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I first started teaching private trombone lessons when I was in college in Texas.  I only had a few students, and they were passed on to me by a friend of mine who didn’t have any more room in his studio.  But when I moved back to my hometown (St. Louis), I knew that teaching private lessons would be an important aspect of my music career and that I needed more than just a handful of students.  I also knew that I had no idea how to acquire said students!

I started building my current low brass studio 5 years ago.  The first few years I worked hard at recruiting to build my studio, but it paid off big time.  At this point I do very little “recruiting” but regularly receive emails and phone calls from parents of prospective new students.  Though my studio is pretty full, things are always changing and it is nice to have a steady flow of new student inquiries.

There are many things you can do to build your own private studio, but here are five suggestions I have. Some may make you say “duh” and some may make you say “are you crazy?!” but they have all played a part in building (and maintaining) my studio.

1. Offer Free Masterclasses

This is by far the number one piece of advice I would give to anyone wanting to start or build their private studio.  Offer to do free masterclasses at schools.  The point of these masterclasses are to meet potential new students and have them see you in person and get an idea of who you are and how you teach, but also (and more importantly) to start building relationships with band directors.  For me, this was crucial in building and maintaining my studio, but I’ll get to more of that later.  Continue reading →

As 2017 winds to a close, we’d like to use our final Five Things Friday of the year to make a difference in the community. We spend a lot of time here at Brass Chicks discussing the reality of how things are for us as women playing brass instruments, but sometimes fail to make the connection to what we can do to make things better. Hopefully, the five methods below can help us to help each other and make a change in 2018 and beyond!

1. Listen to women

Go to shows and concerts featuring female musicians, buy albums of work by women, and listen to and play music by female composers. Additionally, show your students that you are doing these things! Lend your students CDs where they can hear female players. Send them YouTube links to videos of your favorite female soloist. In addition to helping out the musicians whose work you share, this can help show the next generation of musicians that brass is not just a men’s game and women are setting a standard of excellence in this field.  Continue reading →

This week we are very excited to present a Five Things Friday post by Jo Harris, member of the British trumpet quartet Bella Tromba. 

1. Cecilia McDowall (b.1951)
Cecilia wins hand down as the most prolific writer for brass soloists and chamber musicians. Expect lilting 6/8’s, flowing melodies and playable parts. Cecilia finds a personality in brass instruments that has all the joy of a dancing girl at a country fair.

Check out The Night Trumpeter for Trumpet and Piano for stunning storytelling and extended techniques.  Continue reading →

This week we are very excited to present Caitlin Featherstone for Five Things Friday. Enjoy!

Caitlin Featherstone is a Southern California Native currently residing in Brooklyn where she is working as a full time freelance musician and teacher. Since moving to New York City three years ago, Caitlin has been playing consistently with a number of orchestras, churches, theater companies and opera companies. She has also recently joined The Brooklyn Conservatory working as a music teacher in several of their Public School music outreach programs. In addition to freelancing, Caitlin is the fifth and newest member of the “Deliciously Creepy Cabaret Sensation”, Orphan Jane. A locally famous music ensemble. In 2016, Orphan Jane released their second album, “The Traveling Everything Show”, on which Caitlin is featured. When she isn’t playing trumpet, Caitlin is a professional Dog Sitter in the NYC area as well as an aspiring Sommelier. Caitlin is a graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory where she studied under Roy Poper and received her Bachelor’s in Trumpet Performance and a Minor in Ethnomusicology.

This past March, I decided to make a crazy and seemingly stupid life change. I decided to quit my cushy day job of two years and dedicate myself to my trumpet career full time. This meant losing the stability of a weekly paycheck and my own personal office where I called the shots, and buckling down to finally take action and move my career in the right direction. However, it also meant finally having the freedom to take chances, having the time to take care of my mental and physical wellbeing, and actually feel like I was being proactive about something that gave me a purpose for being in New York! Continue reading →

Hi fellow brass chicks! We didn’t forget it is Friday and hope you didn’t either! It is such a busy time of year with the holidays, school, and gigs and we certainly know things can get a little crazy. Hopefully this post will help 🙂

1. Perspective. 

This one may seem obvious but it is always important to keep in mind that the stressful things that we are worrying about may be “first world problems” that not everyone has the pleasure of experiencing. For example, after a busy day of teaching and  playing, I walked into a cafe and ordered a small salad. The woman behind the counter yawned and apologized and I said, “Oh don’t worry, I am tired too.” But then she asked if I get to sit down at my job, because she was tired after standing all day – and as a musician, most of the time we are sitting so I definitely didn’t have anything to say back. Continue reading →

Stephanie Hollander is an active freelancer in the NY Metro-Area. She recently collaborated with indie-pop singer Giselle Bellas on her new album “Not Ready to Grow Up” where she can be heard on the single “Canary”.  She has performed with many distinguished groups such as; Hudson Valley Philharmonic, Rocktopia, Patriot Brass, The South Florida Symphony Orchestra, Miami Symphony, Bard Conducting Institute, Washing Heights Chamber Orchestra, Bach Festival Orchestra, Vermont Mozart Festival, Albany Symphony, Newburgh Symphony and numerous others. In 2017 she was principal horn for the North East tour of the distinguished pop Italian group, Il Volo.

 Ms. Hollander holds a B.M from the University of Cincinnati, CCM, and a M.M from the Eastman School of Music where she was awarded a graduate teaching assistantship. She also holds an Artist Performers Certificate from Bard College Conservatory and a Professional Studies Certificate from the Manhattan School of Music as a recipient of the 2016-2017 Richard E. Adams Scholarship. Her teachers have included; Barbara Currie, Javier Gandara, Randy Gardner, Peter Kurau, Jeffrey Lang and Julia Pilant.

 Currently, Ms. Hollander is on faculty at the Dutchess Community College Community School and Hartwick University and has been a guest speaker for the SUNY Purchase horn studio, on the topic of, “Graduation, now what”.

In Ms. Hollander’s spare time she enjoys spending time with her husband, she is fluent in Spanish, loves salsa dancing, biking and snuggling with her three beautiful cats.  Continue reading →