CT Trumpet Lessons, Performing Artist, Badollet Ensemble

Just finished a 4 week run with 8-9 shows a week of In the Heights at Westport Country Playhouse.  This show was a blow, especially since I had to jump into the fray at the last minute with one rehearsal before the 1st show started.  This is what freelancing is all about and why it is more challenging and less stable than a full time teaching or orchestral job.  Freelancers are on the frontlines being challenged with every job they play, new people to perform at their best with for each job. This show was a great run with a stellar cast and top notch musicians.  I had not played the show before and being more a classical and commercial player than jazz this was a challenge.  Feet to the flames! In the Heights Westport Country Playhouse Video Promo Clip

Teaching Philosophy I believe that the trumpet holds a unique set of challenges. Teaching a student that deep inhalation is the most important setup for a good beginning coupled with a mastery of tongue position, aids in overcoming these challenges. The art of diligent work on  process,  integrated with a Zen philosophy of letting go empowers my students to optimize their abilities. My teaching is designed to teach students how the mechanics of air flow and tongue position work together. Once understood and practiced with set drills, I implement a psychological method of re-training subconscious cues that are counterintuitive to produce optimum ease of play. For example, the "sense of sight" will lead the player to assume low notes require blowing down with less air, thus creating instability and tightness in the back of the throat, when in reality it is quite the opposite. Blowing up lowers the middle of the tongue which places the tongue more appropriately, with rela...

Having a blast performing in an amazing production of Man of La Mancha at the Westport Country Playhouse in Westport, CT.  To be in the hallowed halls where many of the greatest actors performed is quite the thrill. Pictures line the walls with the founders, Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward.  Their performance picture of Ancestral Voices with Susan Sarandon, Tim Robbins, and Matthew Broderick. A who's who of generations of theatre performers. A night of Sondheim with Patti LuPone, Barbara Cook, and Kristin Chenoweth. This is a special production as the musicians are on both sides of the balcony as part of the show giving the audience the thrill of what we do up close.  Then there's the all star cast of great ethnic diversity. Lead- Philip Hernandez as Don Quixote who you may know from many TV series over the years. Philip Hernandez IMDB Philip's performance every rehearsal and every performance is amazing and moving. Gisela Adisa   http://iamgisela.com  ...

Life in the pit I spend many, many hours in pits performing shows.  While what you see in the seats of a show is quite different and exciting, most musicians get barely a glimpse of what's happening on stage, if at all.  Here is a video of me in cramped quarters playing a demanding show, Newsies, which is a terrific show to play with temps that are not ideal.  You barely take the horn off your face, as you can see in the video, going from loud, rhythmic playing to soft delicate entrances.  The quality of the recording isn't great as it's from my phone, as you can see, but it gives you an idea of what goes on in a pit.  Enjoy!

We trumpet players, and brass players for that matter, spend so much time focusing on perfecting our brass playing and listening, that we sometimes forget how sublime music unrelated to brass can be.  This is not a criticism, but a reminder.  Find your music passion outside the box! I will share my personal passion for Chopin, Jacqueline du Pre, and Beethoven Piano Sonatas.  Every musician, especially brass players, should be intimate with Chopin and Beethoven piano works.  Why????  Have you ever tried to find and play the melody line of a Chopin or Beethoven piano work?  You will learn so much about expression within a ever moving tempo.  It's friggin hard!!  We learn to be playful with rhythm and expression through Charlier Etudes, my favorite for teaching this ability in trumpet lessons.  But, to go further outside the box, begin by listening to Chopin Ballades and Beethoven Piano Sonatas, a lot.  Chopin devoted his entire short lif...

Do you have an upcoming audition for college entrance, regional, state or other auditions? I can help you improve your audition. One of the best things you can do as a musician is to play for others.  Add playing for professionals who have tons of experience with auditions, and knowledge of what it takes to succeed and perform at your finest, and you have a recipe for success! I have auditioned for every major orchestra in the US (and some abroad as well) and have advanced to finals.  Plus, I have coached students and listened to colleagues countless times.   I also have a unique approach to playing.  The combination of my extensive experience and unique approach allows me to, first, determine whether you have an issue, or whether your issue is just "in your head;" second, to "see" an issue (if you have one) that you are unable to solve by yourself because it is invisible to you; and finally, to provide you with steps that will concretely solve the issue. If ...

