"Even with the advanced students, there's always more. If we go back to the beginning, really, it's wherever the beginning is for them. And we try to push through to the next place."
"I've had horn students, euphoniums, tuba, even, but my main focus is the tenor and bass trombone. I play classical music, although I have played in various jazz groups. One of the approaches I have is I'm able to teach people how to play their instrument better, regardless of what genre they're in."
"I can be tough, though I don't always have to be. The students wouldn't be there if they didn't have discipline. Some of them can lack focus, but I don't see those as the same thing. We're all disciplined in something that we really enjoy doing. It's more often that I need to redirect their attention to what it is that will better help them fix the issue."
"I take my entire professional playing experience and put it into my teaching. It's all in there in some way. The things that I'm learning now, I'm teaching. I'm always in the laboratory. My profession is the laboratory. If it works, then I'm teaching it."
"In all my years of working with students on an individual basis, what I've noticed is that the kind of work you need to do in order to achieve success, those kinds of things are really important everywhere. If the students decide they want to be a performance person or they don't, it doesn't really matter. The point is, they're learning a discipline. It contributes to their work ethic, which influences everything they do."
