Saxophone Lessons in Los Angeles, CA

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.

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