Willie offers weekly saxophone, flute and clarinet lessons. On each instrument the student is taught essential concepts such as: sound production and expression, intonation, proper breathing, articulation, technique, rhythm and time feel, reading and interpretation. Upon special request and adequate instrumental proficiency, music theory and improvisation will be included in the lesson plan.

Rates, Testimonials, Absence, Rescheduling and Make-up Policy

Willie began his teaching career in 2000 through a non-profit organization called MUSE Inc, directing students ages 10 through 15 in beginning and intermediate band at St. Clair Catholic School. In 2002 he began teaching privately through another non-profit, Ethos Inc, and since has also taught through Beacock Music in Vancouver, Lake Music in Lake Oswego, Joyful Noise Music in Milwaukie and Lents Gilbert Church of God in SE Portland. In the public school system, he taught adjunctly at Meadow Park Middle School from September 2012 to June 2016 working with the woodwinds of the 6th and 7th grades.

As a Clinician, Willie has worked with the students of Central Oregon Community College, The Bay School of San Francisco, Oregon City High School, River Jazz Festival (Bethlehem, PA) and the Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival (Moscow, ID) on the topics of jazz and improvisation.

Willie gives lessons for saxophone (all levels) and clarinet (beginner and intermediate), improvisation and music theory. The age of his students have ranged from children (9 yrs) to adults, all of varying ability and learning style. Having fun and feeling a sense of accomplishment is integral to any learning endeavor. His philosophy is to help the student develop a personal relationship to their instrument, concept of music and improvisation.

 

Testimonials

Willie Matheis is an amazing, talented musician. He inspires learning and his passion for music is contagious. He is able to individualize the needs of his students. He is friendly and has a great sense of humor. His patience and knowledge of music makes learning fun. He connects with his students and his love for teaching is evident in every lesson. We wholeheartedly recommend Willie as a music teacher.

Alison Bostrom, mother of 9-year-old flute student

Meeting Willie and taking lessons pretty much revolutionized my music life — most importantly my practice time life. Firstly, Willie listened to where I wanted to go musically and wanted to understand what my goals were.

My goals were to better improvise through functional harmony, to improve my saxophone technique (I came to the sax by way of clarinet), to be able to commit songs to memory, to build a personal repertoire and to be able to transcribe solos I loved from recordings. We worked together on these goals and I can say that Willie helped me immeasurably in all these areas. He really opened my ears to how melody and harmony work together and how this can help one remember a song. He gave me methods to double up my practice time by working arpeggios, scales and long tones using a song as my guide. 

We worked on fundamentals of saxophone embouchure and technique (like using side C which is something clarinets don’t have), as well as working on the sax overtone series. In the area of harmony and music theory, Willie showed me how cadences work through a song to move from one diatonic chord to another and he introduced the concept of “borrowing” from minor harmony. A particular eye opener was one lesson where he clarified for me how all the changes in a song relate to the overall song key.

While I have no regrets about my music career (of several decades), I do wish I had met a teacher like Willie when I was starting out, especially in my junior high and high school years. If you have a desire to express yourself better on clarinet, sax or flute, you need to spend some hours with Willie. He is not just a soulful sax player, he is a great teacher who will listen to you, help you with your basics, and help you with performance issues (we often tailored the lessons around my upcoming performance challenges).

He will be honest with you about what you need to do without tearing you down, and he will encourage you to think positively about yourself when performances and progress does not seem to be meeting your own standards. So I now regularly play jazz gigs in a duet or trio setting “off the page” as well as continuing my symphony work on clarinet — all at a level I really did not think I would reach this time around in life. And I still seek out Willie’s counsel over music challenges both jazz and classical. Final words: You will need to practice (but it will be more enjoyable and productive working with Willie).

Absence, Rescheduling and Make-up Policy

I Know that life can get busy, so if a scheduling conflict occurs and I am notified with at least 24hrs notice, the lesson will be rescheduled the week of the conflict. This make-up is afforded once a month.

If the student is ill and I’m notified anytime before our lesson time, the lesson will be rescheduled as soon as the student feels better. This make-up is afforded once a month.

If there is an extreme case of absence (the student is very ill or an extended family vacation, etc.) special arrangements will be made.

A “no-show” (absence without any notification prior to the scheduled time) will not be made up.

Holidays

New Year’s Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day and Christmas will be rescheduled for the week of when possible. The lesson will not be made up otherwise. 

There will be times when I’ll have to cancel do to touring or illness. I’ll give you the same notification that I expect from my students for illness and a week or more notice if I’ll be out of town. In the case of illness, I will reschedule lessons asap. In the case of being out of town, I will attempt to schedule make-ups before I leave.