Conservatory teacher with education Master's degree teaches private brass lessons for all ages and backgrounds!

It was a lot of fun working with Carson today! I admired how he was open to trying new things, and how easily he picked up on new material. In particular, I was impressed with how easily he was able to fix a recurring rhythm in one of his band songs, since it's a more complex rhythm, and because rhythm is usually something that takes longer to develop for many students. We spent today exploring some of a warm up pattern I provided, we worked on Carson's band music, and we learned most of our first Getchell etude together. We also talked about things that Carson would like to get out of lessons if he decides to continue, and used the Getchell etude to start working toward our goal. He has a lot of strengths on the instrument, and I'm excited to see how he progresses!

Ben's enthusiasm for learning to play the trumpet and his positive attitude made it fun to work with him, and it sets what I think is a solid foundation for future progress! He already plays with a great sound and a relaxed approach, and I'm excited to help him take what he can do and apply it to other areas of his playing. One of those areas for improvement that we talked about and worked on in our lesson was developing his high range, which we will accomplish this semester with a fundamentals routine, scales, etudes that reach into that range, and any music that Ben would like to work on when he'd like. I'm excited for a fun semester!

Christian's goal is to audition for the marine band and be accepted, and he's already off to a great start! Sound production looks and sounds easy, and the sound is resonant. Most of our lessons will involve taking what he can already do and applying it to gradually more challenging music--including his audition rep--so that he's ready for his audition. After taking a year away from playing, I would say the next step for now is to get comfortable on the instrument again by playing each day, or as often as his schedule allows. The fundamentals routine is a way to help cover some of the essential skills in brass playing, and the etude is an outlet for musical expression and creativity.