I believe everyone deserves to feel total confidence in what they do. Students who feel confident as players end up feeling more confident in many other aspects of their lives. As a performer myself, the best feeling comes right after a particularly fantastic performance, and this feeling continues for days (or even weeks) afterwards! Students deserve to know this feeling too, and my goal is to provide the resources and opportunities necessary to get students to that euphoric place.

The biggest component of confidence as a musician comes in decision making. In lessons, style and interpretation are put at the forefront. Think of it as a pyramid: interpretation is at the top (this is your individual voice). Underneath that are the fundamentals of playing our instruments. This includes things like finger technique (scales and arpeggios), sound production and coloration, articulation, and flexibility (jumping large intervals with ease). While these are all so important, they’re really just there to support your voice and allow that voice to be as clear and convincing as possible.

I also like to compare this to cooking! The piece of music in front of you is your main ingredient; your meat or fish. (Or veggies for vegetarians!) Everything from the seasonings to the pan we cook in to the amount of heat added are all variables that need to be carefully thought out; these are your fundamentals of playing. While all of these variables are so important to create a tasty dish, that main ingredient is the star of the show. The resulting dish is your voice, and we want to make something to be proud of!