Leander Star

Hello and welcome to my profile!

Whether you are just a beginner or are coming back after years without playing, I would be honored guide your growth as a musician. I have prepared students for college auditions and coached winners for solo competitions. Most of all, I endeavor to impart lasting practice skills, deeper self-awareness, and great excitement about music and performing! Lessons are taught in Memphis, Tennessee and Oxford, Mississippi.

In addition to the experience I have listed below, I am a graduate of Northwestern University and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. I have been a professional horn teacher for over ten years and I have played professionally for almost twenty. I invite you to peruse my profile, as well as my personal website, leanderstar.com.

Best of luck with your teacher search!

At the collegiate level, I currently teach at both Rhodes College in Memphis, TN and the University of Mississippi at Oxford.
With my wind quintet and as a solo clinician, I have given masterclasses at numerous schools including Harvard University, the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, Williams College in Williamstown MA, and the New England Conservatory.

I have taught private lessons for over ten years, in Memphis, TN, Portland, OR, and Evanston, IL. Additionally, I have taught at the Memphis Music Camp, Young Musicians & Artist summer camp in Salem, OR, New Trier Township High School in Winnetka, IL, and the North Shore School of the Arts in Glencoe, IL, to name a few.

I am the French horn player with the touring wind quintet the City of Tomorrow. Formed in 2010, the City of Tomorrow was awarded the Gold Medal at the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition in 2011, and in 2014 was the recipient of a Chamber Music America Classical Commissioning Grant. In addition to my work with the City of Tomorrow, I hold positions with the Oregon Ballet Theater Orchestra and the Portland Opera Orchestra. I also play regularly with the Memphis Symphony Orchestra and the IRIS Orchestra in Germantown, Tennessee, and am engaged in various solo and chamber music projects. For more information, please feel free to check out my website, leanderstar.com.

Fundamentals are the key to success:
Understanding and integrating basic principles of brass playing (including air-support, embouchure, and articulation) are the primary goals of most exercises.

Lessons should be fun and full of experimentation:
During lessons, there will be times when we improvise, try to make different noises on our instruments, and try out new ways of solving problems.

Music can be understood instinctually and intellectually:
Both are important to being a musician. During lessons we will improve the instinctual understanding of music by singing, listening, and exploring options of musical expression. Intellectual understanding will be deepened through study of music theory, composition, and historical performance-practice.

Beginning - Advanced, ALL AGES.

Memphis, TN & Oxford, MS

I charge $50 per hour. Scholarships are available based on need and merit.