About Dan Waxman
Dan Waxman is a Washington D.C. area music instructor and performer. He teaches piano and oboe as his primary instruments and has been actively teaching since 2008.
Dan grew up learning piano and then added oboe in middle school. His primary instructors were Fumiko Yamashita and Ron Cohen Mann. While in school, he performed with all-county, all-district, all-state honor bands, and numerous youth orchestras. In his professional career, he has performed with Wilmington Symphony Orchestra, UNCW Wind Ensemble, SONOVA, DC Different Drummers, Washington Metropolitan Philharmonic Association, and many local ensembles throughout the D.C. area.
As an instructor, Dan places a lot of importance on establishing strong foundations in music reading for both piano and oboe students, and he works with students of all ages: from young beginners through adults. For piano, he uses Alfred method books as a base and supplements with additional materials, as needed based on individual students and their interests. He strives to have students gain a love of music and universal understanding that can be applied to other musical instruments and interests down the road. He believes that lessons build skills and experiences that can be used is different facets of life including perseverance, dedication, work-ethic, achievement, and goal-setting.
For oboe, Dan uses Yamaha books and Geckler books. He teaches students students fundamentals of good technique from the start, importance of tone, musicality, technique, and the importance of a good reed. As students advance, Dan strives to expand their living repertoire with progressively challenging pieces, etudes, and audition excerpts for honor ensembles and audition preparation.
As a hobby and within his teaching, Dan also has a passion for percussion music and the vast array of instruments in this family. He enjoys playing xylophone and auxiliary percussion especially, and one of Dan's goals is to play over 100 musical instruments. He has a collection of a variety of auxiliary percussion instruments with roots all over the world.
When not playing music, you can find Dan managing a pool, teaching tennis, enjoying coffee, or teaching Hebrew.
