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FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Lesson Rates
Lesson Rates are as follows:
Option A:
Week by week, no cancellation policy, payment due just before we begin the lesson.
$85 per hour
$75 for 45 minutes.
$60 for 30 minutes.
Option B:
I offer a $10 discount per lesson when you commit to 3-5 lessons in a month. Schedules are set for the entire month, before the month begins. I start setting these up with you during the 4th week of each month. This is a tried and true model to encourage the most consistent learning and instruction.
Example: 4 one-hour lessons scheduled as a group on 4 Mondays at 5:15-6:15PM costs $300. Payment is due on the day of or before the first lesson of a contract.
Cancellation policy:
Cancellations or changes must be made 24 hours in advance. Cancellations within 24 hours will not be refunded, though a makeup is allowed within the same month.
(Note: I am flexible with my pricing if you do not live on the East or West coast! Email me for rates, they are not shown above.)
Guidelines for receiving an online horn lesson:
• Position the camera so that I can see the instrument and your torso onscreen. Optimal camera placement is eye level or higher. This more effectively gives me a view of the embouchure and posture while you're playing.
• Try to sit in a space which does not have a huge amount of reverberation – this can mask playing issues that need my feedback. Indeed, when I need to feel really good about my playing a favorite place to play is in a huge echoey church or concrete stairwell because it hides my misses so well! (It’s also a great place to practice intonation!)If heavy reverb is your only option, see if you can sit in front of a cloth surface or on an area rug. This will help ground the tone so the mic picks up more of what you just played and less reverb.
• If you have the means, purchasing an external microphone (https://www.bestbuy.com/site/shop/phone-microphone)for whatever device you use to make digital calls is a big help. FaceTime has the truest transmission of sound I believe, but even then, what I hear is limited by the lo-fi quality of internal cellphone microphones. With the clarity of sound an external mic grants, I am able to examine what I am hearing in much greater detail. My online/recording setup is detailed in the next question on this page.
• Easily adjustable and quite stable, a tripod i(https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffab&q=cell+phone+tripods&ia=web)s quite useful when using a phone for digital lessons.
• Please set up the camera, music, stand, pencil, horn notebook metronome, and tuner for your online lesson at least ten minutes before the start of the lesson so that we can get to learning right away! It is also helpful to arrive warmed up and ready to play, but not always necessary because I often begin lessons with fundamentals.
• Last, you are welcome to record all of your lessons for future reference. Be sure and take copious notes on key concepts addressed in each lesson - the best time to do this is in the 10 minutes immediately following your lesson, when the information is still fresh.
With the Covid pandemic cancelling all my gigs for the forseeable future, I chose to use my government stimulus check to set up true to life sound quality for an online presence. After a lot of research, I settled on the Shure MV88+ video kit (https://www.shure.com/en-US/products/microphones/mv88plus)for cellphones. A bit pricey, but the equipment is all sturdy and high quality. Truly worth every penny.
All of the videos on my YouTube Channel were recorded with the Shure MV88+.
There is truly great music in every genre, thus my listening is a wide net.
Here are ten favorite artists and pieces I think everyone should listen to:
Queen: the album Queen II is a tour de force of storytelling through song and taken as a whole paints a unique picture of a fairy fantasy land.
Brahms: The Second Symphony contains two of my favorite horn solos in the entire repertoire and the last movement has a backbeat second to none!
Hancock: Headhunters album is a masterclass in doing a LOT with a little bit of music.
Richard Strauss: Der Rosenkavalier is a throwback and forward looking at the same time. And those HORN PARTS!
Mozart's horn repertoire is maybe the best ever written for our intrument. Also Cosi fan Tutte is my favorite opera!
I was raised on Paul Simon, and Graceland is one of those albums that just never gets old.
Dixieland was also prevalent as a kid because my dad had a smokin Dixie group called The Basin Street Blues Band. Hearing those songs lead me to discover the incomparable Dr. John and his New Orleans sound and unique scratchy voice.
Other favorite artists are: Weezer, Moxy Fruvous, Flight of the Conchords, Pink Floyd, Bach, Beethoven, John Luther Adams, Ms. Lauryn Hill, Wilco, The Doors, The Beatles, and on and on...
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