Sumner Erickson's online tuba studio open now

[Sumner]

I hope all are well!

I am at the beginning of opening an online studio for teaching lessons. I would be honored if anyone is interested in allowing me to share what I know with them. I have been amazingly blessed to have had the teachers I have had and the experiences I have had and am always humbled and honored to share this blessing with others. I can't believe that my list of teachers I was blessed to learn from includes Arnold Jacobs, Edward Kleinhammer, Paul Krzywicki, Glenn Dodson, Mason Jones, Richard Colvin and Steve Bryant. And of course 23 seasons with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra as the Principal Tubaist was a revelatory experience! Wow... I got to work with Leonard Bernstein!... was hired by Andre' Previn!... Lorin Maazel was my boss for 12 years!... Maris Jansons... John Williams... Marvin Hamlisch... Andrea Bocelli... James Taylor...! Anyway... I know now more than ever just how blessed I am and have been.

If anyone is interested... please don't hesitate to contact me. Again... it would be my honor.

Thanks!

ALL blessings and PeaceLoveJoy!

Sumner

[Sumner]

HI all!

I hope all are well!

I am honored to become a Sponsor of TubeNet!

If you are interested... here is my facebook page...

https://www.facebook.com/sumnererickson ... icteaching" target="_blank" target="_blank

THANKS!

ALL blessings and PeaceLoveJoy!

Sumner

PS... if you know anyone who is interested in giving my online music teaching a try... I'd be grateful if you send them my way!

[Sumner]

I hope all are well!

As I work to get my online studio up and running I am offering for a limited time and for a limited number of folks a free "sample" of what you would experience by us working together. Cuz as one of my favorite sayings goes... "the proof is in the pudding".. this experience has to have value for you (good pudding ) or what's the point?!!

My goal is always to wildly exceed the student's expectations of what they believe they are going to get.

I hope you will allow me to demonstrate my aiming for this goal!

THANKS!

ALL best wishes and PeaceLoveJoy!

Sumner

[Sumner]

I hope all are well!

I am honored to share this testimony of my teaching from a former student SGT Joshua K. Warren who is now playing in one of the U. S. Army Bands. It was an honor and a blessing to work with him.

Thanks!

PeaceLoveJoyY'all!

Sumner

Working with Sumner was the most life-changing experience of my life, thus far. He is unlike any teacher I have ever encountered and I will say, without hesitation, that I owe my professional playing career to him. I would not even classify him so much as a "teacher" as I would a "guru".

Over the year and a half that I studied with him, his methods took me from a rather average college-level player to the professional-level artist that I am today. I actually keep a "before I studied with Sumner" recording of myself on my phone so that I can prove to people that I wasn't always at the level that I presently am. Why? Because no one believes me when I tell them that I wasn't just born with the ability to play at the level that I currently do.

Once I had fully absorbed what he was teaching, playing music at an extremely high level became just like riding a bike. Allow me to explain. In 2011, I won a position with the U.S. Army Bands. Due to circumstances completely beyond my control, I was unable to touch my horn even a single time for the final 4 months before I shipped out to basic training (which added another 11 weeks of not playing my tuba).

After the completion of basic training, I was sent to the Army School of Music. Due to a clerical error, I arrived to the school a week later than the rest of my class. Once I arrived, I was informed that I had one day to work up an entire audition packet, in addition to 5-7 minutes worth of solo material. On top of that, they only had BB-flat tubas for me to use (I had been playing almost exclusively on E-flat tuba for the previous 2 years while I was working on my Masters degree). So, I had one day to work up roughly 10 band/orchestra excerpts and both find and work up a solo piece on an instrument that I had not played seriously in several years. The next day, I went in and achieved the
highest audition score in my entire class (all of whom had gotten an entire week to "get their chops back" and work up what they played for their auditions). That is what I mean when I compare playing music now to riding a bike. No matter what happens, the lessons I learned from Sumner will allow me to stay at the level I am currently at, no matter what life throws my way.

In addition to learning about how to be a true artist on my horn, Sumner also takes time with all of his students to develop them as people, and the philosophies he incorporates into his teaching can be applied to all facets of life to great affect. He treats everyone he encounters as an equal and inspires a level of trust and openness in his lessons that has to be experienced to be believed.

I would not hesitate to recommend Sumner to any musician of any age or experience level wishing to take their playing from average to world-class. If you really want to take your music-making to a level you never even dreamed you could attain, start taking lessons with him as soon as you can. Listen to every word he says. Try everything he advises (no matter how outlandish it may appear at first). Your life will be forever changed.

SGT Joshua K. Warren
U.S. Army Bands

[Sumner]

I hope all are well!

I am honored to share this testimony of my teaching from a former student Phil Van Ouse. He is the Principal Tubaist of the Pittsburgh Opera and Pittsburgh Ballet and teaches at Duquesne University… among other great activities in his wonderful career. It was an honor and a blessing to work with him.

http://www.duq.edu/academics/faculty/philip-vanouse" target="_blank" target="_blank

and one of his “Tuba Days” he so graciously presented me on…

http://www.pitt.edu/~caram/tubaday.htm" target="_blank" target="_blank

Thanks!

PeaceLoveJoyY'all!

Sumner

I have known Mr. Erickson for some 22 years, first, as my primary reason for moving back to my hometown of Pittsburgh - his reputation as one of the foremost orchestral tuba players of his generation was well known, and I had heard him, in awe, play with the PSO. I was looking for the very best influence in my Master's degree in performance - and after meeting Sumner and having a sample lesson, it was plainly clear that I needed to move to Pittsburgh and do my degree at Carnegie-Mellon University, studying with him.

Sumner has always taught in the most effective way, from his personal perspective and from the heart, and with full presence to the individual he is teaching, no matter what age or level. He helped me profoundly to start my professional career, and I have been with the Pittsburgh Opera and Ballet orchestras for 13 years after winning those auditions, due to his influence.

After establishing my own teaching studio I felt that my students needed to experience his teaching style and influence also, so I have always taken every opportunity to have Sumner teach them individually and to do group masterclasses. The influence he has had in this area has been immeasurable, with students of all ages.

Above all, Sumner is a person who is exemplary, in the most real of ways, of an individual who is always striving for the very best he can be, for his spirit and the essence of his being, and this is really at the heart of why we do music, isn't it?