As a lifelong learner, Chandler’s teaching philosophies will always be evolving and growing. While relatively young in his musical career, he has been fortunate to experience a wide variety of styles, instruction, and performance opportunities. It is his goal to be able to draw from his diverse musical background to communicate practical, effective ideas to his students.
Chandler’s ever-growing private lesson studio is something he takes a lot of pride in. Teaching students of all ages and musical backgrounds, his goal is to create a well-rounded musician with an appreciation for the art they perform. Chandler keeps his students to a high standard, always emphasizing the importance of fundamental technique. However, it is the enjoyment and appreciation of music that is fundamental to his teaching philosophy. He believes enjoyment leads to a desire to create great music, thus creating a positive relationship with practice. In his own performance practice, Chandler will learn everything about anything he plays to find even just a single bar of the music to look forward to. This allows him to connect with whatever he may be performing and deliver a memorable performance. We perform music because we enjoy it, so make enjoying it part of your routine.
Fundamentals are essential to instrumental music. Because most of the fingers are in fixed positions, it’s extremely important to become comfortable with every possible key or mode because they all will feel different in the fingers. Scales also don’t have to be just straight up and down, Chandler always includes arpeggios, common jazz phrases, and articulations in his scale practice, so his students are using their time efficiently.
Chandler also places a heavy focus on sound production. Reed players can get away with bad air support, so it’s important to him to establish how to produce a solid sound as soon as possible. He focuses on building the sound from the bottom of the horn, because becoming comfortable in all ranges of the horn is most effectively done by getting a full, supported, comfortable sound on the low C, B, Bb, (A).
Chandler also teaches the importance of playing in multiple styles. Saxophonists are asked to do many things such as: jazz , solo performance, military band, wedding bands, rock, funk , marching band, etc. It is his view that becoming a master of the different dialects of music is paramount to becoming a successful saxophonist.
It brings Chandler so much joy to see his students out in the world performing, and spreading the love of music in all forms.