David W  

5

  5.0 (3)

Instruments: Saxophone, Flute, Clarinet, Synthesizer, Music
Styles: Classical, Jazz, Pop, Rock, Blues, Folk, Country, R&B, Gospel, Musical Theater, Opera, Latin, Funk, Hip Hop, Electronic, Flamenco, Salsa, Showtunes, Spirituals, Reggae, Latin Jazz, Swing, New Age, Samba, Bossa Nova, Soul, Marching Band, Punk, Mariachi, Avant-garde

My experience performing music started at a very young age (6 or 7). Growing up with three older brothers who all played instruments, I was quickly introduced to playing gigs for family functions and other events. In addition to school bands, honor bands, and orchestras, I was also able to play with my local University concert band while still in high school. I was also playing and performing in other small jazz groups as well as a local jazz big band. Once I started at Temple University as a duel classical/jazz major, I was able to participate in an extremely wide range of jazz, classical, fusion, funk, rock, and world music ensembles. I also started working as a freelance musician in Philadelphia and along the East Coast. Around this same time (early 1990s), I was able to start teaching private music lessons at a local music store. During my time teaching at this store, I was able to begin to develop my teaching style and quickly discover that I really loved teaching and helping my students progress and have fun playing music. I also discovered that I had a talent for making my students feel very relaxed during their lessons. I began to go beyond just teaching from one page to the next and started to explore the creative process of creating interesting lessons that would challenge, encourage, and engage, as my teaching style would always be adjusted and adapted to perfectly fit my students' individual learning styles.  Since relocating to Northern California in 1999, I have continued to work with a diverse range of ensembles and am currently teaching at two music studios, conducting clinics at local schools, and running a number of small and large group ensembles, including woodwind quintets, sax quartets, jazz combos, and experimental music groups. I am also continuing to fine-tune my teaching style, enhance my curriculum with the software and apps, and devise new and fun ways for my students to get even more out of their lessons and their overall musical experience.

I use a wide variety of music in my lessons and customize the exact curriculum based on each student's goals, learning style, requests, and what I determine will be the right mix to maximize their progress and allow them to enjoy their practice time and the lessons. I also provide mp3 background tracks for most of the songs used in the lesson. I tend to favor Essential Elements for students (including adults) when they are first learning to play their instrument, but I also teach from the other band method books to accommodate what each student is using in their respective band class. I also use most of the most common method, scale, and etude books, including Rubank, Klose, Ferling, Rose, and others. But over the years, I have incorporated many seldom-used but extremely beneficial studies into my lesson curriculum. Some of these include the Artie Shaw clarinet method books and the Stievenard Practical Study of Scales (out of print). The books mentioned above are just one part of the music used in my lessons. My students receive (at no charge) sheet music via a cloud storage folder that represents every style and genre, both those that they are already familiar with and many that they are introduced to for the first time. This list is just a sample of the styles I use in my lessons: classical, all types of jazz, pop, rock, movie music, Klezmer, Celtic, and many other styles of world music; music from video games, anime, and even heavy metal (not kidding). Within each of these styles, I teach the most popular songs but then go much deeper, allowing my students to explore, discover, and have fun with a diversity of music. The long and short of it is that my students never lack for new music to play and are never bored.