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About Tom O.
Tom makes learning the sax and piano great fun! He plays jazz saxophone in different places in London with his friends, and he arranges music too. He loves teaching as he thinks it's great to pass on all the exciting things he's learned to students. Whether you’re playing for the first time, looking to do your next grade, or just exploring the joy of music, he'll make lesson really fun and enjoyable, so you can enjoy learning saxophone or piano just as much as he has. He can show you lots of exciting things he's learnt, whether it’s how to sound great in a big band, how to improvise or how to learn those tunes you really like by ear.
Tom studied jazz saxophone at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, one of the finest jazz courses in Europe and he was the recipient of the Jon Hassall Prize for Jazz. He has won multiple other awards such as the The Mr Jeffreys & Mrs Christina Jeffreys Memorial Prize for Wales for the highest mark in Wales for ABRSM Grade 7 piano, and he came second in Wales in the Urdd Eisteddfod Under 19s composition competition. He also obtained 142/150 in Grade 8 classical saxophone.
Teaching in Saxophone & Piano
Tom teaches saxophone and piano. He can prepare students for both ABRSM and Trinity graded exams at all levels on saxophone and up to Grade 5 on piano.
Having a varied lesson makes it exciting and enjoyable!
Here's some examples of what lessons might look like:
Typical jazz saxophone lesson (more improvisation focused):
-Warmup
-Scales/ exercises
-Improvisation
-Musical game/ fun exercise
-Free play
Typical classical piano lesson (more notation focused):
- Warm up exercises
- Listening to the exciting repertoire the student has been working on
- Scales/ exercises
- Musical game/fun exercises
- Sight reading
- Free play/ hearing pieces the student has learnt for themselves e.g. in other genres
Genre
Tom can teach many different types of music. He can teach all levels of jazz, classical and pop styles on saxophone, but specializes in jazz. Tom can also teach classical piano up to Grade 5.
First lesson
Firstly to say, learning music is enjoyable and lessons will be nice and relaxed. Tom would ask you what kind of music you like listening to, so he can make sure you're really learning the kind of music you love. If you've not played the instrument before, firstly, welcome. Tom would start by showing you how to put together a sax or how the keys are named on the piano, and then it's straight to playing some music.
Beginners
Welcome to the exciting experience that is learning the saxophone or piano! If you're learning piano then no need to bring anything with you to the lesson. For beginner saxophone students, as well as your instrument it would be helpful to bring a mouthpiece, a few soft reeds (roughly strength 1.5), a mouthpiece, a neck strap and some cork grease.