Whether you have never picked up a saxophone or want to explore improvising using the harmonic minor scale over complex jazz changes, Jeff can help you achieve and exceed your goals.

• Take your playing and enjoyment to the next level!
   
• Jeff is an effective and fun teacher with students all over the country.
   
• Jeff is able to teach in your residence or his home in Park Slope, Brooklyn.
   
• Jeff enjoys touring and his studio work. His teaching rates are competitive on purpose. He wishes to share his positive attitude and love of music with his students.
   
• $40/hour, $25/half hour or a bit more depending on travel time to your location.

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Jeff's Teaching Philosophy

"A good connection between teacher and student makes the learning process fun and fulfilling for everyone.  I started teaching in 1998 mostly because of the great experiences I've had with my teachers. I've been lucky to have studied with some outstanding people, both musically and personality-wise, and always had a connection that went beyond just the saxophone and playing scales and etudes.  It was a great to feel like I was learning something with a friend who also happened to be an amazing musician.  I believe in education by encouragement rather than by force or intimidation.  If the student is having fun in lessons there's much more of a chance that he'll be excited to practice during the week than if he's scared of what will happen in the next lesson if he's not prepared.  That's not to say that I don't have high expectations for improvement, though.  I have no doubt that by following the techniques and ideas I teach in lessons and putting them into daily practice, any musician will grow in leaps and bounds.  My main goal in teaching is to get my students excited to learn about what I'm passionate about - music.  Hopefully my enthusiasm will rub off on them and create a desire to know and experience more in music as well as in every other aspect in their lives.  

I've had the chance to play a lot of different styles - jazz (which is what I mostly play now), blues, classical, latin, avant-garde, rock... Once you have the basics of music down you can go in any direction you want.  I would want to make sure my students have a good grasp on the technique of the saxophone (embrochure, breathing, sound quality, finger dexterity, scales...) and some areas in musicality like rhythm, theory, and interpretation.  From there we could go on in lots of different directions with any style of music as well as improvisation.
 
Music has always been a lot of fun for me whether I'm creating it or listening to it.  It can stir up more emotions in me than just about anything else I've found.  The saxophone can be very expressive and the more knowledge and experience the musician has with his instrument, the more it becomes his own voice which I think is one of the main goals of being a musician: for music to become so much a part of you that
everything you create is some form of beautiful art."

Jeff Gutierrez

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