Music Lessons: Piano, Saxophone, Theory, Composition! Specialize in Ages 13 to Adult!

Find out more about Jake

• 1) When did you first develop a passion for music and your favorite instrument?

  I first developed my passion for music after completing a music summer program through the RI Philharmonic School when I was 12 years old. The instructors at the school were incredibly knowledgeable and skilled, and had an expert ability at fostering interest in music for the students attending the program. I believe that school is also the primary influence for my passion in music instruction.

• 2) Is there a particular type of music or artist that you listen to on a loop without it driving you crazy?

  I definitely listen to music on repeat and it never gets old, here are some of those artists:
  Nat King Cole
  Art Tatum
  John Coltrane
  Sonny Rollins
  Charlie Parker
  Billy Strayhorn
  Count Basie
  Kit Downes (Obsidian)

• 3) Explain to us the most difficult or riveting course you could personally give to a student of music.

  The most riveting music course I could give to a student would most likely be deconstructing tonal harmony for 21st century applications in music. This course would take a look at a variety of western music spanning different genres (classical, jazz, pop, folk, and many more) and extract the harmonic/melodic information from them at a highly detailed level, with the mission of repurposing the techniques found in that repertoire for improvisation, original composition, and original arrangement.

• 4) What do you think is the most complicated instrument to master and why?

  I believe one of the most difficult instruments to master is the upright bass. I’ve done quite a bit of writing for the instrument, and I’ve gained some insight along the way. My bassist friends tell me there are so many varying positions and ways to play just one passage and that finding the most efficient pathway to play a passage is like solving a new puzzle every time. It also is so difficult to project your sound without compromising on your tone, and intonation/staying in tune is a forever struggle. I have a deep appreciation for the upright bass and it makes me grateful that I chose saxophone/piano!

• 5) What are your keys to success?

  Here are some things that have led me to succeed in my music and professional life:
  Develop a tolerance for taking risks that could improve your life. We are naturally hesitant of the unknown for legitimate reasons. If you take a leap of faith, you don’t have complete certainty where it will take you. However, if you never take that leap, you’ll spend the rest of your life wondering what would’ve happened if you had.
  Building relationships with people is essentially to succeeding, regardless of what line of work you pursue. Learn how to be an engaging conversationalist, ask good questions, be present when talking with someone, remember names and details that someone shares with you. Oftentimes In the music industry, a musician is 30% hired because of their talent, and 70% hired because they are an enjoyable person to be around.

• 6) Name three musicians you dream of meeting in your favourite bar in the early hours of the morning. Explain why.

  I am going to list some living musicians because I’ll keep my fingers crossed it will happen one day!
  Steve Swallow: an amazing jazz electric bass player and masterful composer. I would love to meet Steve and ask him what influenced his writing outside of the jazz world, his understanding of song writing, harmony, and composition go against the grain of his contemporaries, and I always admire that in a musician.
  Larry Grenadier: NYC-based upright bass player and composer (I guess I really like bass players). Larry is part of one of my favorite jazz groups, the Bill Stewart trio with Walter Smith III. This group has heavily influenced my chordless trio group PHUC. I met Larry at one of the group’s shows at the Village Vanguard, and Larry’s playing has always stood out to me as he improvises bass lines that fuse Bach counterpoint with modern ruggedness. His recent YouTube interview with Pablo Held provided great insight on his perspective on music, and I’d like to pick up a conversation where that interview left off.
  Kit Downes: pianist, composer based in the UK. I am obsessed with his ECM record Obsidian, a collection of original compositions for church organ. The textures in that recording are alien in the best way, and it is a record I find myself continuing to revisit since its release in 2018. I will probably continue to revisit it for the rest of my life, there is always something new to discover with each listen. I wish to write for organ one day, and want to ask him how he went about creating the music for that record, as well as what artists inspired him to create a body of work with such a distinct and unique sound.

• 7) Provide a valuable anecdote related to music or your days at music school.

  What first comes to mind is my time studying with the amazing saxophonist and composer Billy Drewes while pursuing my Masters in Music at New York University. During our private lessons, he would show up with an overfilled binder with pages flying out of the sides, I couldn’t believe how much music was in it. All of those pages were his original compositions, and I couldn’t believe the sheer volume of work that he had written Every week he would come with new material that I had never seen before. We would sight read his music, with him normally on piano and me interpreting the melody, and I just remember the wide scope and contrast his music had, not one piece sounded similar to the last. His dedication to writing really inspired me and left a lasting impression on me and my approach to writing.

• 8) What are the little touches that make you a Superprof in music?

  I believe the little touch that makes me a Superprof in music is my genuine curiosity of my students and their motivations for wanting to learn more about music. Each student has their own story and lived experience that brings them to the saxophone or piano. I can remember mine (hence my response to question 1), but each person has their own journey, and I feel very privileged to be a part of that for my students. Fostering a passion for music is like taking a step into the ocean, the music world is so vast and awesome that it would take 100 lifetimes to just scratch the surface of what music has to offer.