Richard Batelaan

Richard Batelaan is a musician, acoustician, sound engineer, and composer who performs on saxophones, piano, vocals, flute, and clarinet. His music explores the intersection of complexity, artistry, and accessibility, blending classical training, jazz language, and contemporary styles into a distinctive sound.

Richard holds bachelor’s degrees in Music and Physics from the University of Nebraska, where his parallel interests in science and sound led him into the field of acoustics. After graduating, he worked as an acoustic consultant in the San Francisco Bay Area, advising architects and designers on room acoustics, sound isolation, mechanical noise control, and vibration mitigation. At the same time, he became deeply involved in the Bay Area music scene, expanding his stylistic range to include jazz, rock, R&B, Motown, country, and salsa.

He later transitioned to full-time performance and production. Richard leads the Richie Rebel Band, a four-piece jazz and R&B group performing ’70s and ’80s covers alongside original music. He also performs with the Sebastian Parker Quartet, the Suborbitals, and the Dirty Works Jazz Band, while freelancing across a wide range of genres including jazz, rock, salsa, and musical theater. In addition to performing, he continues developing his craft in recording, mixing, and sound production at several recording studios in San Francisco.

Throughout college, Richard gained some experience in teaching saxophone, piano, flute, and clarinet privately at various high schools.  When he moved to California, he eventually started working at the Magic Flute, a music store in San Rafael, where he teaches the same instruments and has built up a studio of about 15 students.  He also sometimes teaches private saxophone lessons at San Rafael High School.

Outside of music, Richard enjoys the outdoors—paragliding, surfing, climbing, mountain biking, hiking, skiing, and kitesurfing—activities that reflect the same balance of discipline, creativity, and freedom that shape his artistic life.

I think that the most important thing for the development of a young musician is enjoyment.  If the student enjoys making music, they will want to practice more and will get better.  My goal as the teacher is to drive the student's passion and help them discover the music that they are interested in.  Each lesson is tailored to the student.  Different songs and styles of music lend itself to different musical lessons, so I teach in a very improvisitory style, just like I play.  I also think that it is very important to develop the student's ear so they can recognize chords and intervals.