I am a current Music Education student at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, pursuing a minor in Psychology. I earned the John Phillip Sousa Band Award and the Semper Fidelis Marine Corps Musical Excellence Award for leadership, musical talent, and dedication in music. I currently study under prestigious trumpet professors Ronald Romm, founder of the Canadian Brass, and Charles Daval, former principal trumpet player of the Boston Pops. I was privately taught for many years under Dr. Rod C. Schueller, a leader in trumpet and music education who formerly taught at Michigan State, Texas State, and Northern Illinois University.
I have been tutoring trumpet and general music for over 7 years; I have taught between the ages of 9 and 18, have experience teaching beginning trumpet, intermediate, and advanced classical and jazz music at the high school, college, and professional level. Teaching is one of the greatest experiences I have ever had, and doing what I love for the rest of my life is a blessing in itself!

I attended West Aurora High School in Aurora, IL as the principal trumpet player in the concert and jazz ensembles, and was a trumpet section leader and drum major of the 312 member marching band. I graduated in the top 1% of my class of 800.
As well, I attended and worked at the prestigious Smith Walbridge Drum Major Camp, where I earned my 1st class rank nationally as a leader in teaching music and marching band methods.

With my students, I work on creating a positive and comfortable playing environment so that the student feels safe making mistakes and asking questions. The only way to grow as a player is find the confidence to fail. As brass players, we need diligence, patience, and strong work ethic to improve, and a safe place to gain these skills is essential to every student. I want to get to know exactly how the student plays and what their goals are so I can work with them on achieving and exceeding them; success at ANY level is the key to staying motivated and excited to play! Learning how to play an instrument or get better at it goes far beyond simple instruction- it comes from a connection to making music and a joyful willingness to mess up sometimes! That's how we grow.