I teach private bassoon lessons, coach chamber music, and perform on both bassoon and contrabassoon with orchestras, chamber groups, and opera and ballet orchestras.

Bassoon Lessons & Reeds

Whether you want to be a professional bassoonist or just play for fun, I will help you find both learning and enjoyment.
Read the testimonials below, then email me to set up lessons!
​I am available to visit schools to work with bassoon students or teach sectionals. Email me for details.
My handmade reeds are available for purchase, either as finished reeds or as unfinished blanks.​ Email me for details.
Whether you're new to bassoon or have been playing for years, I will help you learn and foster your love for music. Email me to set up lessons!

teaching philosophy

My teaching is influenced by what I have learned about neuroscience and learning from the Feldenkrais Method. I aim to empower students to sense and hear themselves so that they may use their own knowledge and observations to improve their playing without constant direction.

​I have found that by focusing on ease, asking directed questions, and providing clear, specific feedback and information, I am able to help students develop technique and musicality, as well as foster their love of music. I encourage play and experimentation, and work with how music fits into the rest of your life. Whatever your intentions with playing bassoon, I will teach you in a way that does not sacrifice quality and also teaches you valuable life skills that you can apply elsewhere professionally and personally.

Testimonials

​“I appreciate your enthusiasm!! I am glad to be learning under someone who is not apathetic in their approach. You're a great teacher, and I have a feeling I am going to learn a lot in a short time with you guiding me along the way.”
​- Jake, undergraduate bassoon student
"I hired Alex to teach my daughter music lessons. My daughter absolutely could not wait until her lesson day to be with Alex. Alex was a total professional and helped my daughter to love her instrument and music. I will always appreciate what she was able to give my daughter in her talent, love of music and joy of learning."
​- Katie, parent of elementary school bassoon student
​"You helped our quartet to experiment with various musical choices in our rehearsals, which allowed us to grow in our ability to play together as an ensemble and to make good, artistic, musical decisions. I think one of the elements of your coaching that really helped us was giving us that flexibility to grow. You didn't dictate what we should do like a conductor would. I like that you always had multiple suggestions for how we could approach various lines or problems, which gave us direction to figure out what would work best for us. Your openness to try new methods to accomplish a certain task with our group helped each of us to accomplish the same goals, even with different learning styles. I liked that you were very patient with us, even when we were all exhausted and our music was falling apart. I think you gave our group the support and instruction that we needed to improve while still allowing us to make the music that we played our own. Also, you helped us each to grow as players by helping us learn to cue each other and communicate with each other. In addition to being a great coach, I just really enjoyed working with you as a person!"
​- Harriet, undergraduate bassoon student