Piano Lessons in Chesapeake, VA

Instruments: Clarinet

What does a normal practice session look like for you?
I practice the clarinet 3-4 hours a day split between two sessions. Each session includes a warm up for my breathing, fingers, and tongue (e.g. long tones, voicing exercises, scales & patterns, articulation exercises), etudes, solo repertoire, and work on orchestral excerpts. A good practice session can be quite taxing, so I usually take a short 5min break every 30-60min to rest physically and mentally.

What is your favorite style/genre of music to play and why?
It's tricky to choose just one! Even within "classical" music, I love to play music from the Classical era (e.g. Mozart), Romantic era (e.g. Brahms), Modern era (e.g. Berg and Bernstein), and today's contemporary classical music (e.g. Thomas Ades, I also love premiering new works from budding composers!

If you have a Music Degree, what is it in (Performance, Education, Musicology, Theory, Composition, etc) and why did you choose that degree?
I have a Bachelor of Music degree in Clarinet Performance from Indiana University and am currently pursuing my Master of Music degree in Clarinet Performance from California State University at Fullerton. I chose the degree initially because there was nothing I enjoyed more than classical music and playing the clarinet and no classical music I enjoyed more than orchestral music. My dream has been to play professionally in an orchestra, though as I've gotten older and experienced more in the world of classical music, I find that being a modern musician means having a much wider skillset and being open to all sorts of musical work - from performance and education to music administration and entrepreneurship. Degrees in Music Performance have allowed for me to refine my skills as a clarinetist and musician along with make professional connections and explore some of the other great opportunities and paths that exist for the modern musician.

Have any of your students won awards or been selected for special honors? How have they succeeded?
My middle school and high school students consistently place as first chair in their ensembles and attend All-District festivals. One of my students decided to pursue a music performance degree in college, and I was able to help her successfully prepare for her college auditions, which was an especially rewarding experience.

What musical accomplishments are you most proud of?
While I am so proud to be an alumni of Indiana University, the musical accomplishment that I am most proud of has been performing a great first graduate recital. I've played in recitals before, but this one was especially challenging. In the year and a half leading up to this recital, I had been dealing with a debilitating right hand issue that made playing a simple F major scale an incredibly difficult task. It was the most physically, mentally, and emotionally challenging year I've ever faced as I doubted my future in music, yet I continued to work as hard as possible. While my first grad recital wasn't perfect and there still is a lot of room for improvement, I am very proud of how well it went after such a trying year (not to mention how challenging the repertoire was). I truly enjoyed performing the diverse, modern works I programmed and making the performance my own.

What advice do you have about practicing effectively?
My three biggest tips for a more effective and efficient practice session are: (1) Before starting, plan out what you'd like to work on/accomplish during the session, (2) Record yourself and listen back at least once a day, and (3) Take breaks... often times, rest can be more productive and helpful rather than tiring yourself with tons of unenergized, unfocused practice.

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