Trombone Lessons

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Gavin is originally from the south coast of England where he started playing the trombone in local brass bands. He attended the London College of Music obtaining Associate and Licentiate diplomas in trombone performance. 

Gavin was Assistant Principal Trombone with the Orquesta Sinfonica de Tenerife performing regular orchestral concerts with soloists that included Placido Domingo, Midori, Kyung Wha Chung and Krystian Zimerman. He toured throughout Spain playing in the Madrid National Auditorium of Music and festivals in Alicante, San Sebastian, Bilbao and the Seville Expo in 1992 as well as the 1993 Schleswig-Holstein Musik festival in Germany. He has since had a long career in technology moving to Sammamish in 2000 with his wife Karin, who is a professional violinist, and kids Emma and Nate. He is now teaching trombone lessons in Sammamish while also performing with a number of groups in the Greater Seattle area including Puget Sound Brass and the Northwest Symphony Orchestra. 

Gavin has a simple teaching philosophy of striving for each student to meet their full potential as a trombonist. Lessons are made up of working with the student to build a solid technique, working towards one or more solo pieces in preparation for a specific goal e.g. audition, exam,  performance etc.and covering any particularly difficult school band or orchestra music. He also encourages students to participate in the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music (ABRSM) Performance Grades as a way to gauge student progress. Of course, the most important part is that the student has fun playing music!

Gavin is back teaching in person lessons but is also happy to teach students remotely via Zoom, FaceTime and other video conferencing applications.

For further details regarding rates and availability please contact Gavin at GavinIslip@comcast.net