Voice Lessons in Wichita, KS

Instruments: Trumpet Trombone Euphonium Tuba Music

What musical accomplishments are you most proud of?
I am particularly proud of touring with and performing with Blast. However in my last year of drum corps, I was the conductor of the group and I would jump off my podium, pick up a trombone, stand on a prop and be a featured ballad soloist and I'm pretty proud of that as well.

Have any of your students won awards or been selected for special honors? How have they succeeded?
I have one student who earned a scholarship to study music education in college. Another student who was taking lessons to get into a competitive college marching band got in. The show choir program I took over went from being a low performing group to overachieving, and competing with much larger and more competitive programs.

What do you think is the hardest thing to master on your instrument?
This question depends on the person. For a young student, I think developing the listening skills necessary can be a real challenge. I also think that learning how to use air to make a better sound can also be really hard. For me personally, I am in the midst of a multi-year struggle to learn how to stay relaxed while performing. If you read my bio you may be able to tell that I am a high effort kind of person and that can, after a certain point, start to be a detriment to performance because it causes unnecessary tension.

Why did you choose your primary instrument?
This answer is entirely uninteresting, I grew up playing brass instruments and when the time change I picked............ Viola. However after playing that for a year I decided I also wanted to play trombone and the rest is history.

What advice do you have about practicing effectively?
Go slowly, use a metronome. Break things into their component parts and perfect each of those. If a line is complicated, take away one or multiple of the complicating factors. Most importantly, BE PATIENT WITH YOURSELF.

How do I know if my child is ready to start lessons?
I don't believe that there is any one way to know for EVERY student who is ready for lessons. It is in my experience highly rare for a student to walk into lessons and be totally ready, there is an adjustment period for everybody. I think the number one determining factor for lesson readiness is your student's enthusiasm.

Did you have a teacher that inspired you to go into music? How did they inspire you?
Once I started practicing in the summer between middle and high school I knew I would be doing this for the rest of my days. I did have a high school choir teacher who taught me a lot about what is important in life, and the way I can use my passion in and out of music so I suppose it was him.

When will I start to see results?
It depends on the student. Once they begin practicing regularly small results will probably start to come very, very quickly. I actually think it is really important to celebrate those small victories. There are also results that you will probably not see for a very long time. They will learn how to be healthily self critical, they will learn perseverance, and they will learn how to practice and improve.

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