“if I can teach someone to be excellent at music, then they can learn to be excellent at anything!”
– Dr. Thom Mason, Former music professor, USC
“My lifetime of teaching instrumental music in the public schools of Pennsylvania and Arizona has afforded me a reliable source of what works and what doesn’t. Craig Buhler’s group and private teaching instruction take the students from where they are to an incredibly higher level in a short period of time. I have seen him perform small miracles with his teaching methods. Would I send my own children to Craig for lessons? Yes, at least twice a week.”
— Sanford Feibus, Director of the 60-piece Sequim City Band
Click Here For Information on Workshops & Clinics
Individual instruction in:
- clarinet
- saxophone
- flute
- ear training & improvisation
- “New Ears Resolution” – the revolutionary new
ear training method
My Mission: To lead music students into a richer, more enjoyable, more artistically expressive hands-on musical experience.
Start where you are … grow from there.
Your individual lessons will be tailored to your abilities, interests, & goals. I teach sound fundamentals and conventional sight reading technique, but we will also explore the exciting world of ear training, in which your fingers learn to play exactly what your ear is hearing, what I call “hand-ear coordination.”
Learn to Improvise
If you are interested, I will also teach you how to “improvise,” that is, to compose & perform a brand new piece of music, which you create on the spur of the moment. You will enjoy the experience of “jamming” with other musicians – gathering together to spontaneously conceive of new sounds.
Keys To Music
Check out the link above for great resources!
Shown here are 2 thank you cards from the Sequim High School Jazz Ensemble. We have spent several wonderful years together studying improvisation.
CRAIG BUHLER JAZZ 
Hi Craig. I’ve been using your book ‘Keys to Music’ with my chromatic harmonica. Just love learning music like this with the written music and the CD. I also use ‘Pitch Switch’ to slow it down to whatever I need to follow. Would you have anything similar that you would suggest as instruction for a beginning instrument? Love your stuff. I’m interested in something for the chromatic harmonica but any key of C would work. Bob Green
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Hi Bob,
It is always so rewarding to hear that “Keys to Music” is helpful. After years of watching students grow in ability and confidence, i assembled a collection of the tunes which consistently brought the greatest benefit. Are you also interested in learning to play by ear? My companion teaching tool, “New Ears Resolution,” has helped hundreds of students master this art. https://craigbuhler.com/lessons-and-workshops/ear-training/
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Hi Craig,
I am interested in re-learning the basics in saxophone. I am a retired middle school teacher who learned to play by sitting in the school band for three years. I was part of the class in every way including seasonal concerts. I had to discontinue due to schedule/class conflicts but loved learning with the kids I taught in my other classes. I am now here in Sequim and would like to pick up my saxophone and start again. Can you give me the openings you have for beginners or any slots for instruction. Thank you for your time and interest, Dorinda Ray
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Thanks for getting in touch with me about saxophone lessons. Let’s communicate via email.
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I am a pianist as well as a retired school music teacher. I know harmony, but i have trouble picking up a tune on the fly. How can I work on that deficiency, so that, when the band leader calls a tune, I will be able to play it?
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This is exactly what “New Ears Resolution” is designed to do. There are 26 exercises in the course, and each one has an audio track. As you play along with the exercises on your instrument, you will learn to play by ear in any key.
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Good morning. I went the usual route of learning harmony, ear training, etc. I studied piano with Jaki Byard among others. Jaki Byard was a great teacher. He turned me into a jazz player. I had the tools but could not use them harmonically.
Recently, I have been re-harmonizing Bach, Beethoven, and Robert Schumann songs using jazz harmonic language.
I had a classically trained uncle, although I was too young to understand what he was showing me. He took something from Chopin’s revolutionary etude and applied it to George Gershwin’s “The Man I Love.” His name was Joe Steele, and he played on most of the Chick Webb recordings. In later life, he was as an educator and church organist.
I studied clarinet throughout high school and at the Metropolitan School of Music in New York City. The faculty included musicians from the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. The jazz faculty included my idol Teddy Wilson. I attended his workshop, at age 12. Several important jazz pianists attended, including John Mehegan, Mel Powell, Cy Walters, etc. I had the nerve to ask Teddy if he offered private lessons. He was very kind and asked me to play a song, the only one I knew. He was busy at the time touring with Benny Goodman. The kicker was that he referred me to study with Joe Steele, not knowing that Steele was my uncle!
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