I currently have openings on Saturday!  If you are in the area and can make it to New Haven (Morris Cove) you have an opportunity to study with a teacher who can set you on the path of not only becoming a better player, but one that understands how and why things go wrong and how to fix them, I have space for you!

I have finally decided to work for myself exclusively at my home studio!  I will be accepting private students for hour lessons only.  Beginners will be on an evaluation level only as I want to focus on more advanced/driven students who want to take their playing to the highest level.  This doesn't mean you have to want to be a professional musician, just that you want to practice, take getting better seriously. I have the rare ability to communicate real concrete concepts that not only make your playing better, but empower you with the ability to know when things go wrong and how to correct them. Try a few lessons and see what you think. If you are a parent and don't know where to go to help your daughter or son find the right teacher, read my blog here.  Look at my teaching philosophy, my performance experience and testimonials. From the president of one of the best band programs in Massachusetts: "He is one of the most gifted communicators and teachers I hav...

http://longwharf.org/beautiful-room Very excited to be performing this premier of a new musical by New Yorker writer and author Adam Kopnik, that's sure to hit broadway in the near future! Worked daily preparing this show with two of the most important music creators in the business: Jonathan Tunick , orchestrator (Sondheim would use no other), and composer David Shire ! I even get billing on the website!  Running the Month of May!

Congratulations to my students who made CT regionals! Also last year's senior who is on scholarship at Hartt School of Music this year as a freshman (I'm sure she's grateful for the break); one of my 8th grade female students who is 1st trumpet in the Regional Band, and one of my seniors who is auditioning to several schools to study music next year. Another one of my high school seniors made regionals on trumpet and just found out he will be on a full academic scholarship to NYU studying economics, presidential honors program, and a trip with other honors students to Florence, Italy.  Oh yeah, he also plays violin and piano!  When does this guy sleep! You have all worked very hard and deserve recognition.  Good job! All of my students this year are progressing very fast using my concepts of air flow control and tongue position in combination with retraining subconscious response. Do you need a great teacher?  Do you practice, but feel frustrated at your lack of...

If you're interested in studying with someone who has extensive teaching and performing credentials and a concrete methodology to fix problems with your playing or take your playing to the next level, shoot me an email or phone call. I have some students travel as far as Wilton, CT and Westchester County,  NY(south) and Rhode Island (north) to New Haven to study with me.  I prefer one-on-one instruction to Skype style teaching, but will consider this method if you just can't get to me. I have students taking once a month lessons or just fine tuning isolated lessons here and there if you can't commit to a regular schedule. If you are preparing for college auditions and you need some extra help or a new prospective give me a try.

Performing Napoli with wind ensemble tonight!  Then off for a well earned 2 week vacation!  More posts to come after my summer hiatus....stay tuned!

I have only one student leaving this year to go off to college.  She will be attending the Hartt School of Music as a double major in Trumpet performance and Music Education.  All of my other students will be continuing their studies with me next year working very hard and making progress.  My adult students continue to work hard and see terrific progress.  My beginners always start with a good sound because of my work on sound production from the beginning.  It pays off to invest time in the beginning explaining and demonstrating how to control air and tongue placement. Plans are in the works to have a regional audition workshop day either this year or next.  If you're in the New Haven area let me know if you or your junior or senior level student/son or daughter would be interested in this helpful prep day.  Plans are for early October. My brass ensemble at Neighborhood Music School continues to progress.  I hope to add more players to this gr...

One of my long term goals has always been to publish either a method book of my own or smaller books divided by levels.  There is enough sources out there for everything, but what I feel is lacking is not only a step by step method that's very easy to follow, but any good explanations for "how" to work on exercises that are presented.  My biggest pet peeve:  many methods are set up for the advanced trumpet player, so there is unrealistic expectations from the less experienced student; I even mean college level players as well as less experienced.  What happens is that a lot of burden is put on the student to have a teacher who is very good at explaining how things work within each method or etude book.  Even that leaves challenges because a teachers style may not resonant completely with the budding student or a lot can be taken for granted, or, god forbid, you get a not so good teacher. I felt in my younger college level years that I had a great teacher, but ...

