Seattle Area Saxophone Teachers

Darryl Barber

Darryl has been a professional saxophonist and teacher for forty years both in the United States including twenty years in Denmark and Norway. Darryl has taught Jazz ensembles, Ear training and improvisation at the Conservatory level in Denmark while performing locally and throughout the continent and credits the many great mentors and teachers he has had through the years, the likes of Joe Henderson, Joe Viola at Berklee (four years) and numerous band leaders and elders. Darryl is always grateful to have the opportunity to share his knowledge, understanding and experience feeling that it is a natural progression to pass along the generosity of those that he has learned from and have been inspired by. Paying it forward is just the right thing to do.

Darryl’s teaching philosophy is a simple one, believing that music is for everyone and everyone has the ability to express themselves through music. Darryl believes that the study of the saxophone should be serious fun. By this he means if the application is put forth with proper consistency, the student cannot help but reap the benefits of their efforts with the proper guidance and performance experience. There will come a time when that light bulb moment will happen and the saxophone student will feel within themselves the joy, excitement, power, confidence and understanding of what they are developing for themselves and realize that they too are a part of something that so many greats who have come before them have contributed to. Darryl also plays piano and from time to time will use that wonderful instrument in conjunction with the lessons on improvisation. Darryl uses both classical and jazz repertoire as a vehicle leading to the development of a solid foundation for serious fun as a saxophonist.

Landon Ashby

From a young age, Landon has always been entranced by music and storytelling and has been drawn to composing music, especially for film and games. A Texas native, he moved up to Seattle a few years ago to further pursue a career in music and study under two-time Emmy award winning composer Hummie Mann at the Pacific Northwest Film Scoring Program where he earned his Master’s in Music. Landon’s music has been heard in numerous short films, games, and TV shows, and he is currently working on several other projects including another short film and video game.

When he’s not composing, Landon also teaches composition and saxophone at all levels, as well as beginning clarinet and piano. He’s a firm believer in helping others find their passion and their musical voice and spreading the joy of music to students of all
ages. Beyond teaching a solid foundational technique, he also strives to aid each student in understanding more of the theory behind the music and help foster a deeper relationship with the instrument and performance.

Landon also encourages students to listen, learn, and perform music from all genres and one of his central tenets to teaching is showing students how to kindle their own curiosity and ultimately not only learn from him and other teachers, but for each student
to learn to be their own teacher.