Musika Quick Stats
25 Years
Since We Started
41,456+
Happy Customers
10,769
Cities with Students
3,123
Teachers in Network
Lesson Special - Up to 20% OFF! Get Started Now with a Risk-Free Trial!
Here are just a few of the many teachers offering Saxophone lessons in Los Angeles . Whether you are looking for beginner guitar lessons for your kids, or are an adult wanting to improve your skills, the instructors in our network are ready to help you now!
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
Derek is a Grammy-nominated trombonist based in Los Angeles, California. Derek completed a BM in Jazz Studies from the University of North Texas in 2016 and an MM in Studio Music and Jazz Trombone at the University of Miamis Frost School of Music in 2018. As a freelance musician in Los Angeles, Miami, and Dallas, he has been regarded as a first-call musician in many styles of music for the past 5 years. Read More
Instruments: Piano Guitar Violin Saxophone Bass Guitar Organ Acoustic Guitar
My goal for every student especially the beginners is to make them play like a pro as soon as possible with emphasis on playing music by ear. My way of teaching is kind of unconventional because based on my experience, it took me a long time before I was able to play any song that I like since reading notes would require unwavering attention and huge effort depending on student’s skills to be able to play it perfectly. Read More
Instruments: Piano Guitar Trumpet Saxophone Drums Mallet Percussion
I'm a firm believer in self motivation. Having a good teacher is important but having a great student is paramount. I love to develop concepts that work for the individual student whom I'm relaying ideas to. Whether it is theory or academia or the idea of honest expression, all these facets of teaching have always been inspiring to me. I can mock up many different playing situations to accommodate any level of player. Read More
Instruments: Guitar Saxophone Electric Guitar Djembe Acoustic Guitar
Every person is different as every student is different, so I make a point to cater to the individual and not get locked into an umbrella method of teaching. I make myself available to each student to ask questions and get the most information out of whatever subject we might be discussing/learning. I make sure that each students needs get met by determining on day 1 of lessons what they want to get out of music and the instrument they are learning. Read More
Instruments: Piano Saxophone Flute Clarinet
Hello! My name is Wes, and I am a multi-woodwind instrumentalist based out of Long Beach, CA. I attended California State University, Long Beach for my master's degree, and The Ohio State University for my bachelor's. Though I am mostly seen playing a saxophone, I am classically trained on clarinet, flute and even oboe! I play a wide variety of styles of music, from jazz to pop, and perform and record with big bands, small jazz groups, pit orchestras, and much more! Read More
Instruments: Piano Saxophone Clarinet Music
Playing music is fun! Lessons should reflect that. One of the things I learned in my studies was to hold my students to their own standard of excellence instead of trying to have them meet my own. In addition to all of the technical aspects of playing an instrument, the greatest asset a musician has is their musical concept of sound. I highly encourage all of my students to listen to the greatest players of their respective instruments. Read More
Instruments: Piano Guitar Violin Cello Viola Trumpet Trombone Saxophone Flute Clarinet Recorder Fiddle French Horn Piccolo Oboe
My approach to learning an instruments is to have the students learn to play by ear first before they can start learning to read music. I find that most students are able to progress quickly because it frees them to focus on the playing the instruments rather than reading notes. I consider reading music like different subject that they learn later. Learning music is like learning to speak. First we learn to talk and then we learn to read and write. Read More
Instruments: Saxophone Flute
If you weren't a musician what do you think you'd be doing instead?
If I weren't a musician I would most likely be doing computer science. I love coding on computers as a hobby. However, that would never happen because I love being a musician. I want to have a free schedule, and I want to study and practice something that I know I'll love doing for my entire life. I don't want to be stuck in an office all day on a computer, or a cubicle working on things that I don't want to. I'd rather be homeless, working hard to make a buck off the street playing my beloved saxophone than to be stuck in an office for the rest of my life loathing my job. That is very much how far I would go to be a musician.
When will I start to see results?
Results begin to show right away! However, the one important thing that is crucial to the learning process of a child is to be consistent, and to practice as often as they can. Teaching a child information can be lost as easily as it can be retained. However, this can easily be avoided if a child remains practicing as much as they can. Parents can and should help their child as much as they can to also build discipline for the child to be consistent with practice. I will also help and guide students as much as possible!
Did you have a teacher that inspired you to go into music? How did they inspire you?
Yes my mentor Quincy Cavers. He was the last student of Clark Terry a few years before he died. Quincy lived with Clark for a few years until the day of his death. Clark gave him lessons every day and he spent a lot of time learning from Clark. He was also in his movie Keep on Keepin' On. Quincy inspired me with the way that he played the saxophone and with all of his life lessons and the way he talked about Clark and what he showed him. He taught me a lot of things and prepared me the way Clark tried to prepare Quincy. He inspired me to want to teach other people and pass on the same information to the maybe next Clark Terry.
What advice do you have about practicing effectively?
I strongly believe having a planned schedule of when and what to practice will work very efficiently to help you improve and practice what you need. These practice sessions need to be planned throughout the entire day. If they are more than 2 hours of practice, make sure to take at least 10-15 minute breaks in between. Trying to practice mistakes and being extremely exhausted, tired or annoyed of what you're practicing won't help anyone. Distract yourself for a little while on your break to get your mind off of what you practiced. Don't worry, once you go back to it, you're brain is already refreshed and you'll play it better. I learned this from experience. Also, have early morning practices are great because you wake up well-rested, and your brain is reset for the day. This will definitely help you retain more information of what you practiced throughout the day.
How do I know if my child is ready to start lessons?
I believe that any child form the ages 5+ are already able enough to start lessons. Children's brains at that age begin to absorb a lot of information that gets retained the most. Especially in music a child at that age will be ready to start lessons and will actually drastically improve over a short amount of time (1-3 years) and will indefinitely become as well as they are taught and practice their instruments. Children are exactly like human sponges and will definitely be able to start at a young age and so on if they continue with their instrument.
What does a normal practice session look like for you?
A normal practice session for me is about 6-8 hours a day. However, I take 15 minute breaks in between every hour. I sit down, place a metronome, and I begin to practice my basic scales. Major, Dominant, Minor scales are what I begin with at 130bpm 16th notes to the highest and lowest range of my instrument. Then I start working on arpeggios, triads etc. Then I begin to work on more complicated scales like diminished, half-diminished, whole tone, bebop scales, etc. I also work on transcribing different players and their solos by ear with records and youtube recordings.
25 Years
Since We Started
41,456+
Happy Customers
10,769
Cities with Students
3,123
Teachers in Network
Trusted as the industry leader, for over 21 years the teachers in our network have been providing Saxophone lessons in Los Angeles to students of all ages and abilities.
We'll then reach out to the teachers for you.
Schedule the risk-free trial lesson directly with the teacher.
Continue with that teacher or try someone else.




