My approach to teaching focuses on cultivating a richness of musicianship and providing students with the skills to express themselves on the clarinet. A primary goal to this comprehensive approach involves helping students learn about learning, gain problem-solving skills, and become self-reliant. Together we can engage in a process of acquiring an arsenal of strategies so the student can feel confidence and command in any musical situation.

My teaching employs a classical foundation, emphasizing sound production as a primary means of expressing each student's artistic voice. Beauty of tone, versatility of color, complete dynamic control, sensitive intonation and a well-loved legato become tools that set an artist's imagination free. Students do scale/pattern practice and classical etudes to gain facility and understand harmonic structure. As in learning a language, skills may be acquired consciously; however, the mastery of skills results in an intuitive musical intelligence and deep resource of artistry. Sightsinging, dictation, and the discussion and integration of music theory further this cultivation of musicianship. Students learn classical solo and chamber music repertoire and additionally explore jazz, folk traditions, free improvisation and creations of their own composition.