Lessons Learned from my Students

So I've been teaching here in Philadelphia for a few weeks now, and I've learned more about how teachers used to view me than I ever did when I studied with them.  It's hard to put yourself in the shoes of a teacher when you're a student, but damn, I was difficult to deal with sometimes.

I currently have three students whom I teach weekly or bi-weekly.  I'm starting to get the hang of regularly teaching more than one student, especially students who aren't older adults.  Last week and this week, two of my students had major breakthroughs.  It was so cool to just walk into a lesson and hear a completely different player, transformed in the matter of just a couple weeks.  I'm not saying they're Wynton or anything, but it's satisfying to hear great improvements.

So far it's been up and down for me...one minute I feel like I'm completely missing the mark, and then the next minute they're playing up a storm, and I feel like I've helped them get to that point.  What I'd like to know from my teacher friends is how do you stay patient through it all when they don't quite get it, and how much of their success (or lack thereof) do you attribute to your instruction?

Please let me know what you think.

A.J.

A Defensive Weekend and a PRM Party

What an eventful weekend!  Thursday, Kerri and I departed for Pittsburgh for what would prove to be the most liberating weekend of her life (at least that's what it seemed like).  Her thesis defense was Friday.  I had never seen an engineering defense; all I've seen are recitals.  I had been helping her with her appendix - copying and pasting charts and labeling them - but I really had no idea what I was doing.  When she explained all of her variables and terms that I had been working with, I felt like I was a little bit of a part of that.  She passed, so now we all have to call her "Master."  Congratulations to my beautiful fiance!

The second item on the agenda for the weekend was the mega-party/reunion with Panama Rock Machine.  This was unusual because we were a six-piece for the first time.  As always, the crowd drowned out the band with their awesome singing, and we even had a few guest performers on some songs, including my little brother in Phi Mu Alpha, Phill West, coming on stage with trombone in hand.  It is very likely you'll see PRM playing many more horn-oriented songs to be scattered throughout the set.

The highlight of the concert was at the end of the night.  I had heard throughout the show many requests for "Piano Man."  I kept it in mind, and then I begged the guys to do it.  It wasn't our best version, but hey, we didn't even rehearse it, so who cares?  The crowd, whose voices were ruined by this point, did their best to make it sound like a 50,000 seat stadium.  There was supposed to be a DJ after that, but we closed the place.  Sorry, dude.

Anyway, this weekend will be even busier.  Wednesday is travel day #1...en route to WV for Thanksgiving at home.  Then, Kerri and I will head back to Pittsburgh Thursday night for the warm-up for Friday...the Backyard Brawl.  Pitt and WVU hate each other, and I got my first taste of the Brawl last year.  I lost the sense of taste after a few hours of tailgating in Morgantown, but I won't go into detail.  Let's just say Kerri owes me big time for how I acted.  I'm hoping it'll be just a lot of intense bickering...

Saturday is MLA's final wedding for 2010.  Friday evening/Saturday morning is going to suck.  I have to get up to be back here in Philly (more like West Chester) for the wedding by 1:30.  That means I'll have to leave around 9, which isn't the worst thing ever, but I probably won't get to enjoy Friday night with everyone else in Pittsburgh.  However, it's money, good experience, and that's more important.

Anyway, I have nothing else to say for now, so maybe next time it'll be a more compelling read.  Stay tuned.

A.J.

No-Break November

I started this in August, and I made a commitment then to continue to blog, to not let up on my career, and I laid out some goals I wanted to reach in the next couple months.  I am proud to say that since then, I have continued to perform with Main Line Affair, taught a local celebrity her first lesson, have new students, and have started to gain traction with a business idea I have.

Since my last post, Main Line Affair has performed in Delaware, Atlantic City, Long Island, and about two blocks away from Times Square.  We get around.  I feel so much more comfortable performing for brand new crowds than I did when I moved here.

This last week has been very productive for me.  I have been posting ads for my in-home trumpet lessons for the last few weeks.  Last week, I received two responses in the same day from people interested in lessons.  I sent return e-mails, we began working together a couple days later.  Hopefully this turns into a more full-time thing.

In addition, on Monday, I received an e-mail from someone associated with Lu Ann Cahn from NBC 10 Philadelphia.  She has a blog called "One Year of Firsts" (http://oneyearoffirsts.wordpress.com/) and wanted to take a first trumpet lesson.  She would then document that by posting it and some video on her blog.  We met Wednesday and had a wonderful first lesson.  She started out having never picked up the horn, not being able to hear anything but air coming out of the bell.  By the end she was able to play a few notes, and if we had more time, she would've been able to play a tune.  Here's hoping for more exposure from that.

Finally, I've been thinking about making my in-home trumpet lessons into a business.  I'm going to call it Traveling Trumpet Lessons.  I know that the idea of providing in-home lessons is not unique, but I looked it up, and there aren't any trumpet teachers using this as a brand.  I'm going to capitalize on that and try to stay organized so I can optimize how much area I cover.  Depending on demand, I'll travel to one area one night, another area another night, and so on and so forth.  My website, http://www.ajcutright.com/ , shows the area I cover, so if you know someone in that area who needs or wants trumpet lessons, please direct them to me, and I'll do what I can.

That's it for now.  Keep checking back here for more news and updates!

See ya!