerings and shear amount of alternative fingerings that accompany the range. For a vocalist the biggest challenge is learning to navigate the head and chest voice and the mix of both. It takes complete control of the breath and basic understanding of the vocal instrument which is challenging when until you obtain your adult voice, your voice is constantly changing especially in adolescents.

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