Christian S  
Instruments: Piano, Saxophone, Clarinet, Music, Keyboard
Styles: Classical, Jazz, Pop, Rock, Blues, R&B, Funk, Showtunes, Latin Jazz, Swing, Bossa Nova

I am a recent college graduate, so it hasn't been so long since I was taking lessons myself! That said, I've taught music in a wide variety of settings, from private lessons, to music summer camps, to instrumental demonstrations, to running college ensembles, and more. Because I'm still young, I remember what it was like not to understand certain topics within music, so I'm particularly good at figuring out where my students are getting stuck and helping them to look at it from a new point of view. I like to focus on helping students learn the basics of harmony and theory so that they are able to approach any genre of music easily.

For my beginner piano students, I like to use the Faber Piano Adventures books to help my students learn the basics of reading music. I then like to guide them towards a more wholistic approach to music focusing on learning harmony and melody through the use of lead sheets. This allows students to understand the structure of music so that they can learn music they like by ear and approach any style of music with an open mind and the skills to adapt. That way, whatever style of music they are interested in as they develop will be available to them. For my saxophone students, I prefer to focus on learning scales and melodies so that they have the skillset to perform any music they're interested in learning. As with my piano students, I meet the student where they are and help guide them towards goals they can work towards, whether that's learning a specific song, a style of music, something they are working on in school, or anything else!