Lessons

If you’re looking for help sorting out embouchure difficulties or are just curious to learn more I do offer online video lessons, scheduled on a case by case basis. My lessons typically run 60-120 minutes, depending on the circumstances, and I usually charge $75 US per lesson.

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    General Info

    Before you contact me, if you read through the following this will save some time going back and forth via email.

    Before we schedule a lesson I like to get an idea of what is going on. A brief description of your embouchure difficulties is helpful, but I really need to see what it looks like. If possible, before you reach out to me please take some video footage of your embouchure up close, demonstrating both your playing issues and also playing octave slurs going over your entire range. Sometimes I can spot something that way that is a relatively easy fix and we might not even need a video lesson.

    Here’s both a video example, so you can see how close I would prefer to see it, and an image of the sort of octave slurs I want to see and hear (range permitting). The specific notes really don’t matter, but I want to see how you move between registers. If you are by yourself and can’t get someone to help you with the video recording, just get as close as you comfortably can and do your best. It’s better for you to have your normal playing posture and be further away than to bend over to get in frame.

    I use Zoom for video lessons, so please familiarize yourself with how to use Zoom and set up its audio settings for music lessons. Please note that “Original sound for musicians” needs to be checked in two places, once in the audio settings and once in the upper right (or maybe left) corner of the Zoom window. Not having the audio settings correctly set up will mean that I often can’t hear your instrument sound at all.

    For the first lesson I’d want to watch you play your first notes of the day, if possible. Sometimes players will do something different before they fully warm up and it can provide clues to what’s going on. If that’s not possible, it’s not a big deal.

    I prefer in-person lessons, whenever possible. If you’re going to be near Asheville, NC and want to schedule an in person lesson that’s possible too. Sometimes I travel for gigs or vacations, so there is always the possibility that I’ll be around your neck of the woods.

    Lastly, if you reach out to me and don’t hear back from me after a couple of days please send me a gentle reminder email. Sometimes things pile up in my email inbox and I miss a message, it inadvertently gets directed to my spam folder, or I just forget. If you drop me another line I promise I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.