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Bachelor Degree: DePaul University, Master Degree: Boston University
I am a passionate trumpet player and teacher excited to spread my love for the instrument and art form to my students. I have had the opportunity to work with many skilled musicians in my time studying trumpet performance at DePaul University in Chicago and Boston University. I have experience performing in many genre including classical solo and orchestral, jazz and commercial, musical theatre, and new music. As an active freelance musician, I am deeply familiar with the skills needed of musicians today and will help my students acquire these skills on their instrument.
My experience stems from real-life application of what I have learned in my many years of trumpet playing. Having learned from the philosophies of many of the great brass pedagogues of our time, I am knowledgeable about how to most efficiently play the trumpet well. I am knowledgeable in the techniques of Cichowicz, Schlossberg, and Jacobs and apply these different philosophies of brass playing to each of my students. I encourage regular practice of fundamental techniques AND music the student enjoys playing. Both are important to develop skills on the instrument and a love for making music.
For beginning students, I start with a basic method book. Most often, they are enrolled in school band already and I am happy to use whatever method books their teacher uses. Otherwise, I start with the Rubank elementary method for trumpet and cornet. We incorporate music-making (simple songs and tunes) from the very beginning. Once the student has a grasp of the fundamentals we will begin with some more focused exercises to allow them to play gradually ,ore challenging and rewarding repertoire. I let the student guide me from there. If they want to play jazz, we will learn jazz standards, how to read chord charts, and improvisation. If they want to perform classical solo or orchestral literature, we will focus on developing their classical trumpet sound and increasing the artistry and technical demands of the repertoire they perform. More advanced students typically already have an idea of what they want to do and I let them guide me and teach based on the goals they want to accomplish. We can work on music they may be preparing for band or orchestra, upcoming auditions or competitions, or anything else. My goal is to help them accomplish whatever it is they want to do with the trumpet.
I think it is important for a musician to have a healthy balance of technical practice and fun practice. Therefore a student will always be encouraged to keep up on their technique routines and scales, but also to make music THEY find rewarding in every practice session. Of course, the technique is necessary to play this music well, but the love for music they develop is necessary for them to want to pick up their instrument and play in the first place. Practice should not be a battle. I want all of my students to WANT to play.