Excellent Leadership, Excellent Results
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Directors, do you have students that are interested in repair?
More info on apprenticeships at the bottom of this page.

Woodwinds: While not the loudest section, they can certainly add or subtract a lot from the overall musical experience of the audience whether on the marching field or the concert stage. Dave Lawson is a highly trained woodwind clinician that has been teaching woodwinds for over 17 years. He has taught clinics from elementary school beginners to high school seniors auditioning at the college level. He has learned from and taught with award winning directors like: Mrs. Mary Land, while she was the director at Pickens Middle School, Daniel Gray, while he was at River Ridge High School, and Chris Shumick at Milton High School. Dave is a professional clarinet and alto sax player, having performed with Tara Winds at their GMEA Performance in January of 2014 and again at Midwest in December of 2015. Dave has performed with The Dalton-Whitfield Community band in Dalton, GA, the Alpharetta City Band in Alpharetta, GA, the Sounds of Sawnee community and in Cumming, GA, and the American Patriot Winds in Woodstock, GA. Dave has studied clarinet with Andrea Strauss, Mariano Pacetti, John Warren, and both clarinet and sax with Mitchel Henson. Dave maintains a busy private studio that ranges from beginners to retired beginners from 7-67. Dave's studio is fast paced, intense and filled to the brink with fun. Dave also runs a woodwind repair shop where he fixes instruments for schools and private students. Currently, we have one apprentice woodwind tech and nearly 100 instruments that our shop owns that we are fixing, renting, or selling. Dave has also taught numerous repair courses throughout the southeast. Dave has taught sessions at the Alabama Music Educators Convention (AMEA), Georgia (GMEA), Tennessee  (TNMEA), West Georgia, and Reinhardt University. In 2019, Dave returned to teach a session at AMEA, and GMEA (2019 and 2020). Currently, Dave is the band director of the Joyful Noise Academy of the Arts, teaching 3 concert bands, a small ensembles class, and their award winning Marching Saints. Dave has worked with numerous Georgia marching bands gaining 1st in class, division, and competition awards. He has achieved 4 grand championships with the marching bands he has taught. Dave has taught at the local circuit marching level and BOA. 

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Supplemental material

Here is a link to my breathing exercises I do with my groups:

It begins with the explanation and walk-through of the exercise followed by a full run of the breathing exercise at 10:00.

Repair Seminars

Repair seminars are where you can learn how to effectively repair instruments to a basic level. You will learn basic techniques that will keep your instruments out of the shop longer and save you money. Each seminar will have lecture style teaching followed by hands-on learning where you will get to: replace pads or corks, adjust key heights, fix stuck screws/keys and more. We will bring instruments with us that you can repair and (depending on the condition) possibly work on your own instruments as our examples. Lastly you will learn what to look for when unseen issues arise and maintenance that will help keep your instrument out of the shop. These seminars last roughly an hour and a half.

Seminar choices include: single instrument or family instrument. Courses start at $250.
Single instrument courses will focus on only one instrument and it's specific issues. 
Family courses are overview courses that will cover all woodwinds and briefly cover specific issues for each instrument.
Discounts available if you wish to have 3 single instrument courses (one each for your flute, clarinet and saxophone sections)

All schools that purchase a seminar will receive a discount on their repairs.

Apprentice opportunities:
Do you have a student that has an aptitude for repair or wants to learn? In addition to our techs, we have room in our shop to add 2 new apprentices. These students will learn the basics of flute, clarinet, and saxophone repair and be able to do limited repairs at your school! Please contact us for more information!  Please look under the 'more' tab and then 'directors.'