Teaching Philosophy

I believe the teacher-student relationship should be a collaborative one. Music is a part of our lives in many different ways and I love that! I come from an orchestral background but have experience playing in wind ensembles, jazz bands, and even a rock band here and there. My priority is to help you find your musical voice so you can express yourself in the way you want. Whatever you’re pursuing with the trombone, it’s a privilege to be a part of your journey and help you anyway I can.

Musicians are like athletes, in the sense that we perform most consistently when we can develop a solid routine for our daily life and practice. I prioritize a solid fundamental routine (lip slurs, long tones, scales, etc.) and love to experiment and problem solve with my students when issues or challenges come up in their playing. Injury is very common among musicians (also similar to athletes) and is definitely nothing to be ashamed of. I encourage all of my students to incorporate stretching and breathing exercises into their daily life to keep them playing at their best and prevent injuries.

Music is an abstract art form which opens opportunities for us as performers to tell a story. I love to dive in to the background of a piece and extract what a composer was thinking when they wrote their piece. When assigning pieces for students to work on, I like to balance a knowledge of standard repertoire (i.e. what you would need to know to get into college) with pieces that I believe will be more prevalent in the future of classical music (BIPOC composers, women composers, LGBTQIA2+ composers, etc.). I also love when students bring in pieces that they found themselves that they want to work on. Our investment in a piece that we’re working on is so much more meaningful when we have a connection to it.

Whether you're looking to get back into playing after time away or looking to find a teacher to work with your student, I'm here for you! Feel free to send me a message if you have any questions.