Sax Lessons =[ Chris Alpiar - Tenor & Soprano Saxophone ]=

Private Instruction from Chris

Not everyone is ready for music lessons, its true! But if you enjoy music and want to learn more about your instrument and are willing to spend at least 30 minutes a day practicing, then probably its time to think about private instruction.

Saxophone Lessons with International Jazz and Studio Saxophonist Chris Alpiar

I have been teaching music lessons for over 15 years and have an intense yet fun method for learning music on different levels. I teach beginning to advanced saxophone lessons and am currently accepting new students from my studio in the Old Fourth Ward, downtown Atlanta area. I also offer composition classes as well as music technology classes.

Sax Lesson Curriculum:

Basic sax technique
- Finger placement
- Five finger excercises
- Patterns and licks
- Scales and Arpeggios
- Extreme Hi and Low register fingering
- Embouchure
- Breathing/Tongueing techniques
- Reeds/Mouthpiece setup
- Sound development excercises
Advanced Sax Technique
- Advanced practice schedules
- False fingerings and note cracking
- Falsetto high range notes
- Multiphonics
- Circular breathing
- Extradimensional transportation
Sightreading
- Basic reading concepts
- Classical repertoire
- Jazz/modern repertoire
- Rythmic interpretation
- Dynamics and effects
Improvisation
- Basic Jazz harmony
- Advanced modal harmony
- Chordscales, patterns, licks
- Transcribing solos
- Analyzation of solos
- Listening repertoire and technique
- Emulating vs creating (historian vs scientist)
- Performance anxiety
Repertoire
- Jazz Standards
- Reharmonizing
- Learning tunes in multiple keys

Composition Class Curriculum:

Basic western harmony
Basic western counterpoint
Basic jazz harmony
Basic jazz counterpoint
Beginning modal harmony
Advanced modal harmony
Jazz big band writing
- Jazz big band listening/ analyzation
  - Duke Ellington
  - Count Basie
  - Bill Holman
  - Thad Jones/Mel Lewis
  - Gil Evans
  - Carla Bley
  - Other swing era composers
  - 5th Stream crossover composers
- big band voicings
- big band voice leading
- big band counterpoint/ linewriting
- big band in Hollywood, dead or alive?
Cinematic writing
- Orchestral tabulature
- Orchestration and symphonic instrumentation
- Understanding the Symphony
- Motivic development
- Writing for strings
- Brass mutes and articulations
- Woodwind range, styles and realism
- Percussion in the orchestra
- MIDI, GigaStudio and technology
- Cinematic listening/ analyzation
  - Hans Zimmer
  - John Williams
  - Danny Elfman
  - Vangelis
  - Lalo Schifrin
  - Jerry Goldsmith
- "Roots" Orchestral composer listening/ analyzation
  - Bach
  - Mozart
  - Beethoven
  - Mahler
  - Wagner
  - Rochmaninov
  - Debussy
  - Bartok
  - Stravinsky
  - Holst
  - Schoenberg

Music Sequencing and Technology:

Music technology basics
Analog recording concepts
Microphones and acoustics
The digital domain
Notes on electronics, wiring and cables
Basic computer prep, PC vs Apple
MIDI
- What is MIDI?
- General MIDI
- Time for a new language!
- MIDI Instruments
  - Roland
  - Alesis
  - Akai
  - Kurzweil
  - others
- MIDI Sequencing
  - Hardware vs software
  - Cakewalk (PC)
  - Digital Performer (Mac)
  - Loop based sequencers
  - Sequencing effects
  - Quantizing your sequence
  - Layering sounds
  - Mixing MIDI
- Sampling overview
- GigaStudio
- Incorporating the Video timeline in your sequence