Melanie B
Instruments: Saxophone, Music
Styles: Classical, Jazz, Funk, Avant-garde
Melanie B
Instruments: Saxophone, Music
Styles:
Classical, Jazz, Funk, Avant-garde
Where I Teach:
Ages Taught: 10-80
BM, Towson University, Jazz Saxophone Performance
I am an active saxophone performer that is eager to enter the field of teaching. My desire is to work with students that struggle with finding the right practice methods and teaching methods for them, as well as make learning a new instrument a fun and exciting experience. I also hope to be an inspiration for young women who want to pursue learning the saxophone. After two years of attending Frostburg University under their Classical Performance program, I transferred and graduated from Towson University in May 2017 with a Bachelor of Music degree in Jazz/Commercial Performance then enrolled in Howard’s University’s jazz performance masters program for a year. The knowledge I've gained and my experiences in college, I feel are key to building a students confidence and developing their own tastes and style for music.
Having taken classes in Jazz Pedagogy, I have since been inspired to pursue teaching my own students. I have had a mix of different teachers that have each exposed me to different ways to teach a genre of music or basic instrumental technique. What I have taken from those teachers is that it is important for a student to work on the kind of music that they enjoy while also being consistent with the fundamentals of their instrument. It enhances the students motivation not just for their instrument but for music as well allowing them to excel faster. I also believe that helping a student find the practice method that focuses on their unique challenges is often overlooked and I hope to address that in my lessons. My goal, is that my students have fun and develop a love for music that inspires them to create as they learn and grow confident in they're learning process.
For new students I would ask that they already have Nilo Hovey's Rubank "Elementary Method Saxophone" book and Trent Kynaston's "Daily Studies for All Saxophones" so we can get to work on building their fundamentals right away. Once students have developed their basics I will then introduce them to beginner repertoire , depending on their focus it can be either classical or jazz that they will prepare until performance ready. As they progress the books that they work from and the repertoire will increase in difficulty. I also incorporate basic musical theory to help students ability to read music and to develop their improvisational skills once they've reached an intermediate level on their instrument.
I think it is very important for a student to feel confident in their work and develop patience with themselves and they're learning process. I encourage this by always making sure that positive reinforcements stays at the forefront of my approach, and setting small weekly goals that they will be able to accomplish with diligent practice and focus. Even if a student does not complete that goal in the week, the progress made in that week is valuable and worth acknowledgement which I hope to help my students understand .
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