

Oboe and Flute Instruction ~ Audition Preparation ~ Historical Oboe and Performance Practice
A high school student once commented during her lesson, "You really like to teach, don't you?" "Of course," I replied. "Why do you ask?" She said that in her experience, most good musicians preferred playing to teaching, and that they were teaching only for financial reasons. I explained to her that I love teaching, I love performing, and I love having a busy career that combines both.
Over the past 25 years I've taught: 7-year-old recorder players; doctoral oboe students about to launch their own studios; elementary, middle school, and high school students; adult flutists who hadn't touched their instrument in decades; professional oboists honing their skills; and adults who have never read or played a note of music before.
I have given master classes and lectures at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, National Music School of Mexico, Boston Conservatory, Louisiana State University, University of Houston, Texas Tech University, and the Gene Byron Museum (Guanajuato, Mexico). As the educational program coordinator of the Dallas Bach Society, I wrote, produced, and performed programs that brought historical music and dance into the public schools of Dallas.
The journey began at Boston Conservatory, where I earned my bachelor’s degree in oboe and music education. After earning master’s degrees in oboe and early music from New England Conservatory, I moved to Europe where I studied historical oboe in The Hague, Holland. I ended up in East Berlin just as the Berlin Wall came down. (Yes, I was followed by the Stasi, but that's another story.) I returned to Boston, freelanced for a few years, then moved to Texas, where I taught historical oboes at the University of North Texas while juggling a studio of 50 modern oboe students. After ten years in Texas, I missed the New England winters and the Boston accent so much that it was time to come home. I currently live in the Boston area, performing on both modern and historical oboes with ensembles throughout the United States and Mexico.
Click on the image at the left to hear me playing on this 1720 oboe from the collection of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.