James Yoshizawa Drum and Percussion Lessons

Incoming long, positive review. Please scroll to the bottom for a one-​sentence summary.
I was a student of James for a year and a half back in 2007 – 2008. I also took one private lesson with him some time later for a wind ensemble audition. Til now, he is still the best teacher I’ve ever had… and that’s saying something, considering that I’ve had a lot of great teachers.
For beginners, he had a way of breaking down music so that it could be easily understood and learned. For more experienced musicians, he zoned in, saw what others couldn’t, and helped you work on your weak points.
The guy knows his stuff, and best believe… he’ll nitpick. We worked on the fundamentals a lot, despite our whining. But because of that, our group’s technique skyrocketed. When it came to the pieces we had to play, he taught us more about the actual content of the music more than any other music teacher I’ve had. During his short time at Nogales HS, the pit won most improved section of the year, which I believe was a first.
Not only did he improve our technique, sound quality, and the overall look and feel of the pit, but he taught us what it meant to be an artist. He’s very passionate about his craft, and I know it meant a lot to him to pass it on. There were times when he taught us about life, as well. I was going to add this long segment in my review about one life lesson he taught us, but that’s besides the point. The point is, at least to me, he was more than just our percussion instructor. What made him even better was that he did so without yelling at you, demeaning you, or attacking your character.
Also, if you ever have the pleasure of seeing him perform live, or if he does a demonstration for you, you’ll see why he nitpicks. The end product is totally worth it.
TL;DR — James is a great teacher and an even greater musician, so take lessons from him, and say that Stephanie from Nogales sent you.

I’ve had a handful of lessons with James on the fundamentals of jazz as a high schooler going into my junior year, and he really helped me set up all the foundations I’d needed to excel in my ensemble at school. He really cares about teaching — sometimes we just went over time because the lessons got fun and there were a lot of things he wanted to talk about.
Some specific things we did to help you visualize how one of the lessons ran for me:
Basic swing pattern
Discussion of the importance of dynamics between each limbs in jazz drumming
Playing along to classics (i.e. Miles Davis) to get used to popular structures in jazz
Discussion in 12-​bar blues and chord progressions
Fills/​improvisation
From having been to a few of his workshops on world percussion, creating various textures on the drum set, improvisation around macro-​rhythms, it’s undeniable that James is an incredibly well rounded and very knowledgeable player. If you’re thinking about taking lessons on anything related to percussion and drum set, I strongly recommend (and I really mean this from an objective point of view) you take them from James. I’ve learned some of the most valuable lessons through James that’s left a great deal of impact on my musicianship overall.
–David