So, if you are wondering the details of my preparation for maintaining proper sound, endurance, etc...for freelancing, here you go! I believe throughout my years of practicing/trying different routines that it's not as important which routine you do, but what your routine addresses.  This is where it has to become personal and dependent on where you are in your development.  This is why my routine changes to address new issues and to keep my desire to engage fresh.  When I say it changes I mean about once a year or so I try something new. WARNING ADVANCED:  First, I will tell you where I have arrived after many years of trying every routine out there.  Because of the diversity of freelancing I have found a method that works for me.  The core of it is pages I have put together from Pierre Thibaud's methods.  Later in life Mr. Thibaud had surgery and had to rethink how to play as effortlessly as possible.  He found that working on the double ped...

I love youtube video tutorials!  But, they aren't as portable. You can't listen to them everywhere, you may miss things and have to watch the video many times, and you still may find things you miss.  But, most of all for me, I like to print articles out and read them during rehearsals, on my stand, on the train, in the doc's office, etc.  There's nothing to miss when you have the printed word. The down side! Much of how we learn the trumpet is non specific, internal, hard to put into words, etc.  It's also much easier to do a video and talk than to try to explain yourself on the written page.  It comes down to personal style.  I like to write.  I'm ok with learning to express myself this way. With that said, I do hope to add some video's in the future to enhance what I have written.  With both, hopefully, you can get a sense of my approach.  I hope it helps others out there in trumpet land!

The next three weeks are a beautiful example of the challenges of freelance playing and maintaining chop endurance and musical style challenges. This week I have rehearsals and a performance with the Asylum Hill Orchestra in Hartford, CT where I'm performing the Music for the Royal Fireworks, Zadok the Priest, and the King Shall Rejoice-all Handel (all on picc), plus the Missa in tempore belli of F. J. Haydn on C trumpet.  Got the music 3 days in advance. The following week is one rehearsal with a brass quartet and harp with a performance the next day in Marblehead, MA, don't have the music for this yet. The next week I begin a month long run of playing lead on City of Angels at Curtain Call Theatre in Stamford, CT.  Got the music a few days ago, so I have the luxury of two weeks to review it and get the chops into a lead mouthpiece. On top of this I have a busy teaching schedule all during this and have to prepare for all of the above at the same time. So...how do you p...

I have an adult student who is a thoracic doc with whom I have great conversations about breathing.  Teaching him has helped me really define, verbally, control of proper air flow for trumpet playing so there isn't a contradiction between medical functionality and teacher description.  He has such an understanding of function of the lungs that he processes what I describe through his thorough lens.  With all my students I do my best to avoid too much technical vocabulary and keep things simple and easy to understand with my vast wardrobe of analogies. Vincent Penzarella has said it best, "Exhalation is inhalation without hesitation".  Now, this is an advanced concept, so although my students hear me say this, I give lots of examples of what this means.  For years I did not breath deep enough and move my air fast enough and still sounded decent.   Having a deep understanding of the importance of a very deep, relaxed inhalation and pushing out my exhalation...

When focusing on the inner workings of the trumpet, technique, air, tongue, rhythm, sound, etc..the one thing I don't find discussed enough is instinct response. Huh??  You may say...Well, I teach about this a lot!  This, to a certain extent, can apply to all musical instruments, but for the trumpet it is a vital discussion.  While talking recently with my trumpet mentor, Charlie Schlueter, he said something to me that I say all the time to my students, "there's nothing natural about playing the trumpet" .  I had to laugh because he was reminding me of all the gems of wisdom that came out of my 3 years of studying with him. Instincts serve us well for the most part in everyday life.  Unfortunately, certain instincts and body function instincts are the opposite of what a trumpet player needs to be able to count on to play well. This will be an ongoing discussion here.  So, I will begin with some basics. The most basic instinct we have is the fear/flig...

I will address many instinct response issues ongoing.  Next, let's talk about multi-tasking.  It's a BIG asset for musicians.  Whether you are a natural or not there are things you can do to improve your abilities in this arena. Assigning the task of rhythm solely (pun intended!) to the foot is vital for the trumpeter for two reasons.  Tapping your foot rhythmically and coordinatingyour release of the tongue together calms the instinct responses and allows the brain to focus better on other tasks.  What does that mean?  I'll do my best to explain because we will get into territory that is somewhat unexplainable to the sceptic because it is not tangible to the efact seeker. Tap your foot to a consistent rhythm of about quarter equals 80.  Make sure you keep your heel locked to the floor and only move the first 1/4th to 1/2 of your upper foot.  The problem I find with most is the emphasis is too much on hanging the foot up in mid air too plong be...