My Teaching Schedule

When left the Nashville Symphony and started teaching full time a studio of close to twenty horn majors at the Crane School of Music I taught on what would be perceived to be a pretty standard teaching schedule in the United States among schools that have full time horn teachers–weekly hour lessons with students, a weekly master class, and, in the fall, horn ensemble every week.

When I came to ASU they had a somewhat different system in place. The first thing to visualize if you did not attend ASU is that the brass studios do not necessarily have weekly master classes. Instead ASU has a schedule that alternates a studio (master) class time with an event called Brass Area and also a convocation, which is an honors performance that undergraduates are required to attend. Not having a weekly master class for the full studio is an issue; each brass studio augments this time in various ways including group lessons and technique classes. Thomas Bacon for example had what he called “practice hours” with his students.

I have managed this differently every year I have been here, aiming to make the overall experience better each semester. For me this has included weekly group lessons that were required and group warm-ups and reading sessions of orchestral works that were optional. Some semesters I have augmented lessons with either 90 minute lessons (which worked well for some grad students in particular) and also extra lessons with either myself or one of the horn TAs. The pedagogy and repertoire classes are a regular element in my schedule, normally taught to Juniors and new grad students.

For a time I did have group lessons but eventually I eliminated them and added an excerpt class, really more of a small master class. Students working on excerpts come in and play for myself and other members of the studio. We also have regular group warm-ups and sessions reading orchestral works as horn sections on an ad hoc basis, and in the fall I encorporate horn ensemble into the schedule.  I often also add a couple of extra master class sessions before juries to be well prepared for these. And students with a lot of materials ready or an audition upcoming are always encouraged to schedule extra lessons.

In any case many of these elements of the weekly schedule are a bit different than that I experienced as a student, and I believe the work toward finding more effective ways to teach will also lead to student successes in the coming years.