My Music – General Information

I began playing the trumpet and joined the school band at the age of 8 because, “my older sister did it” and now it was my turn! Having a natural affinity for music and playing a brass instrument, I went on to participate in band, orchestra, and jazz ensembles for the rest of my life. Having access to strong public school music programs and great private instruction, I began performing professionally at the age of 14. I began studying trumpet privately with Roy Cummings of the University of Washington while I was in Junior High, and went on to perform with the Seattle Youth Symphony and the Jazz Ensembles of Hal Sherman at Kent Meridian High School. While in high school I won the Washington State Solo Contest in Trumpet performance in 1979, performed with the Kent Meridian Jazz Ensemble at the Montreaux Jazz Festival in Montreaux, Switzerland, was Principal Trumpet for the All Northwest Orchestra, and was a guest Baroque trumpet soloist with the Northwest Chamber Orchestra. These rewarding experiences certainly helped launched my early college and performance career in Seattle.

Having earned several performance and education scholarships to the University of Washington School of Music, I earned Bachelor’s degrees in both Music and Music Education. While in college I continued to perform professionally with local pick up orchestras, weddings, church music, and finally the Seattle Symphony Orchestra, the Seattle Opera, the Northwest Chamber Orchestra, the Seattle Concert Band, the Seattle Brass Ensemble, and various solo recital performances. While in college I performed in numerous ensembles, including the Symphony Orchestra, Faculty Contemporary Group, Wind Sinfonietta, Brass Quintet, Trumpet Ensemble, Opera Orchestra, and numerous chamber groups. I completed several independent projects on composition and arranging, conducting, and music copy work.

Needless to say, I also became passionate about teaching at this time, and decided “pay back the system” that had given me so much in the way of phenomenal music performances and exceptional educational experiences. I became a public school teacher in 1984, and taught band and orchestra for 2 years at McKnight Middle School in Renton, team taught high school band at Mercer Island High School for approximately 2 years while earning a Masters Degree in Education from Antioch University, taught band at Lakeridge Junior High in Sumner for 10 years, and then taught middle school band at Mt. Baker Middle School in the Auburn School District for the last 5 years of my classroom teaching career. Throughout those teaching years I continued to perform professionally, although performing took a backseat to my classroom teaching. I became a well-decorated veteran teacher and conductor, and earned several state and national teaching awards (see resume). During my tenure at Lakeridge Junior High I was fortunate enough to be granted a paid yearlong sabbatical, where I pursued doctoral studies at the Fielding Institute in Adult Learning and Motivation. I have always enjoyed teaching teachers, supervising college student teachers from, and providing professional staff development opportunities for my colleagues (see resume). From 2003 to 2005, I was one of the founding members of the board of directors for the Puget Sound Youth Wind Ensemble, a nonprofit arts group in South King County providing a premier music performance opportunity for young wind and brass musicians.

Throughout my high school, college, and teaching careers I have always maintained an active teaching studio, having taught private lessons since 1979. When I became a mental health therapist, I briefly closed my teaching studio to focus on my clinical work and graduate studies. It has been a pleasure to both open my studio again for private lessons, and to perform professionally again.

If you are interested in private lessons, I accept students of all ages at beginning, intermediate, and advanced levels. I excel at preparing advanced trumpet students for Solo & Ensemble Competitions, youth symphony auditions/performance, Allstate/All Northwest auditions, and college auditions. I will also accept a few beginning level students on any of the brass and woodwind instruments (baritone/euphonium, French horn, trombone, tuba, flute, clarinet, saxophone) on a case by case basis. I teach out of my studio in Olympia and can be contacted for lessons at 360-413-7496. Due to the nature of my busy schedule with my private practice, I only have room for a certain number of serious students; I do screen potential students prior to engaging in services! My prices are as follows:

30 minute lesson: $20.00
45 minute lesson: $30.00
60 minute lesson: $40.00