Eric K  
Instruments:

For as long as I have been involved in band, I have been leading to some degree. I was lucky in my upbringing that music was a steady part of my life, from singing in church, to piano lessons, to rocking along to 80's hits with my Mom on the daily drive to school! In college, I began leading trombone ensemble rehearsals as well as daily trombone quartet rehearsals, culminating in many amazing performances around the country. Beginning in August of 2016, I began teaching private lessons full-time in the Lewisville and Plano Independent School Districts, reaching fifty students each week by the end of my first semester. This experience has greatly streamlined my teaching, and I take pride in the individual care that I place in each lesson. I believe that engaging and motivating the student is the responsibility of the teacher, and I routinely use examples from the student's personal interests in order to encourage absorption of the material. My students are consistently asked to inundate themselves with the language of music! If you want to learn a new language, it helps to watch a few soap operas!

I do not require any additional material beyond band requirements for any public school student. I create all of the material my students study, except for solos, as I am able to tailor it directly to their needs, as well as introduce music in a far more logical and natural way. I am currently building a beginner text for publication in the future, and all beginners I am teaching will be heavily involved in that process. In addition, I regularly create play-along tracks in order to encourage thoughtful practice, as well as build in tuning and timing features that develop musical habits from the beginning. Advanced students pursuing collegiate progress will be required to study the standard literature, including Bordogni Vocalises, Blazhevich, Kopprash, and Gregoriev Etudes, and mastery of scale patterns, in addition to my own fundamental material.