Katelyn Stessman, Music Studio

08/27/2026

Hey, SCIBA Middle School Saxes, band directors, and friends…🎷🤓

Honor band auditions are coming up, and if you’re anything like the friends in my studio, there are lots of questions, nerves, and a little self-doubt may be sneaking in.

Let’s break it down together and make an intentional practice plan, because you’ve got this! 🫡✨

First up: Articulation 👀🎷 What challenges are you facing that you wish you had the answers to?

08/24/2026

08/12/2026

Networking asks, “What can this person do for me?”
Community asks, “What are we building together?”

To our students… Find people you can be your whole self around, people who challenge you to keep growing. You do not need perfect gear, a perfect plan, or anyone’s approval. Just start. The process will naturally lead you to people who inspire you and help you grow. It’s easy to get caught up in that next audition, recital, lesson.. I hope saw it’s perfectly okay to make music because you truly love it and those you’re creating it with.

Dana Sloter and Bryan Hummel, you are two of my very favorite souls, and I am grateful for you pushing me through the cobwebs for our first recital together in nearly ten years now that we are back at Drake together. 🤞🤓 Having our students from middle school, high school, and Drake University Music Department x Drake University Community School of Music in the audience, along with mentors who have become colleagues and the new soul connections we have made along the way is something I won’t soon forget.

B.WELL Foundation family, thank you for showing up for me in this way. Your presence and support made the space feel at home and meant more than you know. Special shoutout to your joyful cheers, Ms. Chrissy. Your love never goes unnoticed. 🫶💕

07/29/2026

07/25/2026

This!! 👏

Keep shining, Des Moines Symphony x Des Moines Symphony Academy. ✨

Unlike many activities that rely on a single brain region, music engages multiple areas simultaneously. Researchers at Harvard Medical School report that music can activate nearly all major brain networks, including regions involved in memory, emotion, movement, attention, and learning.

Learn more about what goes on in our brain when we listen to music at bit.ly/Music-And-The-Brain!

07/25/2026

The Southeast Polk High School Bands program at Southeast Polk Community School District is truly beautiful. These friends are showing up at 9 a.m. on a Friday in the summer for their first saxophone quartet experience to rehearse, study scores, and realize the music may be a little harder than they expected. 😂 Good thing you can do hard things. 😏

Chamber music is one of my favorite ways to make and teach music. We get to slow down, study the score, solve problems together, and learn how to really listen to one another. Those skills don’t stop when rehearsal ends, and they make us better musicians, teachers, teammates, and humans.

Let’s get to work, fam. James Bunte x James Bunte Mouthpieces will be here soon. 🫡👑🎷

07/24/2026

🌿

07/24/2026

07/22/2026

Calling all young musicians! Fall Auditions for the 2026-27 Des Moines Symphony Youth Symphony & Wind Ensemble are coming up! Reserve your audition spot by emailing [email protected]! Learn more at dmsymphony.org/education!

07/18/2026

If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that every lesson has at least one moment I never see coming… and it usually ends up being my favorite part. 🥹😂

Benji loves ending our lessons by making music videos together “for his mom and all his friends,” and I have to admit, I love the candid joy we capture. You are a light, sweet boy! 👑☀️

📧 [email protected]
🔗 Link in bio for lesson registration