To study with me privately, please contact me directly to set up a trial lesson.

I have been training and coaching students in trumpet, brass chamber music, and musicianship for the past 15 years at all levels from beginning instrumentalists to Conservatory-calibre collegiate and early-career musicians. I accept students locally (in-person) and remotely through a combination of Zoom and Cleanfeed (for high-fidelity two-way audio). 

Trumpet Lessons

As an active freelance performer and a member of the Jackson Symphony and Owensboro Symphony Orchestras I regularly perform in a wide range of styles, from Bach to Billy Joel. Regardless of aspirations or stylistic preferences, every trumpeter must develop good fundamentals of technique on the trumpet and basics of good musicianship—elements I stress with all my students.

Suzuki Trumpet

The Suzuki Method is a teaching philosophy and practice created by Dr. Shin’ichi Suzuki in the 1960s. In the time since then, the Suzuki Method has become one of the most widely adopted and most successful approaches for teaching young students on string instruments, and in recent years it has been adapted for brass players. Many of the Suzuki techniques are aimed at allowing students as young as 4 years old to begin their musical study at a time of life when music can have a more profound impact on their developing brains. However, the Suzuki principles of an ear-first approach to music, emphasis on memorization and review, learning in group classes as well as private lessons, strong involvement of the parent in the child’s learning, and always focusing on a good tone are effective for students of any age.

Group classes are currently online due to the pandemic, and my Suzuki students are located both locally in Clarksville and across the country.

Musicianship Training

To paraphrase the longtime principal trumpet of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Roger Voisin, “90% of what I teach in the trumpet studio is basic musicianship.” I initially studied French-style solfège at the New England Conservatory with Dr. Larry Scripp and was trained by Marianne Ploger in the acclaimed Ploger Method, which is itself inspired by the work of the great teacher Nadia Boulanger.

Private musicianship study is a wonderful compliment to instrumental lessons for students of all instruments who are serious about becoming truly excellent musicians. Musicianship study uses improvisation, sight-singing, and real-time identification exercises to cultivate excellent rhythm, sight-reading and sight-singing, recognizing musical intervals and chords, score reading, good intonation, expression and phrasing, transposition by clefs, and much, much more.