Michael Sachs is Head of the Trumpet Department and Chairman of The Brass Division at The Cleveland Institute of Music.
One of the strongest assets of the Cleveland Institute of Music is its’ proximity to Severance Hall, home of The Cleveland Orchestra just minutes down the street from the school. The brass faculty is made up entirely of members and former members of The Cleveland Orchestra. Students at CIM enjoy liberal access to Cleveland Orchestra rehearsals and concerts.
The size of the CIM trumpet studio is typically eight students total including both undergraduate and graduate students combined. This allows for an intimate and accessible setting for student-faculty interaction. The typical weekly curriculum of a trumpet student at CIM consists of private lessons, a two-hour trumpet studio class, and a two-hour brass sectional repertoire class, along with orchestra rehearsals and performances, and a variety of chamber music opportunities.
The trumpet studio class covers a wide variety of topics every week ranging from how to take auditions, performance of a particular etude, orchestral piece, or solo piece, to how to clean and maintain your instrument. All students in the studio play in each class and we encourage everyone’s involvement in discussing ideas and perspectives.
The brass sectionals are either readings of major orchestral works as a brass section, possibly the piece we are playing in the Cleveland Orchestra that week, or preparing the brass section for repertoire they will be performing in the CIM orchestra. Assignments for this class are on a rotating basis. Because of the smaller size of the studio everyone gets ample playing opportunities, both in the class readings and in the orchestra.
Brass chamber music is also an important part of our curriculum. All brass students are encouraged to participate in a brass quintet as well as other brass oriented chamber music groups coached by members of the faculty. All chamber music work culminates in our brass chamber music concerts at the end of each semester, which at times also includes joint student/faculty groups performing.
If you have any questions about the trumpet program at CIM please go to the contact page of my website where you can send me a message, or go to the CIM website where you can find answers to many questions about our curriculum and application process.
For anyone interested in coming to Cleveland for a lesson or coaching, I am always happy to try to accommodate these requests. Please go to my contact page and I’ll be glad to schedule a time to see you.