Julie Asuma Levene has been teaching music lessons for more than 20 years. She enjoys working with clarinet students of all ages and abilities, beginner and intermediate saxophone students, and coaching chamber ensembles. Julie designs every lesson to fit the needs of each student, taking into consideration what both she and the student feel are areas for improvement, and choosing repertoire that matches the student’s interests. A typical lesson would include technical work (scales, articulation, tuning, note-reading, etc), discussions about reeds if the student is having difficulty playing comfortably, school band or orchestra music, solos and duets, and any other issues that may arise between lessons. Her approach is to be as supportive as possible while helping students grow into confident, expressive musicians.

As an active educator in CT, Julie is an Adjunct Instructor of Clarinet at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, CT, a clarinet and saxophone instructor at Neighborhood Music School, and is on the music faculty (clarinet) at Choate Rosemary Hall. As a clarinetist, she is a member of the Ridgefield Symphony Orchestra, the Greater Bridgeport Symphony, Connecticut Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra, Connecticut Lyric Opera Orchestra, the Wallingford Symphony Orchestra, and she subs with many other orchestras throughout CT. An active freelance musician, she has played at the Palace Theater in Waterbury, CT for the national tour of The Phantom of the Opera, as well as performances of the musical Cyrano at the Goodspeed Opera House’s Terris Theater. 

Julie holds a Bachelor of Music degree from Lawrence University and a Master of Music degree from the Yale School of Music, both in clarinet performance. Her teachers have included David Shifrin, Charles Neidich, and Ayako Oshima.

email: asuma@sbcglobal.net