Lessons

My goal is to help each student enjoy playing the horn as much as I do by giving them techniques to strengthen their abilities using music that they choose to play. Horn players of all levels are welcome, and it's particularly inspiring to work with beginners and come-back players.

The lessons can also include an acoustics component if the student is interested, since I have an engineering background. Another bonus is that my students can explore the other instruments in my collection, including a natural horn or even alphorn duets. (I own 2 - no need to bring your own :)

Lisa currently has two studio locations: in her home in Evanston and at St Mary's Episcopal Church in Park Ridge. She is also the horn instructor at the high schools in Park Ridge, IL.

If you are interested in lessons, please send an email to lisa(a)lisataylor.com or fill out the form on the contact page.

Lisa is passionate in what she does! Studying horn is not easy but she made it enjoyable and fun for my daughter. She is also encouraging, patient and kind, very flexible too when it comes to scheduling lessons. Being a music teacher myself, I greatly admire her teaching strategy and professionalism. I would definitely recommend her to other aspiring musicians. She's one of the best!!!

Noralyn Baroja

I am a "come-back" musician, having returned to playing the French Horn in a senior band after decades of inactivity with instrumental music. I was, indeed, fortunate to find an exceptional teacher in Lisa Taylor. Lisa's educational methods stress the encouragement of her students' independence in attacking new musical challenges. She presents practical techniques for meeting the unique challenges of the instrument and builds her students' self-confidence in the process. Lisa Taylor is a fine French Horn professional and a Master Teacher.

Charlotte Glass

Everyone needs a good doctor, a good attorney, a good auto mechanic, and a good music teacher. I am especially fortunate on the fourth count.

I took up the horn when someone asked me to join a band three years ago. I had always loved the sound of the horn, so that's what I chose. In fact, I now consider the definition of music to be the opportunity to hear a horn. My first two teachers taught me to read music and to play notes. Then I found Lisa, and now I am learning to make music.

Lisa is both a wonderful horn player and a wonderful teacher. I was looking for a teacher who was flexible, passionate about the horn and about teaching, patient, honest, and cheerful. After two years of weekly lessons with Lisa I can enjoy listening to the sound that comes out of my horn, and Lisa enjoys my progress as much as I do. She was always patient, optimistic and encouraging in my early lessons. She enjoys helping me to find solutions to challenging measures, and always has a fifth solution in mind when the first four approaches don't work.

I attribute a lot of my progress to working with Lisa on music that is important to me (band pieces, music that I enjoy, and music that Lisa introduces to me). She taught me how to warm up and how to practice, first to work on making good sound, and then on making good music. She provided me with the tools I need to approach challenging measures on my own at home. And nothing is more fun than sitting her sunroom playing a horn duet.

Rich Bloom, horn student and retired physician