January 28, 2025
Educator and French horn player Priscilla Rinehart originally wanted to play the trumpet, but her middle school band director saw that she could buzz her lips and handed her a French horn instead. It’s almost like the trumpet, he insisted – a little white lie for which she says he’s been more than forgiven.
Priscilla loves seeing her young students learn and grow. “I know what it feels like myself when I reach new levels, but to see it in someone else and know that I was part of that is really beautiful.” She makes lessons fun, encouraging children to be patient with themselves as they overcome challenges and master new skills. “My favorite thing about teaching is how creative I need to be,” she says. “Especially with beginners, I need to be very inventive and make sure there’s a lot of variety in the lessons.”
Teaching is challenging but immensely rewarding, Priscilla finds, and her students are always full of surprises. Learning the French horn is not easy, and sometimes it can be discouraging when things don’t come right away. Perfectionism can be an obstacle to students and teachers alike, and she finds that helping children process occasional frustration productively has actually helped her learn to be kinder to herself.
When she’s not in the classroom, you can often find Priscilla playing in the pit at Broadway shows like The Phantom of the Opera, Camelot, Tommy and, beginning this spring, SMASH. She joined the Lucy Moses School faculty last season and is currently working with five students in the school's Pathways program, which provides tuition-free private lessons on brass instruments and other resources to children age 8-13.