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Trumpet Dojo

Trumpet Dojo

5.0(1 review)
Top Pro
Offers online services
Top Pro
Offers online services

About

My studio expects students to practice a minimum of 30 minutes every day, listening to music, semester auditions, and recitals. I ask students to record practice sessions through Smart Music so I can provide suggestions to maximize efficiency. I encourage involvement with outside music ensembles and we take field trips to watch professional musicians. Any student with enthusiasm is welcome in my studio!!

I love getting to know all different students and seeing them grow. I look long term for satisfaction with my job, it barely feels like work. I get to make music daily with really cool kids, what could be better than that?!

Highlights

Current Top Pro
Hired 1 time
1 employee
18 years in business
Serves San Jose , CA
Offers online services

Reviews

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CS

Carla S.

Ms. Laverty has been my son’s private trumpet teacher since the summer of 2012. She is patient, kind and very supportive of his efforts in playing the trumpet. In large part, she is the reason that my son enjoys playing trumpet and continues to thrive as a musician.
From the beginning she tailored her lessons to include the music that my son was interested in and also added increasingly more complex music to work on and master.
Sandra has taped him playing during lessons to show him how and where he can improve in body position, quality of sound and other nuances. She regularly uses her laptop computer to show videos of performances that support the lesson and also assigns various Internet sites to view for exposure to other musicians and styles.
Sandra regularly provides opportunities for my son to perform in public. He has performed at the annual CMEA event at San Jose State University, and other smaller events where he played solo on stage. They have both joined in at a local café for practice in improvisation, as my son loves to play jazz. This has really helped in his jazz solo opportunities at school. She has also organized a quartet of student trumpet players to work together on various music pieces and then they all performed together for family and friends. This was a unique experience for the children to practice and play together and perform as a group.
My son is also interested in basketball and baseball, and Sandra has been very flexible in scheduling lessons to accommodate my son’s athletic and school schedules. After about 6 months of lessons, she offered twice a week lessons to capitalize on my son’s enthusiasm and increase the speed of musical advancement so his confidence soared and he wanted to play more because he liked doing something he felt he was good at. He kept this schedule for about a year and then back to once a week to allow for more time for other interests.
During middle school, my son played trumpet in both the Advanced Band and also Jazz Band classes. This past summer, Sandra again offered twice weekly lessons to get ready for his high school debut. As a result, he was chosen to play first chair in the high school jazz band. He was also one of only two freshmen that were accepted into the most advanced band class (also known at Wind Ensemble) at Lincoln High School.
I recommend Sandra Laverty, without reservation, for any trumpet teaching opportunity.
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October 03, 2017

Frequently asked questions

I start wherever the student is.  We work on fundamentals regardless of ability, and I assess what level the student plays to make a decision on what materials we use.

I attended San Francisco Conservatory of Music for 2 years and finished my degree at John F. Kennedy University in Psychology.  Both together have helped me grow in my trumpet pedagogy, personal and professional development. I am also interested in technology and like to apply media and auxiliary learning methods in my approach to teaching.

I charge $69 for 45 minutes, $79 for 60 minutes. I travel to student's homes up to 15 miles away from 95126, or online lessons.

I started teaching when I was in high school to help my band director out. I always wanted to be the type of teacher that was similar to my mentors; compassionate, hard-working, enthusiastic, and patient. I began teaching professionally when I was in music college and continued to enjoy working with all types of students.

I have worked with students as young as 6 and starting at 70. I work with any special needs. I work with students that practice and wish to attain a specific goal and others need help with band music.

I recently started teaching a student in September, after a few lessons they asked about the All-State Honor Band audition. Audition tapes are due December 1st, so we didn't have much time to prepare, and they needed to improve in addition to learning the audition material.  They practiced extremely hard and applied all the things we talked about for 2 months, we sent in a great audition, and their playing has improved magnitudes. I'm very proud. 

Find someone who can thoroughly answer your questions and will also be flexible to meet your needs.  Make sure the teacher still takes enrichment classes to keep current with research, their instrument, and to help develop better and newer ways of teaching.

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