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My name is Cristóbal. I was born in Santiago, Chile in 1978. I have a Bachelor´s Degree in Clarinet from "Universidad Católica de Chile" (Chile 1999) where I received lessons from Francisco Gouet and the great Luis Rossi (I have one of his well known handmade Bb Clarinets). I studied Jazz Saxophone with Marcos Aldana, father and teacher of the 2013 Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz International Saxophone Competition winner, Melisa Aldana. I also studied Composition and Arrangements in Popular Music at "Escuela Moderna de Música" (Chile 2004) where I received lessons from Gillermo Riffo (2010 Chilean National Award of Music), Toly Ramírez and many other great teachers. Most of the albums I recorded and tours I have made, received public grants from the “Ministerio de las Cultuaras, las Artes y el Patrimonio de Chile”. I am fluent in Spanish, English and Portuguese.
During my entire career, I have worked as a private teacher of Clarinet and Saxophone, with people from all ages, 10 to 60. In 2011, I also worked as a Clarinet and Saxophone teacher for Altamira School, a private school in Santiago, Chile. I have Classical, Jazz and Latin-American music experience; learning, performing, recording and teaching. I developed my career as a musician in Chile as a Saxophone and Clarinet player, performing with many different styles of bands and orchestras, so I have experience playing Jazz, Latin Jazz, Blues, Funk, Afro Beat, Salsa (Son, Rumba, Mambo, etc), Bossa Nova, Samba, Tango, etc. I also Performed, Collaborated and Recorded with: La Pozze Latina, Irazú Big Band, Gitano, Carlos Cabezas, Tonino Carotone, Luis Jara, Leo Quinteros, Gonzales y los Asistentes and Benjamín Lechuga.
For the beginning, students will start developing the technique of sound with simple exercises and tunes during which we will explore the basic music concepts: pitch, intervals, rhythm, dynamic expression, music notation and reading. After that process, we will start studying the chords and scales relationships, applied on the instrument, to develop a comprehension of the tonal-modal system. Then we will start playing more complex tunes and studying solos of the most important referents in the style you want to absorb in the musical language you want to explore.
I have twenty years teaching and I think the key to success is to enjoy when you play and have fun. I´ll give you the tools to advance at your own rhythm, making consistence progress, exploring the music you like. We will practice long note exercises to develop sound and pitch, play scales in many different ways and connect them in different chord progressions, play tunes at your level capacity, transcribe, analyze and play solos of the masters (Parker, Coltrane, etc.), and create your own solos and language.